Climate and average weather in Chimanimani

In Chimanimani, the summers are warm, wet, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild and mostly clear.

Best: mid April to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Chimanimani typically varies from 9°C to 27°C, and is rarely below 7°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 Chimanimani for warm-weather activities is from mid April to mid October.

Hottest
Nov
27°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Dec
233 mm
Driest
Aug
6 mm
Rain / yr
1061 mm
119 wet days
Daylight
10.8–13.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
0 m
19.8°S
Clearest
Aug
23% cloud

Chimanimani is town in Zimbabwe.

Founded
1892

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

Chimanimani 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 April to mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Chimanimani stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 27°C and low of 17°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 9°C and high of 20°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)
Jan2618
Feb2617
Mar2517
Apr2414
May2212
Jun2010
Jul209
Aug2311
Sep2513
Oct2715
Nov2717
Dec2618

Average hourly temperature in Chimanimani

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 27°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Chimanimani 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
Jan26° / 18°22919.713.15.1
Feb26° / 17°16015.812.75.6
Mar25° / 17°14214.212.16.3
Apr24° / 14°538.311.67.5
May22° / 12°174.111.18.2
Jun20° / 10°123.310.87.9
Jul20° / 12410.97.7
Aug23° / 11°61.911.38.8
Sep25° / 13°153.811.98.5
Oct27° / 15°498.412.57.2
Nov27° / 17°13515.212.95.8
Dec26° / 18°23320.213.25.1

Chance of rain

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

Chimanimani gets about 1061 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 Oct 25 to Apr 10, peaking in January at about 67% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 27.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 233 mm over about 20 wet days; August is the driest, with 6 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 15 · 67%Aug 27 · 6%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6420
Feb5716
Mar4614
Apr288
May134
Jun113
Jul124
Aug72
Sep124
Oct278
Nov5015
Dec6520

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Chimanimani collects about 1061 mm of rain across 119 wet days — roughly 88 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 233 mm, while August is the driest at just 6 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 59% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec2291601425317121261549135233
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan22920
Feb16016
Mar14214
Apr538
May174
Jun123
Jul124
Aug62
Sep154
Oct498
Nov13515
Dec23320

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Chimanimani, 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 15 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around November 4. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 87% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 5 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around April 14. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 64% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 31 · 90%Dec 13 · 34%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan3862
Feb4555
Mar5644
Apr6832
May8317
Jun8020
Jul7822
Aug8713
Sep8515
Oct7624
Nov5248
Dec3664

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 13 h 12 min of light; the shortest, around June 8, only 10 h 48 min — a swing of roughly 2 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.15:266:30
Feb12.75:436:23
Mar12.15:546:02
Apr11.66:025:35
May11.16:135:17
Jun10.86:245:13
Jul10.96:275:21
Aug11.36:135:32
Sep11.95:465:40
Oct12.55:205:47
Nov12.95:056:02
Dec13.25:096:20

Sunny days

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

Chimanimani averages about 15 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 5 and 24 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.5 months, from around Apr 18 to Nov 1. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 23 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is January, down near 6 sunny days — about 74% fewer than the September peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 124 daysJan 205 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan6Gloomy
Feb6Gloomy
Mar9Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May20Bright
Jun20Bright
Jul20Bright
Aug23Bright
Sep22Bright
Oct18Bright
Nov11Mixed
Dec6Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.9 months, from around November 10 to April 8. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 80% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 9 to November 9, and May 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 16 · 100%Jan 21 · 19%muggycomfortablehumiddryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan1195129
Feb1235521
Mar534519
Apr3840210
May871210
Jun99100
Jul100000
Aug99100
Sep881110
Oct553870
Nov2138374
Dec4255120

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 Chimanimani is steady company: average speeds sit near 6 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeOct 7 · 8 km/hMay 23 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr6calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep7calm
Oct7calm
Nov7calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Chimanimani

In seasonPeak

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

Chimanimani's monsoon runs November–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 Chimanimani

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 29 · 9.2

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
Jan5.2fair
Feb5.5good
Mar6.3good
Apr7.5good
May8.1ideal
Jun7.9ideal
Jul7.7ideal
Aug8.8ideal
Sep8.5ideal
Oct7.2good
Nov5.8good
Dec5.1fair

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 Chimanimani for hot-weather activities run from mid April to early May and again from mid August to mid November, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 6 · 7.8

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 Chimanimani, 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 27°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 20°C), pack a light layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In November, Chimanimani sees daytime highs around 27°C and nights near 17°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 15 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Chimanimani 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 Chimanimani peaks around January 17 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 at about 7 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highVery highExtremeJan 17UV 15Jun 20UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr10Very high
May8Very high
Jun7High
Jul7Very high
Aug8Very high
Sep9Very high
Oct13Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec14Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Chimanimani

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 January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 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)
Jan97
Feb8.56.5
Mar86.5
Apr75
May6.54
Jun62.5
Jul63
Aug6.54
Sep7.55
Oct86
Nov8.57
Dec97

Air quality in Chimanimani 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 Chimanimani is worst in September — around 66 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 10.0× the cleanest month (January, 7 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModeratePoorUnhealthyModerateGoodSep 1864 µg/m³Jan 137 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan7Good
Feb8Good
Mar9Good
Apr11Good
May15Moderate
Jun18Moderate
Jul25Moderate
Aug41Poor
Sep66Unhealthy
Oct50Poor
Nov17Moderate
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Chimanimani 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. Chimanimani banks about 3,329 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around December.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan363
Feb322
Mar334
Apr271
May214
Jun150
Jul139
Aug208
Sep277
Oct336
Nov350
Dec364

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.

Chimanimani receives about 5.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.9 and 6.6 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Aug 26 to Mar 24. The brightest month is November, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.2 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the November peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseNov 26.6 kWhJul 23.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.0Intense
Feb6.0Intense
Mar5.6Bright
Apr5.1Bright
May4.7Bright
Jun4.1Bright
Jul4.2Bright
Aug5.2Bright
Sep6.1Intense
Oct6.5Intense
Nov6.4Intense
Dec6.2Intense

Where is Chimanimani?

Chimanimani sits at 19.8°S, 32.9°E, 0 m above sea level, in Zimbabwe. The nearest listed city is Chipinge, 50 km away.

ChipingeMachipandaMessicaMutareManica

Topography around Chimanimani

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Chimanimani has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 653 m around an average of 1,593 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,425 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,316 m.

The land around Chimanimani is covered by trees (41%) and grassland (34%) within 3 km, trees (51%) and grassland (26%) within 16 km, and trees (53%) and shrubs (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
653 m
16 km
1,425 m
80 km
2,316 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Chipinge 50 km · Machipanda 92 km · Messica 93 km · Mutare 94 km · Manica 96 km · Chimoio 100 km · Gondola 114 km · Nhamatanda 153 km

Zimbabwe travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type D / G
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 56% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$3,021
2025
Happiness
3.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
25%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
6.8
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
41.2
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Very high
EF EPI 602
Religion
Apostolic Sect 40%Pentecostal 17%Protestant 14%none 8%

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 Chimanimani (-19.8°, 32.8667°, elevation 0 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).