Climate and average weather in Gaalkacyo

In Gaalkacyo, the weather is sweltering, showery, and clear and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near sweltering levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around May.

Best: early October to early March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Gaalkacyo typically varies from 20°C to 34°C, and is rarely below 18°C or above 36°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while October is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Gaalkacyo for warm-weather activities are from late June to early August and early October to early March.

Hottest
Mar
34°
Coldest
Oct
23°
Wettest
May
45 mm
Driest
Feb
0 mm
Rain / yr
175 mm
32 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
288 m
6.8°N
Clearest
Jan
25% cloud

Gaalkacyo is city in Puntland.

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

Gaalkacyo 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 early October to early March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Gaalkacyo stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 34°C and low of 22°C; the coolest is October, with an average low of 23°C and high of 32°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in February.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3320
Feb3320
Mar3422
Apr3424
May3325
Jun3424
Jul3324
Aug3423
Sep3423
Oct3223
Nov3222
Dec3321

How hot and cold Gaalkacyo 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, Gaalkacyo feels like about 36°C (around April 20). Nearly every day a year carries some heat stress, peaking in April.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan33332020
Feb33332020
Mar35342222
Apr36342424
May36332425
Jun34342424
Jul33332424
Aug34342323
Sep35342323
Oct34322323
Nov33322222
Dec33332121

Average hourly temperature in Gaalkacyo

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 March afternoons, near 34°C, and coldest before dawn in October, near 23°C.

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

Gaalkacyo 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° / 20°00.111.75.0
Feb33° / 20°0011.84.4
Mar34° / 22°20.6123.6
Apr34° / 24°447.612.13.4
May33° / 25°458.512.33.4
Jun34° / 24°20.212.43.7
Jul33° / 24°00.112.44.1
Aug34° / 23°0012.23.8
Sep34° / 23°40.7123.6
Oct32° / 23°448.211.84.2
Nov32° / 22°274.611.74.7
Dec33° / 21°61.111.64.8

Chance of rain

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

Gaalkacyo gets about 175 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 1.8 months, from around Apr 6 to May 29, peaking in April at about 45% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 25.

May is the wettest month by volume, with 45 mm over about 9 wet days; February is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 30 · 45%Jan 25 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan10
Feb00
Mar21
Apr258
May279
Jun10
Jul00
Aug00
Sep31
Oct258
Nov165
Dec41

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Gaalkacyo collects about 175 mm of rain across 32 wet days — roughly 15 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. May is the wettest month with 45 mm, while February is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 76% of the year’s total.

0255075JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec0024445200444276
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan00
Feb00
Mar21
Apr448
May459
Jun20
Jul00
Aug00
Sep41
Oct448
Nov275
Dec61

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Gaalkacyo, 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 September 3 and lasts for 7.6 months, ending around April 21. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 87% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 22 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around September 2. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 67% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 3 · 88%Jul 15 · 30%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8614
Feb8614
Mar8713
Apr7624
May6238
Jun4357
Jul3367
Aug5149
Sep7723
Oct7624
Nov8119
Dec8416

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 May 28, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 11 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 0 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.76:105:49
Feb11.86:125:58
Mar12.06:015:59
Apr12.15:465:55
May12.35:375:56
Jun12.45:396:02
Jul12.45:456:07
Aug12.25:486:01
Sep12.05:435:46
Oct11.85:405:31
Nov11.75:455:26
Dec11.65:585:35

Sunny days

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

Gaalkacyo averages about 16 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 4 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Oct 29 to Apr 19. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 23 sunny days (bright).

