Namibia
Weather locations in Namibia
Choose a location in Namibia to view its available forecast products.
Namibia illustrated weather map
10 mapped locations
Only locations with a verified coordinate are marked. The complete location list is below.
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Climate of Namibia
Country climate guideNamibia is the driest country in southern Africa, a long strip of desert coast and inland plateau between about 17°S and 29°S on the Atlantic coast of south-west Africa. The Namib desert hugs the coast and reaches up the great escarpment, behind which lie the rolling highland plains of the Khomas highland and, in the south, the Fish River canyon. The country has almost no permanent rivers except the Orange in the far south, and almost all inland water is groundwater. That scarcity, together with the cold Benguela current offshore, explains the rare rain.
Main climate types
The dominant class is hot desert, with semi-arid desert stepping into steppe in the east. Two features stand out: the cold Benguela current keeps the coastal strip cool and foggy all year, and the great escarpment forces rain onto the higher ground, which becomes savanna and much wetter near the Angolan border. Snow is essentially unknown below the two highest peaks on the escarpment.
Temperatures
Altitude, not latitude, sets the temperature. Windhoek, at about 1,650 metres, averages about 24 °C in January and about 17 °C in July, and winter mornings there often fall to about 2 °C. Along the coast it is milder and steadier: Swakopmund averages about 19 °C in January and about 15 °C in July. The far north around Rundu is the hot end, with highs above 35 °C in the warm months.
Rainfall
Rain is rare and erratic. The coastal Namib around Walvis Bay takes under 50 mm a year and gets almost none of it as rain, arriving instead as fog. Windhoek receives about 370 mm to 400 mm, the land behind the escarpment 400 mm to 600 mm, and the far north near the Zambian border 600 mm to 800 mm. Almost all of it falls between November and March, sometimes as heavy thunderstorms, and several consecutive dry years are normal.
When to go
The dry months from May to September are the best time to travel, when days are clear, nights cold and animals gather at the waterholes. Coastal fog makes some photography difficult but temperatures very comfortable. The rains from November to March bring muggy conditions, and summer thunderstorms can close gravel roads in the north.