Climate and average weather in Calabar

In Calabar, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around July.

Best: late November to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Calabar typically varies from 23°C to 33°C, and is rarely below 21°C or above 36°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Calabar for warm-weather activities are from early January to late January and late November to late December.

Hottest
Feb
33°
Coldest
Aug
23°
Wettest
Jul
422 mm
Driest
Jan
40 mm
Rain / yr
3186 mm
300 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
37 m
5.0°N
Clearest
Dec
57% cloud

Calabar is city in Nigeria.

Density
894/km²
people per km²

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

Calabar 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 November to late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Calabar stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 33°C and low of 24°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 23°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 9°C) in January.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3224
Feb3324
Mar3225
Apr3124
May3024
Jun2923
Jul2823
Aug2823
Sep2923
Oct2923
Nov3024
Dec3224

How hot and cold Calabar 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, Calabar feels like about 41°C (around February 28). About 288 days a year carry some heat stress, and 60 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in February.

20°25°30°35°40°45°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan38322324
Feb40332424
Mar40322425
Apr39312424
May37302424
Jun34292323
Jul31282323
Aug31282323
Sep32292323
Oct34292323
Nov37302424
Dec37322424

Average hourly temperature in Calabar

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 February afternoons, near 33°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 23°C.

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

Calabar 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°4010.811.73.7
Feb33° / 24°7015.611.82.9
Mar32° / 25°18727.1122.4
Apr31° / 24°28128.212.12.4
May30° / 24°34129.612.22.5
Jun29° / 23°40029.412.32.8
Jul28° / 23°42230.212.33.1
Aug28° / 23°3903012.23.2
Sep29° / 23°42029.7122.8
Oct29° / 23°39530.611.92.7
Nov30° / 24°1942611.82.9
Dec32° / 24°4812.611.74.0

Chance of rain

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

Calabar gets about 3186 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 8.4 months, from around Mar 9 to Nov 20, peaking in September at about 99% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Dec 31.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 422 mm over about 30 wet days; January is the driest, with 40 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 10 · 99%Dec 31 · 25%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3511
Feb5716
Mar8727
Apr9428
May9630
Jun9829
Jul9730
Aug9730
Sep9930
Oct9931
Nov8526
Dec4213

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Calabar collects about 3186 mm of rain across 300 wet days — roughly 266 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 422 mm, while January is the driest at just 40 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 39% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec407018728134140042239042039519448
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan4011
Feb7016
Mar18727
Apr28128
May34130
Jun40029
Jul42230
Aug39030
Sep42030
Oct39531
Nov19426
Dec4813

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Calabar, 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 November 15 and lasts for 3.8 months, ending around March 9. The clearest month is December, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 55% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 10 and lasts for 8.2 months, ending around November 14. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 100% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 24 · 62%Aug 27 · 0%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4753
Feb3466
Mar1387
Apr595
May496
Jun397
Jul199
Aug199
Sep0100
Oct298
Nov1981
Dec5545

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. Close to the equator, Calabar barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 18 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.76:446:28
Feb11.86:466:36
Mar12.06:376:35
Apr12.16:246:30
May12.26:166:30
Jun12.36:186:35
Jul12.36:246:40
Aug12.26:266:36
Sep12.06:206:22
Oct11.96:156:08
Nov11.86:196:05
Dec11.76:316:14

Sunny days

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

Calabar averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 11 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.4 months, from around Nov 21 to Mar 3. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 9 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is May, down near 0 sunny days — about 98% fewer than the December peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedDec 2711 daysMay 260 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan8Mixed
Feb5Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr0Gloomy
May0Gloomy
Jun0Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov2Gloomy
Dec9Mixed

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.

Calabar is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is February, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 1% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggy
Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan1375534
Feb0013761
Mar0001387
Apr000793
May0001486
Jun0005743
Jul000919
Aug000982
Sep0008812
Oct0006040
Nov0003565
Dec0025146

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.

Wind in Calabar is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 25 · 6 km/hOct 25 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Calabar

In seasonPeak

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

Calabar's rainy season runs April–November, when most of the year's rain falls.

Calabar sees seasonal dust haze (December–April), heaviest in February.

Rainy season
Dust
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Calabar

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid December, Calabar 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 Calabar for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to late January, with a peak score in the last week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 26 · 4.2

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
Feb2.9poor
Mar2.4poor
Apr2.4poor
May2.5poor
Jun2.8poor
Jul3.1poor
Aug3.2poor
Sep2.9poor
Oct2.7poor
Nov2.9poor
Dec3.9fair

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 Calabar for hot-weather activities is from early December to early February, with a peak score in the last week of December.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 29 · 6.8

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 Calabar, 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.

Calabar packs about the same all year — highs hold near 33°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Calabar sees daytime highs around 33°C and nights near 24°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 16 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Calabar

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 38 km away) is warmest in April at about 29°C and coldest in August near 26°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

24°26°28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan28Tropical
Feb29Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr29Tropical
May29Tropical
Jun28Tropical
Jul27Warm
Aug26Warm
Sep27Warm
Oct28Warm
Nov28Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Calabar 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 Calabar peaks around April 11 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 22 at about 9 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeExtremeVery highApr 11UV 13Dec 22UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan9Very high
Feb10Very high
Mar13Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug10Very high
Sep12Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov10Extreme
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Calabar

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 April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan74.5
Feb7.55
Mar86
Apr86.5
May85.5
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct7.56
Nov7.55
Dec74

Air quality in Calabar 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 Calabar is worst in February — around 145 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 3.3× the cleanest month (August, 44 µg/m³).

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

0306090120150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyPoorUnhealthyFeb 11142 µg/m³Aug 1345 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan128Unhealthy
Feb145Unhealthy
Mar83Unhealthy
Apr70Unhealthy
May58Unhealthy
Jun51Poor
Jul46Poor
Aug44Poor
Sep50Poor
Oct60Unhealthy
Nov68Unhealthy
Dec113Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Calabar 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. Calabar banks about 6,168 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan557
Feb520
Mar564
Apr529
May532
Jun485
Jul478
Aug475
Sep473
Oct504
Nov509
Dec545

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.

Calabar receives about 4.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.4 and 5.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Nov 13 to May 12. The brightest month is February, averaging about 5.2 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is July, down near 3.4 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the February peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightFeb 85.3 kWhJul 263.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar4.8Bright
Apr4.5Bright
May4.2Bright
Jun3.6Moderate
Jul3.4Moderate
Aug3.5Moderate
Sep3.7Moderate
Oct3.9Moderate
Nov4.3Bright
Dec4.9Bright

Where is Calabar?

Calabar sits at 5.0°N, 8.3°E, 37 m above sea level, in Nigeria. The nearest listed city is Esuk Oron, 19 km away.

BamussoEkondo TitiOhafia-Ifigh

Topography around Calabar

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Calabar has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 65 m around an average of 29 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 99 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,066 m.

The land around Calabar is covered by artificial surfaces (63%) within 3 km, trees (60%) within 16 km, and trees (68%) and water (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
65 m
16 km
99 m
80 km
1,066 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfaceswatermangroves
Nearby: Esuk Oron 19 km · Uyo 45 km · Itu 47 km · Eket 57 km · Ikot Ekpene 72 km · Bamusso 85 km · Ekondo Titi 88 km · Ohafia-Ifigh 93 km

Nigeria travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type D / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 13% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,224
2025
Happiness
4.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
30%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
15.7
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
20.7
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 569
Religion
Muslim 54%other Christian 35%Roman Catholic 11%other 1%

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 Calabar (4.9589°, 8.327°, elevation 37 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. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. 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).