Benin
Weather locations in Benin
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Benin illustrated weather map
1 mapped locations
Only locations with a verified coordinate are marked. The complete location list is below.
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Climate of Benin
Country climate guideBenin runs for nearly 700 kilometres from the Gulf of Guinea in the south to the Niger River in the north, and that north-south depth gives the country two quite different climates. Its narrow coastal strip and the forested south sit under a tropical regime, while the northern two-thirds, together with the Sahelian fringe along the Niger, are much hotter and far drier. The line between the two shifts with the seasons.
Main climate types
Benin is divided into a southern tropical savanna and monsoon zone and a northern hot semi-arid zone. In the south the rain follows a bimodal pattern, with a main wet season around June and July and a secondary peak in September and October, split by a short dry break in August. The north has a single wet season from roughly May or June to September, followed by a long dry season dominated by the dry northeasterly harmattan winds that carry Saharan dust south. Mean annual rainfall falls from around 800 to 900 mm in the south to about 400 to 600 mm in the north.
Temperatures
Temperatures are high almost everywhere. At Cotonou, January and July means both sit near 27 °C, with hot, sticky afternoons and nights that only cool to about 24 °C. Further north the range widens: March and April are the hottest months, with maximums around 38 to 40 °C, while harmattan nights in December and January can drop to about 14 °C.
Rainfall
Most of the rain falls between May and October, with the heaviest monthly totals in June and September in the south. Annual totals at Cotonou are around 700 to 800 mm, and northern areas can go three or four months without meaningful rain in the dry season. Because the harmattan blows from January to March, dust in the air can reduce visibility for days on end.
When to go
The coolest and most comfortable months are November to February, when the harmattan has passed and daytime maximums in the south sit nearer 30 °C than 38 °C. The southern wet season, above all in June and September, brings heavy afternoon storms. Travellers going north in the warmest months should plan for very hot days and for water and shade.