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

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 2723 daysJul 154 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan23Bright
Feb21Bright
Mar22Bright
Apr17Bright
May13Mixed
Jun8Gloomy
Jul5Gloomy
Aug9Mixed
Sep17Bright
Oct15Mixed
Nov19Bright
Dec22Bright

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.5 months, from around March 9 to June 24. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 98% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 24 to March 8, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 65% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 2 · 70%Apr 26 · 0%oppressivehumidmuggycomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan19462960
Feb15423670
Mar61746283
Apr02234134
May02213443
Jun02163142
Jul1554310
Aug1534420
Sep12459142
Oct03294622
Nov717273316
Dec183929122

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 Gaalkacyo is typically breezy, near 21 km/h, and varies a lot with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.1 months, from around May 24 to Sep 24. The windiest month is July, averaging about 31 km/h (windy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Sep 25 to May 23, with October the calmest month at about 14 km/h.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezywindyJul 16 · 32 km/hOct 27 · 11 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan21breezy
Feb20breezy
Mar18light breeze
Apr14light breeze
May18light breeze
Jun28breezy
Jul31windy
Aug29windy
Sep24breezy
Oct14light breeze
Nov14light breeze
Dec19light breeze

Hazard calendar for Gaalkacyo

In seasonPeak

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

Gaalkacyo sees seasonal dust haze (June–July), heaviest in July.

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

Best time to visit Gaalkacyo

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid October, Gaalkacyo 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 times of year to visit Gaalkacyo for general outdoor tourist activities run from early July to early August and again from mid October to early March, with a peak score in the first week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 4 · 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
Jan4.9fair
Feb4.4fair
Mar3.7fair
Apr3.4poor
May3.4poor
Jun3.7fair
Jul4.1fair
Aug3.8fair
Sep3.6fair
Oct4.2fair
Nov4.7fair
Dec4.8fair

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 Gaalkacyo for hot-weather activities is from late May to mid April, with a peak score in the first week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 7 · 8.3

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 Gaalkacyo, 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.

Gaalkacyo packs about the same all year — highs hold near 34°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, sun protection and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Gaalkacyo sees daytime highs around 34°C and nights near 22°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Gaalkacyo 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 Gaalkacyo peaks around April 10 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near November 22 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeApr 10UV 14Nov 22UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov10Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Gaalkacyo

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)
Jan86
Feb86
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May86.5
Jun86
Jul85.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Gaalkacyo 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 Gaalkacyo is worst in July — around 32 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.5× the cleanest month (October, 13 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateJul 1831 µg/m³Apr 2213 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan24Moderate
Feb23Moderate
Mar19Moderate
Apr13Moderate
May13Moderate
Jun26Moderate
Jul32Moderate
Aug28Moderate
Sep22Moderate
Oct13Moderate
Nov15Moderate
Dec18Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Gaalkacyo 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. Gaalkacyo banks about 6,539 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around June.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan504
Feb468
Mar563
Apr563
May587
Jun572
Jul568
Aug573
Sep565
Oct547
Nov510
Dec519

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.

Gaalkacyo receives about 6.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.0 and 7.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.6 months, from around Dec 7 to Apr 25. The brightest month is March, averaging about 7.0 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 5.1 kWh/m² — roughly 27% less than the March peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 37.1 kWhJun 225.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.5Intense
Feb7.0Intense
Mar7.1Intense
Apr6.4Intense
May5.8Bright
Jun5.1Bright
Jul5.1Bright
Aug5.7Bright
Sep6.2Intense
Oct5.6Bright
Nov5.9Bright
Dec6.1Intense

Where is Gaalkacyo?

Gaalkacyo sits at 6.8°N, 47.4°E, 288 m above sea level, in Somalia. The nearest listed city is Saaxo, 70 km away.

QorofDhabadWaalCabudwaaqYamarugleyDigih Habar EsRaqo

Topography around Gaalkacyo

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Gaalkacyo has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 16 m around an average of 287 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 62 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 343 m.

The land around Gaalkacyo is covered by bare terrain (45%), grassland (31%) and artificial surfaces (22%) within 3 km, grassland (59%) and shrubs (31%) within 16 km, and shrubs (61%) and grassland (36%) within 80 km.

3 km
16 m
16 km
62 m
80 km
343 m
shrubsgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrain
Nearby: Saaxo 70 km · Qorof 112 km · Dhabad 113 km · Waal 135 km · Cabudwaaq 145 km · Yamarugley 149 km · Digih Habar Es 164 km · Raqo 179 km

Somalia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / G
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 52% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$661
2025
Happiness
4.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Road deaths
27.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 399
Religion
Muslim 100%ethnic religionist 0%

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 Gaalkacyo (6.7697°, 47.4308°, elevation 288 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).