Maputo month by month — at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
01 The sun the other way round
Key moments at a glance
256 hours of sun, 19.6 mm of rain and 26.1 °C highs.
15.0 mm over 2.2 days, with 252 hours of sun and 26.7 °C.
171.1 mm of rain, the year's peak, with 30.8 °C highs.
198 hours of sun, the annual minimum, with 81.7 mm over almost 8 days.
That mismatch between light and season is what makes this calendar singular, and also what most misleads. In most destinations the brightest month is the warmest, and both coincide with high season. Here they run on separate tracks, and anyone planning by instinct ends up choosing badly.
The reason is the rainfall regime. Maputo has a tropical savanna climate, with a wet season occupying the austral summer and a dry one occupying the winter. Cloud goes with the water, not with the sun, so the dry months are also the clear ones even though they are the coolest.
02 Four months in one block
From May to August everything lines up at once: little rain, plenty of sun and temperatures of twenty-six degrees. It is a compact block, with no cracks.
The good window is not a single month but a block of four. From May to August precipitation runs from 31.9 down to 15.0 millimetres — with only 2 to 3 rain days a month — sunshine stays between 246 and 256 hours, and the mean high sits between 26.1 and 28.2 degrees.
The nights go with it and are the most pleasant part: the mean low falls to 16.8 degrees in May, 14.9 in June, 14.1 in July and 14.9 in August. In a city where in January they do not drop below 22.3, that means being able to sleep and walk at night without mugginess.
Relative humidity helps too, though it moves little: the annual mean is 74 %, with a minimum of 71 % in August and a maximum of 77 % in March. Six points of range does not sound like much, but combined with five degrees less temperature it changes the feel considerably.
03 Summer and its extremes
The austral summer concentrates almost all the water. From November to March, 81.7, 85.0, 171.1, 130.5 and 125.6 millimetres fall, adding up to 594 of the year's 841.6. January is the wettest month by a distance, and February the hottest, with a 31.4-degree mean high.
Rain days qualify the figure somewhat: January records 8.1 and February 7.6, which means the rain is not continuous but concentrated in heavy episodes. But summer's problem here is less the water than the combination of heat and humidity, with lows that do not drop below 22 degrees.
And there is a range of extremes worth knowing about even if you are unlikely to meet them. The absolute record in the series is 44.2 degrees, set in December, and January's is 43.6. Those are values far above the mean high, by the order of thirteen degrees, and they appear in short episodes.
04 Which month to pick
July and August are the two best months and they are very evenly matched. July wins on sunshine — 256 hours against 252 — and August on dryness — 15.0 millimetres against 19.6. Both are around 26 degrees by day and 14 by night, and both have two rain days a month.
May, June and September complete the good window and are excellent alternatives if you prefer a little more warmth: 28.2, 26.5 and 28.3 degrees by day, with 31.9, 17.6 and 44.4 millimetres. September also has the advantage of milder nights, at 17.3 degrees.
The months to avoid are January, February and March, for the combination of heavy rain, heat and mugginess: 171.1, 130.5 and 125.6 millimetres with highs of 30.8, 31.4 and 30.8 degrees. November and December are the run-up, with 81.7 and 85.0 millimetres and sunshine already in the year's low stretch.
