Climate and average weather in Arua

In Arua, 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 August.

Best: late April to early October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Arua typically varies from 18°C to 33°C, and is rarely below 17°C or above 35°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Arua for warm-weather activities are from late April to early October and early November to late January.

Hottest
Feb
33°
Coldest
Aug
18°
Wettest
Aug
137 mm
Driest
Jan
10 mm
Rain / yr
872 mm
146 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,215 m
3.0°N
Clearest
Jan
55% cloud

Arua is City in North Western Uganda.

Founded
1914

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

Arua 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 October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Arua stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 33°C and low of 21°C; the coolest is August, 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°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3220
Feb3321
Mar3221
Apr3020
May2920
Jun2919
Jul2819
Aug2818
Sep2819
Oct2819
Nov2919
Dec3020

How hot and cold Arua really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Arua feels like about 33°C (around February 11). About 43 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in February.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan32322020
Feb33332121
Mar32322121
Apr31302020
May30292020
Jun29291919
Jul28281819
Aug28281818
Sep29281819
Oct29281919
Nov29291919
Dec30302020

Average hourly temperature in Arua

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 February afternoons, near 33°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 18°C.

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

Arua 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
Jan32° / 20°102.211.85.0
Feb33° / 21°173.511.94.2
Mar32° / 21°509.9124.1
Apr30° / 20°8014.712.14.4
May29° / 20°7012.312.15.1
Jun29° / 19°8513.512.25.2
Jul28° / 19°11316.112.25.4
Aug28° / 18°13719.112.15.0
Sep28° / 19°10517.1124.9
Oct28° / 19°11820.311.94.4
Nov29° / 19°7213.811.95.1
Dec30° / 20°163.611.85.7

Chance of rain

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

Arua gets about 872 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 5.5 months, from around Jun 6 to Nov 19, peaking in October at about 67% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 1.

August is the wettest month by volume, with 137 mm over about 19 wet days; January is the driest, with 10 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 21 · 67%Jan 1 · 5%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan72
Feb134
Mar3210
Apr4915
May4012
Jun4314
Jul5216
Aug6219
Sep5817
Oct6420
Nov4514
Dec134

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Arua collects about 872 mm of rain across 146 wet days — roughly 73 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. August is the wettest month with 137 mm, while January is the driest at just 10 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 42% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1017508070851131371051187216
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan102
Feb174
Mar5010
Apr8015
May7012
Jun8514
Jul11316
Aug13719
Sep10517
Oct11820
Nov7214
Dec164

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Arua, 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 November 26 and lasts for 3.4 months, ending around March 9. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 55% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 10 and lasts for 2.3 months, ending around May 17. The cloudiest month is April, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 73% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecDec 24 · 57%Apr 24 · 25%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5545
Feb5149
Mar3961
Apr2773
May4060
Jun4555
Jul4456
Aug4258
Sep4456
Oct2872
Nov3763
Dec5446

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, Arua 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)
Jan11.87:107:01
Feb11.97:147:08
Mar12.07:077:05
Apr12.16:556:59
May12.16:496:57
Jun12.26:517:02
Jul12.26:577:07
Aug12.16:577:03
Sep12.06:506:51
Oct11.96:436:39
Nov11.96:466:37
Dec11.86:586:47

Sunny days

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

Arua averages about 7 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 3 and 11 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.7 months, from around Nov 22 to Mar 14. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 11 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is October, down near 3 sunny days — about 70% fewer than the January peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedJan 2711 daysOct 173 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan11Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar7Gloomy
Apr4Gloomy
May7Gloomy
Jun7Gloomy
Jul5Gloomy
Aug5Gloomy
Sep6Gloomy
Oct3Gloomy
Nov5Gloomy
Dec11Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 8.1 months, from around March 22 to November 23. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 97% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 24 to March 21, and January is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 85% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 11 · 86%Apr 28 · 0%muggycomfortablehumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan6025151
Feb5127202
Mar13215115
Apr034651
May014554
Jun047224
Jul058212
Aug018019
Sep017029
Oct025840
Nov3116025
Dec3230353

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 Arua is typically calm, near 7 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.5 months, from around Nov 20 to May 5. The windiest month is February, averaging about 9 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around May 6 to Nov 19, with July the calmest month at about 6 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeFeb 13 · 9 km/hJul 27 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb9calm
Mar8calm
Apr8calm
May7calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug5calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov7calm
Dec8calm

Hazard calendar for Arua

In seasonPeak

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

Arua's rainy season runs April–November, 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 Arua

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late September, Arua 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 Arua for general outdoor tourist activities run from late April to early October and again from early November to late January, with a peak score in the second week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 13 · 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
Jan4.9fair
Feb4.2fair
Mar4.1fair
Apr4.4fair
May5.0fair
Jun5.2fair
Jul5.4fair
Aug5.0fair
Sep4.9fair
Oct4.4fair
Nov5.1fair
Dec5.7good

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 Arua for hot-weather activities run from mid May to mid June and again from late November to mid March, with a peak score in the last week of December.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 24 · 8.0

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 Arua, 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.

Arua packs about the same all year — highs hold near 33°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 February, Arua sees daytime highs around 33°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 4 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Arua 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 Arua peaks around March 17 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 11 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 17UV 15Jul 11UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul10Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec10Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Arua

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)
Jan7.56
Feb86.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55

Air quality in Arua 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 Arua is worst in January — around 55 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 2.8× the cleanest month (April, 19 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModeratePoorJan 1953 µg/m³Apr 2320 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan55Poor
Feb48Poor
Mar30Moderate
Apr19Moderate
May20Moderate
Jun28Moderate
Jul30Moderate
Aug25Moderate
Sep22Moderate
Oct22Moderate
Nov26Moderate
Dec40Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Arua 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. Arua banks about 5,272 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan494
Feb469
Mar501
Apr448
May448
Jun415
Jul406
Aug402
Sep400
Oct418
Nov413
Dec457

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.

Arua receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.0 and 6.3 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 146.3 kWhJul 235.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Intense
Feb6.2Intense
Mar6.2Intense
Apr5.9Bright
May5.7Bright
Jun5.1Bright
Jul5.0Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep5.7Bright
Oct5.6Bright
Nov5.7Bright
Dec5.8Bright

Where is Arua?

Arua sits at 3.0°N, 30.9°E, 1,215 m above sea level, in Uganda. The nearest listed city is Aru, 19 km away.

KobokoYumbeNebbiPaidhaPakwachAdjumaniMoyo

Topography around Arua

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Arua has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 124 m around an average of 1,196 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 511 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,444 m.

The land around Arua is covered by artificial surfaces (38%) within 3 km, shrubs (44%), grassland (24%) and cropland (23%) within 16 km, and shrubs (45%) and grassland (32%) within 80 km.

3 km
124 m
16 km
511 m
80 km
1,444 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Aru 19 km · Koboko 44 km · Yumbe 62 km · Nebbi 63 km · Paidha 68 km · Pakwach 90 km · Adjumani 105 km · Moyo 115 km

Uganda travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type G
240 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 35% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,206
2025
Happiness
4.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
18%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
29.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 518
Religion
Protestant 45%Roman Catholic 39%Muslim 14%other 2%

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 Arua (3.0201°, 30.911°, elevation 1,215 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).