Climate and average weather in Tarakea

In Tarakea, 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 April.

Best: early January to late March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Tarakea typically varies from 10°C to 22°C, and is rarely below 8°C or above 24°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Tarakea for warm-weather activities are from early January to late March and mid September to mid October.

Hottest
Mar
22°
Coldest
Jul
10°
Wettest
Apr
593 mm
Driest
Jul
65 mm
Rain / yr
3408 mm
259 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,653 m
3.0°S
Clearest
Feb
63% cloud

Tarakea 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 March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Tarakea stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 22°C and low of 14°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 10°C and high of 19°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2113
Feb2213
Mar2214
Apr2114
May2013
Jun1911
Jul1910
Aug1910
Sep2011
Oct2112
Nov2113
Dec2114

Average hourly temperature in Tarakea

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 March afternoons, near 22°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 10°C.

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

Tarakea 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
Jan21° / 13°33819.512.25.1
Feb22° / 13°33214.712.15.6
Mar22° / 14°47521.2125.1
Apr21° / 14°59325.111.94.1
May20° / 13°32424.111.94.2
Jun19° / 11°11820.611.84.4
Jul19° / 10°6519.811.84.5
Aug19° / 10°9021.511.94.4
Sep20° / 11°11119.3124.8
Oct21° / 12°21821.612.14.7
Nov21° / 13°36925.612.14.0
Dec21° / 14°37526.312.24.0

Chance of rain

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

Tarakea gets about 3408 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 2.7 months, from around Oct 18 to Jan 6, peaking in December at about 91% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 2.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 593 mm over about 25 wet days; July is the driest, with 65 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetDec 1 · 91%Feb 2 · 50%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6320
Feb5415
Mar6721
Apr8425
May7724
Jun6821
Jul6520
Aug6922
Sep6519
Oct7022
Nov8426
Dec8426

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Tarakea collects about 3408 mm of rain across 259 wet days — roughly 284 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 593 mm, while July is the driest at just 65 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 42% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600650700JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3383324755933241186590111218369375
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan33820
Feb33215
Mar47521
Apr59325
May32424
Jun11821
Jul6520
Aug9022
Sep11119
Oct21822
Nov36926
Dec37526

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Tarakea, 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 December 7 and lasts for 4.3 months, ending around April 16. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 45% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 17 and lasts for 4.9 months, ending around September 12. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 86% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 2 · 50%Jun 21 · 10%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4258
Feb4555
Mar4555
Apr2872
May2278
Jun1486
Jul1486
Aug1585
Sep2872
Oct3070
Nov2575
Dec3169

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, Tarakea 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)
Jan12.26:346:44
Feb12.16:416:47
Mar12.06:396:40
Apr11.96:326:28
May11.96:306:22
Jun11.86:356:25
Jul11.86:406:31
Aug11.96:376:31
Sep12.06:256:24
Oct12.16:136:17
Nov12.16:116:19
Dec12.26:216:31

Sunny days

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

Tarakea averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 7 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.4 months, from around Jan 1 to Apr 14. The sunniest month is March, with roughly 6 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is June, down near 1 sunny days — about 88% fewer than the March peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyergloomymixedMar 47 daysJun 200 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb5Gloomy
Mar6Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct2Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec2Gloomy

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 Tarakea, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in April, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 11 · 100%Apr 8 · 84%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan55423
Feb61345
Mar38558
Apr137413
May40564
Jun90100
Jul9910
Aug9910
Sep9730
Oct74260
Nov35642
Dec29693

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.

Wind in Tarakea is steady company: average speeds sit near 7 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeSep 21 · 8 km/hDec 9 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May7calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep8calm
Oct7calm
Nov6calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Tarakea

In seasonPeak

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

Tarakea's rainy season runs November–May, 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 Tarakea

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid March, Tarakea 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 times of year to visit Tarakea for general outdoor tourist activities run from early January to late March and again from mid September to late October, with a peak score in the first week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 3 · 5.8

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
Jan5.1fair
Feb5.6good
Mar5.1fair
Apr4.1fair
May4.2fair
Jun4.4fair
Jul4.5fair
Aug4.4fair
Sep4.8fair
Oct4.7fair
Nov4.0fair
Dec4.1fair

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 Tarakea for hot-weather activities is from mid January to late March, with a peak score in the last week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 25 · 4.0

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 Tarakea, 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.

Tarakea packs about the same all year — highs hold near 22°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Tarakea sees daytime highs around 22°C and nights near 14°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes and sun protection. About 21 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Tarakea 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 Tarakea peaks around March 16 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 16UV 16Jun 19UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Tarakea

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 6.5 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
Mar8.56.5
Apr8.56.5
May7.56
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct8.56.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec86.5

Air quality in Tarakea 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 Tarakea is worst in July — around 16 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodGoodModerateJul 1116 µg/m³Nov 1411 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan15Moderate
Feb14Moderate
Mar13Moderate
Apr13Moderate
May12Moderate
Jun16Moderate
Jul16Moderate
Aug13Moderate
Sep11Good
Oct12Moderate
Nov10Good
Dec14Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Tarakea 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. Tarakea banks about 2,334 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan224
Feb215
Mar247
Apr229
May201
Jun153
Jul134
Aug141
Sep161
Oct200
Nov210
Dec219

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.

Tarakea receives about 5.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.8 and 6.2 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 236.2 kWhJun 204.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.2Intense
Mar5.9Bright
Apr5.3Bright
May4.8Bright
Jun4.8Bright
Jul5.0Bright
Aug5.2Bright
Sep5.9Bright
Oct6.0Intense
Nov5.3Bright
Dec5.3Bright

Where is Tarakea?

Tarakea sits at 3.0°S, 37.6°E, 1,653 m above sea level, in Tanzania. The nearest listed city is Taveta, 46 km away.

KingoriUsangiMakinduLembeniUsa River

Topography around Tarakea

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Tarakea has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 377 m around an average of 1,665 m above sea level; within 16 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,919 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 5,314 m.

The land around Tarakea is covered by cropland (49%) and trees (47%) within 3 km, trees (36%), cropland (34%) and grassland (21%) within 16 km, and grassland (42%) and shrubs (25%) within 80 km.

3 km
377 m
16 km
3,919 m
80 km
5,314 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Taveta 46 km · Moshi 47 km · Boma la Ngombe 59 km · Kingori 72 km · Usangi 79 km · Makindu 85 km · Lembeni 87 km · Usa River 89 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 Tarakea (-3.0008°, 37.5642°, elevation 1,653 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).