Climate and average weather in Dongola

In Dongola, the summers are sweltering, dry, and clear and the winters are warm and clear.

Best: early January to late February

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Dongola typically varies from 12°C to 42°C, and is rarely below 8°C or above 45°C. June is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Jun
42°
Coldest
Jan
12°
Wettest
Aug
2 mm
Driest
Feb
0 mm
Rain / yr
5 mm
2 wet days
Daylight
10.8–13.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
226 m
19.2°N
Clearest
Nov
8% cloud

Dongola is capital of the state of Northern in Sudan.

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

Dongola 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 January to late February.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 6.0 months, from April 18 to October 15, with daily high temperatures above 38°C. The hottest month of the year in Dongola is June, with an average high of 42°C and low of 28°C.

The cool season lasts 2.5 months, from December 4 to February 16, with daily high temperatures below 28°C. The coldest month of the year in Dongola is January, with an average low of 12°C and high of 26°C.

Days typically run about 14°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°20°30°40°50°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2612
Feb2814
Mar3318
Apr3822
May4126
Jun4228
Jul4228
Aug4229
Sep4128
Oct3825
Nov3118
Dec2714

How hot and cold Dongola 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, Dongola feels like about 42°C (around June 5). About 249 days a year carry some heat stress, and 170 of them tip into dangerous heat (feels-like above 39°C), peaking in June.

10°20°30°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan26261212
Feb28281414
Mar33331818
Apr38382222
May41412626
Jun42422828
Jul42422828
Aug42422929
Sep41412828
Oct38382525
Nov31311818
Dec27271314

Average hourly temperature in Dongola

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 June afternoons, near 42°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 12°C.

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

Dongola 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
Jan26° / 12°00119.2
Feb28° / 14°0011.38.0
Mar33° / 18°0011.95.0
Apr38° / 22°0012.41.7
May41° / 26°00.112.90.0
Jun42° / 28°0013.10.0
Jul42° / 28°20.5130.0
Aug42° / 29°20.812.70.0
Sep41° / 28°00.112.10.0
Oct38° / 25°00.111.61.6
Nov31° / 18°0011.16.0
Dec27° / 14°0010.98.8

Chance of rain

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

Dongola gets about 5 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is mostly dry, and that barely changes with the seasons — rain is spread fairly evenly through the year.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 2 mm over about 1 wet days; February is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmostly drysome rainAug 4 · 4%Jan 1 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan00
Feb00
Mar00
Apr00
May00
Jun00
Jul21
Aug21
Sep00
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Dongola collects about 5 mm of rain across 2 wet days — roughly 0 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 2 mm, while February is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 92% of the year’s total.

025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec002200
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan00
Feb00
Mar00
Apr00
May00
Jun00
Jul21
Aug21
Sep00
Oct00
Nov00
Dec00

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around August 16 and lasts for 3.5 months, ending around December 1. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 98% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around December 2 and lasts for 3.6 months, ending around March 22. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 10% 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 13 · 99%Jan 4 · 88%clearmostly clearpartly cloudycloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan9010
Feb919
Mar946
Apr955
May946
Jun964
Jul928
Aug946
Sep982
Oct973
Nov964
Dec928

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 17, brings about 13 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around December 17, only 10 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 2 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.07:396:36
Feb11.37:326:53
Mar11.97:127:04
Apr12.46:457:11
May12.96:277:21
Jun13.16:247:33
Jul13.06:327:35
Aug12.76:427:22
Sep12.16:496:56
Oct11.66:566:30
Nov11.17:116:16
Dec10.97:296:20

Sunny days

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

Dongola averages about 27 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 25 and 29 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.3 months, from around Aug 22 to Nov 29. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 29 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 25 sunny days — about 13% fewer than the September peak.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 1829 daysJan 425 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan26Brilliant
Feb24Brilliant
Mar27Brilliant
Apr27Brilliant
May28Brilliant
Jun27Brilliant
Jul26Brilliant
Aug27Brilliant
Sep28Brilliant
Oct29Brilliant
Nov28Brilliant
Dec26Brilliant

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 Dongola, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in August, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 13% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 11 · 100%Aug 4 · 79%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan100000
Feb100000
Mar100000
Apr100000
May99100
Jun99100
Jul86564
Aug80785
Sep98200
Oct100000
Nov100000
Dec100000

