Climate and average weather in Songea

In Songea, the summers are hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are warm and mostly clear.

Best: early May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Songea typically varies from 13°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 33°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 Songea for warm-weather activities is from early May to late September.

Hottest
Nov
30°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Jan
315 mm
Driest
Jul
4 mm
Rain / yr
1338 mm
148 wet days
Daylight
11.4–12.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,113 m
10.7°S
Clearest
Sep
45% cloud

Songea is city in Tanzania.

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

Songea 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 September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Songea stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 30°C and low of 19°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 13°C and high of 24°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in September.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2719
Feb2719
Mar2619
Apr2518
May2516
Jun2414
Jul2413
Aug2514
Sep2816
Oct3018
Nov3019
Dec2819

Average hourly temperature in Songea

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 30°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 13°C.

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

Songea 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
Jan27° / 19°31527.112.63.8
Feb27° / 19°27024.512.43.8
Mar26° / 19°26228.112.13.8
Apr25° / 18°12920.611.85.0
May25° / 16°296.411.57.5
Jun24° / 14°41.311.48.5
Jul24° / 13°41.111.48.5
Aug25° / 14°51.511.68.3
Sep28° / 16°41.411.97.5
Oct30° / 18°22512.25.8
Nov30° / 19°719.212.54.8
Dec28° / 19°22421.412.64.3

Chance of rain

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

Songea gets about 1338 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 5.2 months, from around Nov 25 to Apr 30, peaking in March at about 91% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 14.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 315 mm over about 27 wet days; July is the driest, with 4 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 19 · 91%Jul 14 · 3%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan8627
Feb8825
Mar9028
Apr6821
May216
Jun51
Jul41
Aug52
Sep51
Oct165
Nov329
Dec6921

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Songea collects about 1338 mm of rain across 148 wet days — roughly 112 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 315 mm, while July is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 63% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3152702621292944542271224
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan31527
Feb27025
Mar26228
Apr12921
May296
Jun41
Jul41
Aug52
Sep41
Oct225
Nov719
Dec22421

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Songea, 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 23 and lasts for 7.1 months, ending around November 24. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 71% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 25 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around April 22. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 88% 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 20 · 73%Feb 4 · 11%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1387
Feb1288
Mar1684
Apr3862
May6139
Jun6832
Jul6436
Aug6535
Sep7129
Oct7030
Nov5545
Dec3070

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 27, 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)
Jan12.66:307:04
Feb12.46:417:03
Mar12.16:456:49
Apr11.86:456:31
May11.56:486:19
Jun11.46:566:19
Jul11.47:006:26
Aug11.66:526:31
Sep11.96:336:30
Oct12.26:156:30
Nov12.56:086:38
Dec12.66:156:52

Sunny days

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

Songea averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.7 months, from around May 11 to Nov 30. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is March, down near 1 sunny days — about 93% fewer than the September peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedSep 2012 daysMar 181 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun9Mixed
Jul9Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep11Mixed
Oct11Mixed
Nov8Mixed
Dec4Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.6 months, from around November 20 to May 9. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 99% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 10 to November 19, and August 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 25 · 100%Jan 23 · 0%muggyhumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan019900
Feb008920
Mar009901
Apr01141480
May18453250
Jun7027300
Jul928000
Aug8911000
Sep8217100
Oct52351210
Nov193633120
Dec3927610

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

The windier part of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Jun 16 to Dec 6. The windiest month is October, averaging about 10 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Dec 7 to Jun 15, with March the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeOct 14 · 10 km/hMar 13 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr7calm
May7calm
Jun8calm
Jul8calm
Aug9calm
Sep10calm
Oct10calm
Nov10calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Songea

In seasonPeak

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

Songea's monsoon runs December–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Songea

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 10 · 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
Jan3.8fair
Feb3.8fair
Mar3.8fair
Apr5.1fair
May7.5ideal
Jun8.5ideal
Jul8.5ideal
Aug8.3ideal
Sep7.5ideal
Oct5.9good
Nov4.8fair
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 times of year to visit Songea for hot-weather activities run from mid May to late June and again from mid July to mid November, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 25 · 8.5

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 Songea, 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 30°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 24°C), pack light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Songea sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 9 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Songea 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 Songea peaks around February 16 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 9 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeFeb 16UV 16Jun 18UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Very high
Jun9Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Songea

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
Nov86.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Songea 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 Songea is worst in September — around 28 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.8× the cleanest month (December, 7 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 1827 µg/m³Dec 178 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan10Good
Feb10Good
Mar9Good
Apr8Good
May8Good
Jun8Good
Jul11Good
Aug19Moderate
Sep28Moderate
Oct23Moderate
Nov10Good
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Songea 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. Songea banks about 4,293 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)
Jan410
Feb364
Mar388
Apr343
May317
Jun264
Jul257
Aug296
Sep351
Oct428
Nov445
Dec429

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.

Songea receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.4 and 6.6 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around Aug 23 to Feb 21. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.5 kWh/m² — roughly 30% less than the October peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 306.6 kWhJun 294.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar4.9Bright
Apr4.6Bright
May4.6Bright
Jun4.5Bright
Jul4.5Bright
Aug5.0Bright
Sep6.0Bright
Oct6.4Intense
Nov6.4Intense
Dec5.6Bright

Where is Songea?

Songea sits at 10.7°S, 35.6°E, 1,113 m above sea level, in Tanzania. The nearest listed city is Maposeni, 29 km away.

MbingaMatiriMahanjeTingiMlangaliNjombe

Topography around Songea

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Songea has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 216 m around an average of 1,115 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 798 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,267 m.

The land around Songea is covered by artificial surfaces (40%) and trees (31%) within 3 km, cropland (37%) and trees (31%) within 16 km, and trees (52%) within 80 km.

3 km
216 m
16 km
798 m
80 km
1,267 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Maposeni 29 km · Kigonsera 67 km · Mbinga 75 km · Matiri 82 km · Mahanje 90 km · Tingi 96 km · Mlangali 159 km · Njombe 177 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 Songea (-10.6833°, 35.65°, elevation 1,113 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).