Climate and average weather in Lira

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

Best: mid May to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lira typically varies from 19°C to 33°C, and is rarely below 17°C or above 36°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Lira for warm-weather activities are from early January to late January and mid May to late December.

Hottest
Feb
33°
Coldest
Jul
19°
Wettest
Apr
182 mm
Driest
Jan
23 mm
Rain / yr
1290 mm
191 wet days
Daylight
11.9–12.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,104 m
2.2°N
Clearest
Sep
56% cloud

Lira 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 December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Lira 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 July, with an average low of 19°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in February.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3220
Feb3321
Mar3221
Apr3020
May2920
Jun2819
Jul2819
Aug2819
Sep2919
Oct2919
Nov3019
Dec3119

How hot and cold Lira 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, Lira feels like about 33°C (around February 9). About 77 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
Jun29281919
Jul29281919
Aug29281919
Sep30291919
Oct30291919
Nov30301919
Dec31311919

Average hourly temperature in Lira

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 July, near 19°C.

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

Lira 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°234.411.94.3
Feb33° / 21°295.611.93.6
Mar32° / 21°9613.1123.5
Apr30° / 20°18222.2123.5
May29° / 20°16923.712.13.9
Jun28° / 19°11419.912.14.5
Jul28° / 19°11620.712.14.8
Aug28° / 19°14622.312.14.4
Sep29° / 19°11817.9124.5
Oct29° / 19°15719.4124.2
Nov30° / 19°10314.811.94.6
Dec31° / 19°386.511.94.9

Chance of rain

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

Lira gets about 1290 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 7.7 months, from around Mar 25 to Nov 12, peaking in May at about 83% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 9.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 182 mm over about 22 wet days; January is the driest, with 23 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMay 1 · 83%Jan 9 · 13%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan144
Feb206
Mar4313
Apr7422
May7624
Jun6620
Jul6721
Aug7222
Sep6018
Oct6219
Nov4815
Dec227

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lira collects about 1290 mm of rain across 191 wet days — roughly 107 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 182 mm, while January is the driest at just 23 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 39% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec23299618216911411614611815710338
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan234
Feb296
Mar9613
Apr18222
May16924
Jun11420
Jul11621
Aug14622
Sep11818
Oct15719
Nov10315
Dec387

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lira, 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 June 26 and lasts for 3.3 months, ending around October 2. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 56% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around March 6 and lasts for 2.5 months, ending around May 19. 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 12 · 60%Apr 25 · 23%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5347
Feb5050
Mar3961
Apr2773
May4159
Jun4654
Jul4852
Aug5149
Sep5644
Oct3961
Nov4060
Dec5248

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, Lira barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 06 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.97:016:54
Feb11.97:057:01
Mar12.06:596:58
Apr12.06:476:50
May12.16:426:48
Jun12.16:456:53
Jul12.16:506:58
Aug12.16:506:55
Sep12.06:426:43
Oct12.06:356:32
Nov11.96:376:31
Dec11.96:486:41

Sunny days

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

Lira averages about 7 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 10 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.6 months, from around Nov 28 to Mar 17. The sunniest month is December, with roughly 9 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is April, down near 3 sunny days — about 66% fewer than the December peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedDec 2010 daysApr 272 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan9Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar7Gloomy
Apr3Gloomy
May5Gloomy
Jun6Gloomy
Jul6Gloomy
Aug7Gloomy
Sep9Mixed
Oct5Gloomy
Nov6Gloomy
Dec9Mixed

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 7.8 months, from around March 26 to November 17. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 96% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around November 18 to March 25, and February is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 60% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 3 · 67%Apr 30 · 0%muggycomfortablehumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan4025269
Feb39212812
Mar16153237
Apr141283
May00397
Jun002377
Jul005545
Aug004654
Sep043857
Oct043858
Nov4134042
Dec23273416

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

The windier part of the year lasts 4.9 months, from around Nov 11 to Apr 9. The windiest month is February, averaging about 8 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 10 to Nov 10, with June the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeFeb 7 · 8 km/hJun 5 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb8calm
Mar7calm
Apr6calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec7calm

Best time to visit Lira

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late December, Lira 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 Lira for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late January, with a peak score in the second week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 9 · 5.0

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
Jan4.3fair
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.5fair
Apr3.5fair
May3.9fair
Jun4.6fair
Jul4.8fair
Aug4.4fair
Sep4.5fair
Oct4.2fair
Nov4.6fair
Dec4.8fair

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 Lira for hot-weather activities is from mid November to mid March, with a peak score in the first week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 1 · 7.3

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 Lira, 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.

Lira 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, Lira sees daytime highs around 33°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lira 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 Lira peaks around March 16 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 22 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 15Jun 22UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Lira

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)
Jan86
Feb86.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Lira 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 Lira is worst in January — around 34 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.1× the cleanest month (April, 16 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateJan 1733 µg/m³Apr 1516 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan34Moderate
Feb26Moderate
Mar18Moderate
Apr16Moderate
May18Moderate
Jun26Moderate
Jul28Moderate
Aug22Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct19Moderate
Nov21Moderate
Dec26Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lira 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. Lira banks about 5,350 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)
Jan498
Feb475
Mar511
Apr448
May437
Jun409
Jul408
Aug413
Sep417
Oct439
Nov429
Dec467

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.

Lira receives about 5.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.3 and 6.4 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 246.4 kWhJun 225.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.1Intense
Feb6.4Intense
Mar6.3Intense
Apr5.9Bright
May5.6Bright
Jun5.3Bright
Jul5.3Bright
Aug5.7Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.1Intense
Nov5.9Bright
Dec5.9Bright

Where is Lira?

Lira sits at 2.2°N, 32.9°E, 1,104 m above sea level, in Uganda. The nearest listed city is Dokolo, 50 km away.

DokoloApacOpitKiryandongo Refugee CampGuluBuyaleSorotiAbim

Topography around Lira

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lira has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 58 m around an average of 1,087 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 186 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 633 m.

The land around Lira is covered by artificial surfaces (34%), trees (32%) and cropland (21%) within 3 km, cropland (59%) and trees (23%) within 16 km, and cropland (45%) and shrubs (23%) within 80 km.

3 km
58 m
16 km
186 m
80 km
633 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Dokolo 50 km · Apac 50 km · Opit 62 km · Kiryandongo Refugee Camp 89 km · Gulu 89 km · Buyale 94 km · Soroti 99 km · Abim 100 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 Lira (2.2499°, 32.8999°, elevation 1,104 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).