Climate and average weather in Tete

In Tete, the summers are sweltering, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are warm and mostly clear.

Best: mid May to mid August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Tete typically varies from 17°C to 36°C, and is rarely below 15°C or above 41°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 Tete for warm-weather activities is from mid May to mid August.

Hottest
Nov
36°
Coldest
Jul
17°
Wettest
Jan
217 mm
Driest
Aug
2 mm
Rain / yr
657 mm
76 wet days
Daylight
11.0–13.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
137 m
16.2°S
Clearest
Sep
20% cloud

Tete is city in Mozambique.

Density
2,391/km²
people per km²

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

Tete 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 mid May to mid August.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 2.5 months, from September 24 to December 7, with daily high temperatures above 34°C. The hottest month of the year in Tete is November, with an average high of 36°C and low of 25°C.

The cool season lasts 2.1 months, from June 1 to August 3, with daily high temperatures below 29°C. The coldest month of the year in Tete is July, with an average low of 17°C and high of 27°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in September.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3224
Feb3224
Mar3224
Apr3222
May3019
Jun2817
Jul2717
Aug3019
Sep3321
Oct3523
Nov3625
Dec3324

How hot and cold Tete really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Tete feels like about 37°C (around November 16). About 229 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in November.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan35322424
Feb35322424
Mar35322424
Apr32322222
May30301919
Jun28281717
Jul27271717
Aug30301819
Sep33332121
Oct35352323
Nov37362525
Dec36332424

Average hourly temperature in Tete

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 36°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 17°C.

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

Tete 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
Jan32° / 24°21720.312.93.1
Feb32° / 24°14715.112.53.5
Mar32° / 24°721112.14.0
Apr32° / 22°173.411.65.1
May30° / 19°30.611.36.6
Jun28° / 17°30.611.18.1
Jul27° / 17°30.911.18.2
Aug30° / 19°20.311.56.7
Sep33° / 21°20.411.94.6
Oct35° / 23°71.112.43.1
Nov36° / 25°415.812.82.3
Dec33° / 24°1441612.92.8

Chance of rain

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

Tete gets about 657 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 4.5 months, from around Nov 18 to Apr 2, peaking in January at about 67% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 30.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 217 mm over about 20 wet days; August is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 19 · 67%Aug 30 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6420
Feb5415
Mar3611
Apr113
May21
Jun21
Jul31
Aug10
Sep10
Oct41
Nov206
Dec5116

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Tete collects about 657 mm of rain across 76 wet days — roughly 55 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 217 mm, while August is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 77% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec217147721733322741144
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan21720
Feb14715
Mar7211
Apr173
May31
Jun31
Jul31
Aug20
Sep20
Oct71
Nov416
Dec14416

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Tete, 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 March 29 and lasts for 7.6 months, ending around November 15. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 89% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 16 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around March 28. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 66% 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 18 · 90%Jan 22 · 33%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3466
Feb4357
Mar6040
Apr7426
May8119
Jun8317
Jul7921
Aug8713
Sep8911
Oct8614
Nov6931
Dec4060

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 December 14, brings about 13 hours of light; the shortest, around June 14, only 11 hours — a swing of roughly 2 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.95:296:21
Feb12.55:446:16
Mar12.15:525:59
Apr11.65:575:35
May11.36:045:19
Jun11.16:155:17
Jul11.16:185:25
Aug11.56:065:33
Sep11.95:435:37
Oct12.45:205:42
Nov12.85:085:54
Dec12.95:136:11

Sunny days

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

Tete averages about 16 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 5 and 24 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 7.1 months, from around Apr 14 to Nov 16. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 24 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 5 sunny days — about 78% fewer than the September peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 1324 daysJan 225 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb7Gloomy
Mar11Mixed
Apr16Bright
May20Bright
Jun19Bright
Jul18Bright
Aug22Bright
Sep24Brilliant
Oct23Bright
Nov16Bright
Dec8Gloomy

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 Tete, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around November 2 to May 5. 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 May 6 to November 1, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 95% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 18 · 96%Jan 22 · 0%miserablecomfortableoppressivemuggyhumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan00619668
Feb00521686
Mar001236502
Apr214403690
May154238500
Jun394714000
Jul59375000
Aug60364000
Sep464113100
Oct183934900
Nov5223428100
Dec151526503

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 Tete is typically calm, near 11 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.7 months, from around Jul 19 to Dec 7. The windiest month is October, averaging about 15 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Dec 8 to Mar 29, with January the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmlight breezeOct 21 · 16 km/hJan 29 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb8calm
Mar10calm
Apr12calm
May11calm
Jun11calm
Jul11calm
Aug12light breeze
Sep14light breeze
Oct15light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec10calm

Hazard calendar for Tete

In seasonPeak

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

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

Tete's monsoon runs December–February, 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 Tete

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early August, Tete is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

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 Tete for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to mid August, with a peak score in the last week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 23 · 8.3

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
Jan3.1poor
Feb3.5poor
Mar4.0fair
Apr5.1fair
May6.6good
Jun8.1ideal
Jul8.2ideal
Aug6.7good
Sep4.6fair
Oct3.1poor
Nov2.3poor
Dec2.8poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Tete for hot-weather activities is from early April to early October, with a peak score in the second week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 8 · 9.1

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 Tete, 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 36°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 27°C), pack light clothes.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Tete sees daytime highs around 36°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Tete 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 Tete peaks around January 18 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 23 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeJan 18UV 15Jun 23UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr11Extreme
May9Very high
Jun8Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug9Very high
Sep10Very high
Oct11Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Tete

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
Mar86.5
Apr7.55.5
May6.54.5
Jun6.53.5
Jul6.53.5
Aug74.5
Sep7.55
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Tete 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 Tete is worst in September — around 33 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 5.1× the cleanest month (April, 6 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 2032 µg/m³Apr 157 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan10Good
Feb11Good
Mar8Good
Apr6Good
May8Good
Jun9Good
Jul13Moderate
Aug22Moderate
Sep33Moderate
Oct29Moderate
Nov12Good
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Tete 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. Tete banks about 6,051 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan555
Feb496
Mar548
Apr501
May453
Jun376
Jul375
Aug440
Sep513
Oct597
Nov612
Dec585

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.

Tete receives about 5.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.1 and 7.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Aug 25 to Mar 21. The brightest month is November, averaging about 6.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.3 kWh/m² — roughly 37% less than the November peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseNov 57.0 kWhJul 54.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.7Bright
Feb5.9Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr5.2Bright
May4.8Bright
Jun4.3Bright
Jul4.3Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.8Intense
Nov6.9Intense
Dec6.1Intense

Where is Tete?

Tete sits at 16.2°S, 33.6°E, 137 m above sea level, in Mozambique. The nearest listed city is Moatize, 16 km away.

SongoMwanzaBlantyreUlonguéNtcheuBalakaNsanje

Topography around Tete

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Tete has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 66 m around an average of 134 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 357 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,215 m.

The land around Tete is covered by artificial surfaces (54%) within 3 km, shrubs (44%) and grassland (27%) within 16 km, and shrubs (54%) and grassland (28%) within 80 km.

3 km
66 m
16 km
357 m
80 km
1,215 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Moatize 16 km · Songo 108 km · Mwanza 118 km · Blantyre 158 km · Ulongué 180 km · Ntcheu 186 km · Balaka 197 km · Nsanje 198 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 Tete (-16.1564°, 33.5867°, elevation 137 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).