Climate and average weather in Lichinga

In Lichinga, the summers are hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are warm and mostly clear.

Best: late April to early October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lichinga typically varies from 12°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 9°C or above 32°C. November is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Lichinga for warm-weather activities is from late April to early October.

Hottest
Nov
29°
Coldest
Jul
12°
Wettest
Jan
309 mm
Driest
Jul
2 mm
Rain / yr
1118 mm
133 wet days
Daylight
11.2–12.8 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,349 m
13.3°S
Clearest
Sep
37% cloud

Lichinga is Província do Niassa.

Density
1,005/km²
people per km²

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Lichinga weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late April to early October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Lichinga, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Lichinga stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 29°C and low of 19°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 12°C and high of 22°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in September.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2518
Feb2518
Mar2518
Apr2516
May2414
Jun2312
Jul2212
Aug2413
Sep2716
Oct2818
Nov2919
Dec2619

Average hourly temperature in Lichinga

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on November afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 12°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Lichinga weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan25° / 18°3092912.73.7
Feb25° / 18°23924.612.43.9
Mar25° / 18°17423.712.14.5
Apr25° / 16°4410.611.76.8
May24° / 14°92.311.48.5
Jun23° / 12°20.411.28.6
Jul22° / 12°20.511.38.5
Aug24° / 13°20.511.68.8
Sep27° / 16°30.611.98.3
Oct28° / 18°214.512.36.8
Nov29° / 19°8011.912.65.5
Dec26° / 19°23624.512.84.3

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Lichinga gets about 1118 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.9 months, from around Nov 15 to Apr 13, peaking in January at about 94% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 27.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 309 mm over about 29 wet days; July is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 16 · 94%Jun 27 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9329
Feb8825
Mar7724
Apr3511
May82
Jun20
Jul11
Aug21
Sep31
Oct155
Nov4012
Dec7925

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lichinga collects about 1118 mm of rain across 133 wet days — roughly 93 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 309 mm, while July is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 70% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec30923917444922232180236
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan30929
Feb23925
Mar17424
Apr4411
May92
Jun20
Jul21
Aug21
Sep31
Oct215
Nov8012
Dec23625

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Lichinga, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around April 12 and lasts for 7.3 months, ending around November 18. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 82% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 19 and lasts for 4.7 months, ending around April 11. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 93% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 8 · 82%Jan 16 · 5%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan793
Feb1288
Mar2575
Apr6040
May7525
Jun8020
Jul7426
Aug7723
Sep8218
Oct8020
Nov5941
Dec2278

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around January 1, brings about 12 h 48 min of light; the shortest, around June 6, only 11 h 12 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.75:276:10
Feb12.45:406:07
Mar12.15:465:51
Apr11.75:485:30
May11.45:545:17
Jun11.26:035:16
Jul11.36:065:23
Aug11.65:575:30
Sep11.95:365:31
Oct12.35:155:33
Nov12.65:065:43
Dec12.85:125:59

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Lichinga averages about 9 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 17 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.8 months, from around Apr 23 to Nov 15. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 16 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is January, down near 1 sunny days — about 97% fewer than the September peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightSep 1617 daysJan 270 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr7Gloomy
May14Mixed
Jun14Mixed
Jul14Mixed
Aug15Mixed
Sep16Bright
Oct14Mixed
Nov9Mixed
Dec3Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Lichinga, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around November 15 to April 26. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 27 to November 14, and June is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 15 · 100%Jan 11 · 0%muggycomfortablehumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan001981
Feb002674
Mar034255
Apr5295412
May4345120
Jun881100
Jul98200
Aug96400
Sep92800
Oct612990
Nov2232407
Dec183952

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Lichinga is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.3 months, from around Jun 24 to Dec 2. The windiest month is October, averaging about 12 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Dec 3 to Jun 23, with February the calmest month at about 6 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeOct 12 · 12 km/hFeb 23 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar7calm
Apr8calm
May8calm
Jun8calm
Jul9calm
Aug10calm
Sep11calm
Oct12calm
Nov10calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Lichinga

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Lichinga sits in the South Indian Ocean cyclone belt; the season peaks January–March.

Lichinga's monsoon runs December–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

Cyclone
Monsoon
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Lichinga

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Lichinga throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late April, Lichinga is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Lichinga for general outdoor tourist activities is from late April to mid October, with a peak score in the third week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 18 · 8.9

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.7fair
Feb3.9fair
Mar4.5fair
Apr6.8good
May8.5ideal
Jun8.6ideal
Jul8.5ideal
Aug8.8ideal
Sep8.3ideal
Oct6.8good
Nov5.5good
Dec4.3fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Lichinga for hot-weather activities run from late April to early June and again from early August to mid November, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 22 · 8.5

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Lichinga, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around November (highs near 29°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 22°C), pack light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Lichinga sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 12 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lichinga by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Lichinga peaks around January 20 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 at about 9 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeJan 20UV 16Jun 20UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan16Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Very high
Jun9Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug10Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec15Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Lichinga

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan97
Feb8.57
Mar8.56.5
Apr7.56
May75
Jun6.54.5
Jul74.5
Aug7.55
Sep7.56
Oct86.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.57

Air quality in Lichinga by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Lichinga is worst in September — around 56 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 7.8× the cleanest month (December, 7 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModeratePoorModerateGoodSep 1654 µg/m³Dec 227 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb9Good
Mar9Good
Apr8Good
May9Good
Jun10Good
Jul16Moderate
Aug42Poor
Sep56Unhealthy
Oct42Poor
Nov11Good
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lichinga is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Lichinga banks about 3,878 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan363
Feb328
Mar357
Apr315
May281
Jun219
Jul212
Aug267
Sep336
Oct408
Nov412
Dec381

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Lichinga receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.5 and 6.4 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 3.9 months, from around Aug 16 to Dec 11. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.6 kWh/m² — roughly 28% less than the October peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 216.4 kWhJul 14.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.9Bright
Feb5.0Bright
Mar5.0Bright
Apr4.9Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun4.6Bright
Jul4.6Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep6.1Intense
Oct6.4Intense
Nov6.1Intense
Dec5.2Bright

Where is Lichinga?

Lichinga sits at 13.3°S, 35.2°E, 1,349 m above sea level, in Mozambique. The nearest listed city is Monkey Bay, 92 km away.

NkhotakotaMandimbaMangochiDedzaMponelaLilongwe

Topography around Lichinga

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Lichinga.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lichinga has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 196 m around an average of 1,330 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 698 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,365 m.

The land around Lichinga is covered by artificial surfaces (43%) and grassland (32%) within 3 km, grassland (53%) within 16 km, and trees (35%), grassland (28%) and water (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
196 m
16 km
698 m
80 km
1,365 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Monkey Bay 92 km · Salima 99 km · Nkhotakota 111 km · Mandimba 124 km · Mangochi 130 km · Dedza 154 km · Mponela 164 km · Lilongwe 173 km

Mozambique travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F / M
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 37% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$627
2025
Happiness
5.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
28%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
3.6
per 100k, 2011
Road deaths
30
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 465
Religion
Catholic 27%Islam 19%Pentecostal 17%Saio/Zione 16%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Lichinga (-13.3128°, 35.2406°, elevation 1,349 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).