Climate and average weather in Basotu

In Basotu, the weather is warm, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around December.

Best: early May to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Basotu typically varies from 13°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 30°C. October is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Basotu for warm-weather activities is from early May to late October.

Hottest
Oct
28°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Dec
273 mm
Driest
Jul
1 mm
Rain / yr
1265 mm
107 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,609 m
4.4°S
Clearest
Sep
47% cloud

Basotu 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 May to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Basotu stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is October, with an average high of 28°C and low of 16°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 13°C and high of 24°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2516
Feb2616
Mar2616
Apr2516
May2515
Jun2514
Jul2413
Aug2513
Sep2714
Oct2816
Nov2716
Dec2616

Average hourly temperature in Basotu

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 October afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 13°C.

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

Basotu 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
Jan25° / 16°23318.512.25.4
Feb26° / 16°17014.812.15.6
Mar26° / 16°23818.8125.4
Apr25° / 16°16814.911.96.0
May25° / 15°34611.87.7
Jun25° / 14°51.111.88.3
Jul24° / 13°10.211.88.6
Aug25° / 13°20.311.98.4
Sep27° / 14°30.7128.1
Oct28° / 16°203.112.17.4
Nov27° / 16°11910.512.26.3
Dec26° / 16°27318.512.25.4

Chance of rain

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

Basotu gets about 1265 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 5.8 months, from around Nov 11 to May 6, peaking in March at about 64% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 10.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 273 mm over about 19 wet days; July is the driest, with 1 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 30 · 64%Jul 10 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5919
Feb5415
Mar6019
Apr5015
May206
Jun41
Jul10
Aug10
Sep31
Oct103
Nov3511
Dec6019

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Basotu collects about 1265 mm of rain across 107 wet days — roughly 105 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 273 mm, while July is the driest at just 1 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 59% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec23317023816834512320119273
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan23319
Feb17015
Mar23819
Apr16815
May346
Jun51
Jul10
Aug20
Sep31
Oct203
Nov11911
Dec27319

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Basotu, 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 May 4 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around October 30. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 68% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 31 and lasts for 6.1 months, ending around May 3. 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 12 · 69%Jan 13 · 33%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3466
Feb3763
Mar4357
Apr4555
May6238
Jun5743
Jul6139
Aug6436
Sep6832
Oct5644
Nov4654
Dec3961

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, Basotu 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)
Jan12.26:426:56
Feb12.16:506:59
Mar12.06:486:50
Apr11.96:436:37
May11.86:426:30
Jun11.86:476:32
Jul11.86:526:38
Aug11.96:486:39
Sep12.06:356:33
Oct12.16:226:28
Nov12.26:196:31
Dec12.26:286:43

Sunny days

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

Basotu averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 4 and 13 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.3 months, from around Jun 26 to Nov 3. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is January, down near 5 sunny days — about 59% fewer than the September peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedSep 1913 daysJan 84 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb6Gloomy
Mar7Gloomy
Apr7Gloomy
May10Mixed
Jun9Mixed
Jul11Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep12Mixed
Oct9Mixed
Nov7Gloomy
Dec5Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.1 months, from around November 23 to April 27. The muggiest month is March, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 47% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 28 to November 22, and June is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 5 · 100%Mar 31 · 46%humiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan194140
Feb224038
Mar124147
Apr65936
May43516
Jun9280
Jul10000
Aug9910
Sep9910
Oct89101
Nov563212
Dec263836

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 Basotu is typically calm, near 12 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Apr 16 to Nov 12. The windiest month is September, averaging about 15 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Nov 13 to Apr 15, with January the calmest month at about 7 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeSep 18 · 15 km/hJan 20 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb7calm
Mar9calm
Apr12calm
May14light breeze
Jun14light breeze
Jul15light breeze
Aug15light breeze
Sep15light breeze
Oct15light breeze
Nov11calm
Dec8calm

Hazard calendar for Basotu

In seasonPeak

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

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

Basotu's monsoon runs December–April, 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 Basotu

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late October, Basotu 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 Basotu for general outdoor tourist activities is from early May to late October, with a peak score in the second week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 10 · 8.7

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
Jan5.4fair
Feb5.6good
Mar5.4fair
Apr6.0good
May7.6ideal
Jun8.3ideal
Jul8.6ideal
Aug8.4ideal
Sep8.1ideal
Oct7.4good
Nov6.3good
Dec5.4fair

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 Basotu for hot-weather activities is from mid May to mid November, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 22 · 8.2

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 Basotu, 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.

Basotu packs about the same all year — highs hold near 28°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In October, Basotu sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 16°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 3 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Basotu 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 Basotu peaks around March 14 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 17 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 14UV 16Jun 17UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct15Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Basotu

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 March the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 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)
Jan8.56.5
Feb8.57
Mar8.57
Apr86.5
May7.55.5
Jun7.55
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86.5
Dec86
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Basotu 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. Basotu banks about 3,770 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan325
Feb303
Mar336
Apr313
May303
Jun271
Jul267
Aug288
Sep314
Oct360
Nov353
Dec337

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.

Basotu receives about 6.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — intense — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.7 and 7.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 3.6 months, from around Aug 8 to Nov 25. The brightest month is September, averaging about 7.1 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is May, down near 5.8 kWh/m² — roughly 19% less than the September peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 287.3 kWhMay 105.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.1Intense
Feb6.5Intense
Mar6.4Intense
Apr6.0Intense
May5.7Bright
Jun5.8Bright
Jul6.1Intense
Aug6.5Intense
Sep7.1Intense
Oct7.2Intense
Nov6.5Intense
Dec6.0Intense

Where is Basotu?

Basotu sits at 4.4°S, 35.1°E, 1,609 m above sea level, in Tanzania. The nearest listed city is Mtinko, 33 km away.

Topography around Basotu

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Basotu has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 60 m around an average of 1,618 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 274 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,357 m.

The land around Basotu is covered by water (35%) and cropland (32%) within 3 km, cropland (59%) within 16 km, and cropland (42%) and shrubs (28%) within 80 km.

3 km
60 m
16 km
274 m
80 km
2,357 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Mtinko 33 km · Katesh 38 km · Bashanet 40 km · Ilongero 41 km · Nangwa 42 km · Dongobesh 47 km · Dareda 54 km · Igugunu 55 km

Tanzania travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type D / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 29% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,319
2025
Happiness
3.9 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
31%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
3.7
per 100k, 2020
Road deaths
31.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 479
Religion
Christian 63%Muslim 34%folk religion 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 Basotu (-4.3667°, 35.0833°, elevation 1,609 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).