Climate averages 1991–2020

Dar es Salaam weather
in December.

A hot, wet month: the 4th warmest and the 9th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 30.2°C Daytime mean, December
Average low 24.9°C Night-time mean, December
Rainfall 94 mm 18 days with ≥1 mm
Daylight 13 h Sunrise to sunset, per day
Every month in Dar es Salaam · average highYear overview

December is a hot month in Dar es Salaam: daytime highs average 30.2°C and nights cool to about 24.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the 4th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 94 mm of rain on roughly 18 days, which makes December a wet month (the 9th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 31 min on an average December day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Vikindu (21 km away). In December its highs average 30.1°C, about as warm as Dar es Salaam, with 91 mm of rain.

Among the 43 cities listed in Tanzania, Dar es Salaam ranks 8th of 43 for the warmest December highs and 7th of 43 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 43 cities is 27.1°C; Dar es Salaam is 3.1°C warmer than that mean.

From December to January, average highs rise by 0.6°C to 30.8°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 94 mm to 53 mm.

The annual picture

December in context

30-year average
Average highAverage low°C
Average daily high and low temperatures by month The same values are available in the monthly table below. Lines show mean daily maxima and minima, not a forecast interval. 1520253035 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm
Average monthly rainfall totalsEach bar is a mean monthly total over 1991–2020. Full numbers are in the table. JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 2500

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Dar es Salaam climate table

1991–2020
Monthly climate averages for Dar es Salaam, 1991–2020
MonthAverage highHigh / lowAverage lowRainfall mm/monthRain days ≥1 mm/dayDaylight hours/dayDay­light h/day
January 30.8°C25.4°C25.4°C5310.012.512 h
February 31.4°C25.5°C25.5°C528.312.312 h
March 30.6°C25.0°C25.0°C15621.712.112 h
April 29.0°C24.2°C24.2°C22926.312.012 h
May 28.2°C23.6°C23.6°C15220.411.812 h
June 27.8°C22.7°C22.7°C3911.411.712 h
July 27.6°C22.1°C22.1°C258.211.812 h
August 28.0°C21.9°C21.9°C258.611.912 h
September 29.0°C22.4°C22.4°C237.412.112 h
October 29.8°C23.3°C23.3°C5711.012.312 h
November 29.9°C24.1°C24.1°C9217.512.412 h
December, selected 30.2°C24.9°C24.9°C9418.012.513 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

December in nearby cities

Distance from Dar es Salaam

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 limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Dar es Salaam) is explained once on the Dar es Salaam year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.