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 Dongola is typically light breeze, near 18 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 9.0 months, from around Sep 11 to Jun 11. The windiest month is October, averaging about 20 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Jun 12 to Sep 10, with July the calmest month at about 14 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezyOct 6 · 20 km/hJul 22 · 14 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan19light breeze
Feb19light breeze
Mar19light breeze
Apr19light breeze
May19light breeze
Jun18light breeze
Jul14light breeze
Aug15light breeze
Sep19light breeze
Oct20breezy
Nov19light breeze
Dec19light breeze

Hazard calendar for Dongola

In seasonPeak

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

Dongola sees seasonal dust haze (March–October), heaviest in June.

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

Best time to visit Dongola

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid February, Dongola 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 Dongola for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to late February, with a peak score in the second week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 8 · 9.3

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
Jan9.2ideal
Feb7.9ideal
Mar5.0fair
Apr1.7poor
May0.0poor
Jun0.0poor
Jul0.0poor
Aug0.0poor
Sep0.0poor
Oct1.7poor
Nov6.0good
Dec8.8ideal

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 Dongola for hot-weather activities is from late October to late March, with a peak score in the last week of November.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationNov 29 · 9.4

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 Dongola, 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 June (highs near 42°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around January (highs near 26°C), pack light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In June, Dongola sees daytime highs around 42°C and nights near 28°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Dongola 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 Dongola peaks around May 24 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 14 at about 7 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeExtremeVery highHighMay 24UV 12Dec 14UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb10Very high
Mar11Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul10Extreme
Aug10Very high
Sep11Extreme
Oct9Very high
Nov7Very high
Dec7High

Average hourly UV index in Dongola

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 May 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)
Jan63.5
Feb75
Mar7.55.5
Apr86
May86
Jun8.56.5
Jul85.5
Aug85.5
Sep7.55
Oct74.5
Nov63
Dec5.52.5

Air quality in Dongola 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 Dongola is worst in March — around 82 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 1.9× the cleanest month (July, 43 µg/m³).

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

0306090JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyPoorUnhealthyMar 1780 µg/m³Jul 2144 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan70Unhealthy
Feb71Unhealthy
Mar82Unhealthy
Apr72Unhealthy
May71Unhealthy
Jun69Unhealthy
Jul43Poor
Aug50Poor
Sep70Unhealthy
Oct76Unhealthy
Nov59Unhealthy
Dec66Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Dongola 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. Dongola banks about 6,851 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan275
Feb315
Mar472
Apr597
May733
Jun746
Jul777
Aug791
Sep732
Oct656
Nov442
Dec314

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.

Dongola receives about 6.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.2 and 7.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.6 months, from around Mar 2 to Sep 18. The brightest month is May, averaging about 7.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 5.2 kWh/m² — roughly 33% less than the May peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMay 97.8 kWhDec 215.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.5Bright
Feb6.2Intense
Mar7.1Intense
Apr7.7Intense
May7.8Intense
Jun7.7Intense
Jul7.3Intense
Aug7.0Intense
Sep6.7Intense
Oct6.2Intense
Nov5.6Bright
Dec5.2Bright

Where is Dongola?

Dongola sits at 19.2°N, 30.5°E, 226 m above sea level, in Sudan. The nearest listed city is Kuraymah, 161 km away.

KuraymahAbu SimbelEl BaugaBerberAtbaraAd-DamirShendiOmdurman

Topography around Dongola

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Dongola has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 19 m around an average of 228 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 36 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 270 m.

The land around Dongola is covered by artificial surfaces (32%), cropland (24%) and bare terrain (20%) within 3 km, bare terrain (70%) and cropland (20%) within 16 km, and bare terrain (95%) within 80 km.

3 km
19 m
16 km
36 m
80 km
270 m
treesshrubscroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Kuraymah 161 km · Abu Simbel 371 km · El Bauga 376 km · Berber 391 km · Atbara 405 km · Ad-Damir 409 km · Shendi 418 km · Omdurman 447 km

Sudan travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / D / F / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 215% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,165
2025
Happiness
4.1 / 10
World Happiness, 2017
Homicide rate
5.1
per 100k, 2008
Road deaths
26.8
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 421

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 Dongola (19.1816°, 30.4769°, elevation 226 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).