Climate averages 1991–2020
Balkh weather
in May.
A hot, very dry month: the 5th warmest and the 6th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a hot month in Balkh: daytime highs average 30.3°C and nights cool to about 16.4°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 13 mm of rain on roughly 3 days, which makes May a very dry month (the 6th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 07 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Mazār-e Sharīf (20 km away). In May its highs average 30.3°C, about as warm as Balkh, with 13 mm of rain.
Among the 14 cities listed in Afghanistan, Balkh ranks joint 3rd of 14 for the warmest May highs and joint 4th of 14 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 14 cities is 28.1°C; Balkh is 2.3°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs rise by 5.6°C to 36.0°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 13 mm to under 1 mm.
The annual picture
May in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Balkh climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 9.0°C-0.5°C | -0.5°C | 34 | 7.4 | 10.010 h |
| February | 11.2°C0.9°C | 0.9°C | 40 | 8.0 | 10.811 h |
| March | 17.1°C5.8°C | 5.8°C | 47 | 8.8 | 11.912 h |
| April | 23.8°C11.4°C | 11.4°C | 34 | 5.9 | 13.113 h |
| May, selected | 30.3°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 13 | 2.7 | 14.114 h |
| June | 36.0°C21.1°C | 21.1°C | 0.8 | 0.2 | 14.615 h |
| July | 37.7°C23.4°C | 23.4°C | 0.1 | 0.1 | 14.414 h |
| August | 35.7°C21.6°C | 21.6°C | 0.1 | 0.0 | 13.614 h |
| September | 30.6°C16.4°C | 16.4°C | 0.7 | 0.2 | 12.512 h |
| October | 23.4°C10.4°C | 10.4°C | 4.3 | 1.1 | 11.311 h |
| November | 15.7°C5.1°C | 5.1°C | 23 | 5.2 | 10.210 h |
| December | 10.5°C0.8°C | 0.8°C | 25 | 5.6 | 9.710 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
May in nearby cities
- Mazār-e Sharīf in MayAfghanistan · 20 kmHigh 30.3°C · Low 16.8°C · 13 mm rain
- Tirmiz in MayUzbekistan · 62 kmHigh 32.7°C · Low 19.2°C · 15 mm rain
- Kunduz in MayAfghanistan · 175 kmHigh 30.1°C · Low 15.7°C · 45 mm rain
- Baghlān in MayAfghanistan · 176 kmHigh 27.0°C · Low 13.7°C · 63 mm rain
- Denov in MayUzbekistan · 190 kmHigh 26.5°C · Low 12.7°C · 30 mm rain
- Khanabad in MayAfghanistan · 198 kmHigh 28.9°C · Low 15.2°C · 42 mm rain
- Bokhtar in MayTajikistan · 205 kmHigh 29.2°C · Low 16.5°C · 34 mm rain
- Maymana in MayAfghanistan · 211 kmHigh 25.3°C · Low 12.8°C · 29 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Balkh) is explained once on the Balkh year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Mazār-e Sharīf lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.