Geography and Climate
The Dakarian climate is generally warm. Dakar has semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification BSh), with a short rainy season and a lengthy dry season. Dakar's rainy season lasts from July to October while the dry season covers the remaining eight months. The city sees approximately 495 mm of precipitation per year.
Dakar between December and May is usually pleasantly warm with daily temperatures around 24-27 degrees. Nights during this time of the year are comfortable, some 17-20 degrees. However, between May and November the city becomes decidedly warmer with daily highs reaching 29-31 degrees and night lows a little bit above 23-24 degrees. Notwithstanding this hotter season Dakar's weather is far from being as hot as that of African cities inland, such as Niamey and N'Djamena, where temperatures hover above 36 degrees for much of the year. It has presumably the best climate settings in all western Africa, as it is cooled year-round with sea breezes.
| Climate data for Dakar/Sénégal | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 25.0 (77.0) |
24.6 (76.3) |
25.0 (77.0) |
25.3 (77.5) |
26.3 (79.3) |
28.9 (84.0) |
30.0 (86.0) |
30.1 (86.2) |
30.4 (86.7) |
30.4 (86.7) |
29.7 (85.5) |
26.5 (79.7) |
27.6 (81.7) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 17.4 (63.3) |
17.0 (62.6) |
17.4 (63.3) |
18.4 (65.1) |
20.2 (68.4) |
23.1 (73.6) |
24.5 (76.1) |
24.6 (76.3) |
24.4 (75.9) |
24.3 (75.7) |
22.5 (72.5) |
19.6 (67.3) |
21.1 (70.0) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 2.1 (0.083) |
1.3 (0.051) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
0.0 (0) |
10.2 (0.402) |
83.4 (3.283) |
184.0 (7.244) |
156.5 (6.161) |
51.6 (2.031) |
2.6 (0.102) |
2.6 (0.102) |
495.1 (19.492) |
| % humidity | 69 | 75 | 76 | 79 | 79 | 78 | 77 | 79 | 81 | 79 | 74 | 66 | 76 |
| Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.1 mm) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9 | 8 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 25 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 244.9 | 245.8 | 276.0 | 278.4 | 291.4 | 252.0 | 232.5 | 223.2 | 219.0 | 257.3 | 249.0 | 238.7 | 3,008.2 |
| Source: Weltwetter Spiegel Online | |||||||||||||
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