Climate and average weather in Mbinga

In Mbinga, the summers are warm, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild and mostly clear.

Best: mid May to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Mbinga typically varies from 12°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 9°C or above 31°C. November is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Nov
28°
Coldest
Jul
12°
Wettest
Jan
413 mm
Driest
Sep
7 mm
Rain / yr
1733 mm
181 wet days
Daylight
11.4–12.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,357 m
10.9°S
Clearest
Sep
37% cloud

Mbinga is town and ward in Ruvuma Region, Tanzania.

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

Mbinga 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 May to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Mbinga stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 28°C and low of 18°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 12°C and high of 21°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 11°C) in September.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2518
Feb2518
Mar2518
Apr2417
May2314
Jun2212
Jul2112
Aug2313
Sep2615
Oct2817
Nov2818
Dec2618

Average hourly temperature in Mbinga

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 November afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 12°C.

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

Mbinga 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° / 18°41329.312.63.7
Feb25° / 18°33325.912.43.7
Mar25° / 18°31829.312.13.7
Apr24° / 17°14024.111.84.6
May23° / 14°4011.111.56.7
Jun22° / 12°165.511.47.4
Jul21° / 12°17611.47.4
Aug23° / 13°103.511.68.3
Sep26° / 15°7211.98.3
Oct28° / 17°276.312.27.0
Nov28° / 18°10412.112.55.7
Dec26° / 18°30925.412.64.3

Chance of rain

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

Mbinga gets about 1733 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 5.4 months, from around Nov 24 to May 5, peaking in March at about 96% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 10.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 413 mm over about 29 wet days; September is the driest, with 7 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 23 · 96%Sep 10 · 7%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9429
Feb9326
Mar9429
Apr7924
May3711
Jun196
Jul196
Aug114
Sep72
Oct206
Nov4112
Dec8125

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Mbinga collects about 1733 mm of rain across 181 wet days — roughly 144 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 413 mm, while September is the driest at just 7 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 61% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec41333331814040161710727104309
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan41329
Feb33326
Mar31829
Apr14024
May4011
Jun166
Jul176
Aug104
Sep72
Oct276
Nov10412
Dec30925

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Mbinga, 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 April 26 and lasts for 6.9 months, ending around November 20. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 83% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 21 and lasts for 5.1 months, ending around April 25. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 91% 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 17 · 83%Jan 18 · 8%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan991
Feb991
Mar1288
Apr3466
May6040
Jun6832
Jul6832
Aug7525
Sep8317
Oct7624
Nov5446
Dec2476

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

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.66:327:06
Feb12.46:447:05
Mar12.16:476:52
Apr11.86:476:33
May11.56:516:21
Jun11.46:596:21
Jul11.47:036:28
Aug11.66:556:33
Sep11.96:366:32
Oct12.26:186:32
Nov12.56:106:41
Dec12.66:176:55

Sunny days

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

Mbinga averages about 7 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 17 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.2 months, from around May 18 to Nov 21. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 14 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is January, down near 1 sunny days — about 95% fewer than the August peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightAug 2917 daysJan 161 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun9Mixed
Jul10Mixed
Aug15Mixed
Sep17Bright
Oct14Mixed
Nov8Mixed
Dec3Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.5 months, from around November 19 to May 4. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 5 to November 18, and June 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 26 · 100%Jan 15 · 0%muggycomfortablehumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan003069
Feb002971
Mar004752
Apr0167013
May1560240
Jun732610
Jul94600
Aug92800
Sep891000
Oct632890
Nov2534374
Dec374743

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 Mbinga is typically calm, near 6 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 7.5 months, from around Apr 15 to Nov 29. The windiest month is October, averaging about 8 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Nov 30 to Apr 14, with February the calmest month at about 4 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeOct 7 · 8 km/hFeb 21 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep8calm
Oct8calm
Nov7calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Mbinga

In seasonPeak

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

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

Mbinga's monsoon runs December–March, 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 Mbinga

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late May, Mbinga 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 Mbinga for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late October, with a peak score in the last week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 26 · 8.6

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
Jan3.7fair
Feb3.8fair
Mar3.8fair
Apr4.7fair
May6.7good
Jun7.4good
Jul7.4good
Aug8.2ideal
Sep8.3ideal
Oct7.1good
Nov5.7good
Dec4.3fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 25 · 8.1

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 Mbinga, 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 November (highs near 28°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 21°C), pack sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Mbinga sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 18°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 12 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Mbinga 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 Mbinga peaks around February 15 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 17 at about 10 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeFeb 15UV 16Jun 17UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan16Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun10Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Mbinga

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 February 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)
Jan8.57
Feb8.57
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May75
Jun74.5
Jul75
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Mbinga 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 Mbinga is worst in September — around 55 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 7.3× the cleanest month (December, 8 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModeratePoorModerateGoodSep 1753 µg/m³Dec 198 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan10Good
Feb10Good
Mar9Good
Apr9Good
May9Good
Jun10Good
Jul16Moderate
Aug36Poor
Sep55Unhealthy
Oct42Poor
Nov12Good
Dec8Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Mbinga 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. Mbinga banks about 3,729 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)
Jan360
Feb323
Mar349
Apr306
May270
Jun210
Jul201
Aug250
Sep312
Oct383
Nov392
Dec373

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.

Mbinga receives about 5.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.7 and 6.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.2 months, from around Aug 16 to Dec 21. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.8 kWh/m² — roughly 30% less than the October peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 206.8 kWhJun 254.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar5.1Bright
Apr4.9Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun4.8Bright
Jul4.9Bright
Aug5.5Bright
Sep6.5Intense
Oct6.8Intense
Nov6.5Intense
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Mbinga?

Mbinga sits at 10.9°S, 35.0°E, 1,357 m above sea level, in Tanzania. The nearest listed city is Kigonsera, 15 km away.

SongeaNkhata BayMahanjeMzuzu

Topography around Mbinga

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Mbinga has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 365 m around an average of 1,348 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,176 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,616 m.

The land around Mbinga is covered by cropland (24%), trees (23%) and shrubs (23%) within 3 km, shrubs (32%), cropland (26%) and trees (22%) within 16 km, and trees (28%) and water (25%) within 80 km.

3 km
365 m
16 km
1,176 m
80 km
1,616 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Kigonsera 15 km · Matiri 24 km · Tingi 41 km · Maposeni 57 km · Songea 75 km · Nkhata Bay 109 km · Mahanje 116 km · Mzuzu 124 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 Mbinga (-10.9333°, 35.0167°, elevation 1,357 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. 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).