Climate and average weather in Njala

In Njala, the summers are humid, sweltering, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are warm and mostly cloudy.

Best: mid November to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Njala typically varies from 22°C to 35°C, and is rarely below 19°C or above 37°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 Njala for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid January and mid November to late December.

Hottest
Feb
35°
Coldest
Aug
22°
Wettest
Aug
496 mm
Driest
Jan
13 mm
Rain / yr
2344 mm
228 wet days
Daylight
11.5–12.5 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
67 m
8.2°N
Clearest
Jan
39% cloud

Njala is place in Southern Province, Sierra Leone.

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

Njala 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 November to late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Njala stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 35°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 22°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in February.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3322
Feb3523
Mar3524
Apr3324
May3124
Jun2923
Jul2822
Aug2822
Sep2922
Oct3023
Nov3022
Dec3122

How hot and cold Njala 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, Njala feels like about 39°C (around March 10). About 282 days a year carry some heat stress, and 17 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in March.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan36332222
Feb38352323
Mar39352424
Apr39332424
May36312424
Jun33292323
Jul31282222
Aug31282222
Sep32292222
Oct33302223
Nov34302222
Dec35312222

Average hourly temperature in Njala

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 35°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 22°C.

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

Njala 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
Jan33° / 22°133.411.64.1
Feb35° / 23°143.311.73.0
Mar35° / 24°449.811.92.7
Apr33° / 24°9616.312.22.8
May31° / 24°22426.312.42.7
Jun29° / 23°32128.812.52.8
Jul28° / 22°39729.212.43.2
Aug28° / 22°49629.512.33.3
Sep29° / 22°40329.2122.9
Oct30° / 23°22828.911.82.9
Nov30° / 22°8918.611.63.9
Dec31° / 22°204.911.55.0

Chance of rain

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

Njala gets about 2344 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 6.7 months, from around Apr 26 to Nov 14, peaking in September at about 98% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 1.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 496 mm over about 30 wet days; January is the driest, with 13 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetSep 20 · 98%Jan 1 · 8%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan113
Feb133
Mar3110
Apr5516
May8526
Jun9629
Jul9429
Aug9530
Sep9729
Oct9329
Nov6119
Dec185

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Njala collects about 2344 mm of rain across 228 wet days — roughly 195 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 496 mm, while January is the driest at just 13 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 55% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec131444962243213974964032288920
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan133
Feb143
Mar4410
Apr9616
May22426
Jun32129
Jul39729
Aug49630
Sep40329
Oct22829
Nov8919
Dec205

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Njala, 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 12 and lasts for 5.0 months, ending around April 13. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 75% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 14 and lasts for 7.0 months, ending around November 11. The cloudiest month is August, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 99% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 30 · 78%Aug 17 · 1%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7525
Feb7228
Mar5248
Apr2773
May892
Jun694
Jul397
Aug199
Sep496
Oct1387
Nov3565
Dec6535

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 June 4, brings about 12 h 30 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 30 min — a swing of roughly 1 hour.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.67:106:44
Feb11.77:116:55
Mar11.96:596:56
Apr12.26:436:54
May12.46:336:56
Jun12.56:347:03
Jul12.46:417:07
Aug12.36:447:00
Sep12.06:416:44
Oct11.86:396:28
Nov11.66:456:22
Dec11.56:596:30

Sunny days

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

Njala averages about 5 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 18 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.1 months, from around Nov 23 to Mar 27. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 17 sunny days (bright).

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

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJan 118 daysMay 250 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan18Bright
Feb15Bright
Mar9Mixed
Apr3Gloomy
May0Gloomy
Jun0Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
Dec14Mixed

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.

Njala 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 March, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 96% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 5% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggyhumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan231047380
Feb011047402
Mar004275811
Apr00186031
May00006238
Jun0000937
Jul0003970
Aug0002980
Sep0000991
Oct0000946
Nov00009010
Dec01316764

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmAug 11 · 6 km/hNov 11 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Njala

In seasonPeak

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

Njala's monsoon runs May–October, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

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

Best time to visit Njala

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 15 · 5.0

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
Jan4.0fair
Feb3.1poor
Mar2.7poor
Apr2.8poor
May2.7poor
Jun2.8poor
Jul3.2poor
Aug3.3poor
Sep3.0poor
Oct2.9poor
Nov3.9fair
Dec4.9fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 28 · 7.8

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 Njala, 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 February (highs near 35°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around August (highs near 28°C), pack light clothes and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Njala sees daytime highs around 35°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: sun protection. About 3 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Njala 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 Njala peaks around August 20 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 15 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 highAug 20UV 13Dec 15UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Very high
Feb12Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr10Very high
May12Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec8Very high

Average hourly UV index in Njala

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 August the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 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)
Jan75
Feb7.55.5
Mar86
Apr7.55.5
May86
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86
Oct7.55.5
Nov74.5
Dec74

Air quality in Njala 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 Njala is worst in April — around 202 µg/m³ PM2.5 (very unhealthy), about 19.4× the cleanest month (August, 10 µg/m³).

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

0306090120150180210JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyVery unhealthyModerateGoodModeratePoorApr 9200 µg/m³Aug 2011 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan70Unhealthy
Feb77Unhealthy
Mar194Very unhealthy
Apr202Very unhealthy
May33Moderate
Jun19Moderate
Jul13Moderate
Aug10Good
Sep11Good
Oct17Moderate
Nov25Moderate
Dec50Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Njala 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. Njala banks about 6,159 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan547
Feb533
Mar601
Apr560
May537
Jun482
Jul473
Aug465
Sep465
Oct496
Nov486
Dec514

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.

Njala receives about 4.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.2 and 5.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.2 months, from around Nov 28 to May 5. The brightest month is March, averaging about 5.6 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is August, down near 3.3 kWh/m² — roughly 41% less than the March peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 15.7 kWhAug 93.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.4Bright
Feb5.7Bright
Mar5.6Bright
Apr5.2Bright
May4.3Bright
Jun3.9Moderate
Jul3.5Moderate
Aug3.3Moderate
Sep3.9Moderate
Oct4.3Bright
Nov4.5Bright
Dec4.9Bright

Where is Njala?

Njala sits at 8.2°N, 12.0°W, 67 m above sea level, in Sierra Leone. The nearest listed city is Mile 91, 34 km away.

Mile 91BumpeBoMakeniLunsarKenemaPort LokoWaterloo

Topography around Njala

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Njala has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 51 m around an average of 61 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 96 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 820 m.

The land around Njala is covered by grassland (54%) and shrubs (28%) within 3 km, grassland (53%), shrubs (26%) and trees (20%) within 16 km, and trees (57%), grassland (21%) and shrubs (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
51 m
16 km
96 m
80 km
820 m
treesshrubsgrasslandwatermangroves
Nearby: Mile 91 34 km · Bumpe 40 km · Bo 43 km · Makeni 73 km · Lunsar 76 km · Kenema 99 km · Port Loko 104 km · Waterloo 117 km

Sierra Leone travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type D / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 24% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$846
2025
Happiness
3.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
11%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
2.2
per 100k, 2020
Road deaths
33
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
Religion
Muslim 77%Christian 23%

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 Njala (8.2323°, -12.0156°, elevation 67 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. 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).