Climate and average weather in Kahama

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

Best: late April to early September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kahama typically varies from 18°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 16°C or above 33°C. September is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Kahama for warm-weather activities is from late April to early September.

Hottest
Sep
31°
Coldest
Dec
18°
Wettest
Dec
129 mm
Driest
Jul
1 mm
Rain / yr
761 mm
118 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,249 m
3.8°S
Clearest
Jul
47% cloud

Kahama is town in northwestern Tanzania.

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

Kahama 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 April to early September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Kahama stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is September, with an average high of 31°C and low of 20°C; the coolest is December, with an average low of 18°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2818
Feb2919
Mar2819
Apr2819
May2919
Jun2918
Jul2918
Aug3019
Sep3120
Oct3120
Nov2919
Dec2818

Average hourly temperature in Kahama

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 September afternoons, near 31°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 18°C.

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

Kahama 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
Jan28° / 18°11418.312.24.9
Feb29° / 19°8514.612.14.8
Mar28° / 19°12017.1124.8
Apr28° / 19°10415.311.95.4
May29° / 19°254.511.86.5
Jun29° / 18°20.511.86.7
Jul29° / 18°10.211.86.9
Aug30° / 19°71.211.96.3
Sep31° / 20°142.5125.4
Oct31° / 20°427.612.14.8
Nov29° / 19°1171612.24.7
Dec28° / 18°12919.812.24.9

Chance of rain

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

Kahama gets about 761 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.2 months, from around Oct 24 to Apr 30, peaking in December at about 64% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 5.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 129 mm over about 20 wet days; July is the driest, with 1 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 16 · 64%Jul 5 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5918
Feb5215
Mar5517
Apr5115
May155
Jun21
Jul10
Aug41
Sep93
Oct258
Nov5216
Dec6320

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kahama collects about 761 mm of rain across 118 wet days — roughly 63 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 129 mm, while July is the driest at just 1 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 48% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec11485120104252171442117129
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan11418
Feb8515
Mar12017
Apr10415
May255
Jun21
Jul10
Aug71
Sep143
Oct428
Nov11716
Dec12920

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Kahama, 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 6 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around October 11. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 64% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 12 and lasts for 6.8 months, ending around May 5. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 70% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 16 · 66%Nov 15 · 28%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3367
Feb3565
Mar3763
Apr3367
May5446
Jun5743
Jul6436
Aug6238
Sep6238
Oct4357
Nov3070
Dec3268

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, Kahama barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 12 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.26:537:05
Feb12.17:007:08
Mar12.06:587:00
Apr11.96:526:47
May11.86:516:41
Jun11.86:566:43
Jul11.87:016:49
Aug11.96:576:50
Sep12.06:456:43
Oct12.16:326:37
Nov12.26:306:40
Dec12.26:396:52

Sunny days

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

Kahama 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 5.2 months, from around May 8 to Oct 11. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is January, down near 4 sunny days — about 64% fewer than the July peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJul 1013 daysJan 104 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb5Gloomy
Mar6Gloomy
Apr4Gloomy
May10Mixed
Jun11Mixed
Jul12Mixed
Aug12Mixed
Sep11Mixed
Oct7Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
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 Kahama, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around October 31 to May 10. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 94% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 11 to October 30, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 6 · 100%Jan 12 · 4%muggycomfortabledryhumidhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan156727
Feb4106026
Mar2115532
Apr1125631
May2242297
Jun781840
Jul96310
Aug89740
Sep7712110
Oct4424302
Nov8196210
Dec187021

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 Kahama is typically calm, near 8 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around May 2 to Oct 26. The windiest month is July, averaging about 11 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 27 to May 1, with December the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeJul 12 · 12 km/hDec 19 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr7calm
May9calm
Jun10calm
Jul11calm
Aug11calm
Sep10calm
Oct9calm
Nov6calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Kahama

In seasonPeak

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

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

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

Best time to visit Kahama

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 8 · 7.0

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
Feb4.8fair
Mar4.8fair
Apr5.4fair
May6.5good
Jun6.7good
Jul6.9good
Aug6.3good
Sep5.4fair
Oct4.8fair
Nov4.7fair
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 Kahama for hot-weather activities is from early May to mid October, with a peak score in the second week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 11 · 8.7

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 Kahama, 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.

Kahama packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°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 September, Kahama sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 20°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Kahama 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 Kahama peaks around March 10 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 17 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 10UV 16Jun 17UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Kahama

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)
Jan86.5
Feb8.57
Mar8.57
Apr86.5
May86
Jun7.55
Jul7.55.5
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Kahama 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 Kahama is worst in January — around 17 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.1× the cleanest month (May, 8 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodJan 2016 µg/m³May 198 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan17Moderate
Feb15Moderate
Mar12Good
Apr10Good
May8Good
Jun9Good
Jul10Good
Aug11Good
Sep12Good
Oct10Good
Nov11Good
Dec12Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Kahama 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. Kahama banks about 5,033 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around October.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan405
Feb380
Mar420
Apr395
May423
Jun408
Jul415
Aug441
Sep457
Oct474
Nov414
Dec402

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.

Kahama receives about 6.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — intense — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.5 and 6.8 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 256.8 kWhDec 135.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.2Intense
Mar6.1Intense
Apr5.7Bright
May5.8Bright
Jun5.8Bright
Jul6.1Intense
Aug6.3Intense
Sep6.7Intense
Oct6.5Intense
Nov5.7Bright
Dec5.6Bright

Where is Kahama?

Kahama sits at 3.8°S, 32.6°E, 1,249 m above sea level, in Tanzania. The nearest listed city is Isaka, 38 km away.

NzegaUshiromboShinyangaOld Shinyanga

Topography around Kahama

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kahama has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 103 m around an average of 1,237 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 191 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 502 m.

The land around Kahama is covered by artificial surfaces (61%) and cropland (27%) within 3 km, cropland (74%) within 16 km, and cropland (72%) within 80 km.

3 km
103 m
16 km
191 m
80 km
502 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Isaka 38 km · Masumbwe 51 km · Tinde 67 km · Mhango 67 km · Nzega 77 km · Ushirombo 80 km · Shinyanga 93 km · Old Shinyanga 94 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 Kahama (-3.8333°, 32.6°, elevation 1,249 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).