Climate averages 1991–2020

Chipata weather
in January.

A warm, very wet month: the 8th warmest and the wettest of the year.

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

Average high 25.2°C Daytime mean, January

Average low 18.3°C Night-time mean, January

Rainfall 279 mm 27 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 13 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

January is a warm month in Chipata: daytime highs average 25.2°C and nights cool to about 18.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the 8th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 279 mm of rain on roughly 27 days, which makes January a very wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 50 min on an average January day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Lilongwe (128 km away). In January its highs average 25.6°C, about as warm as Chipata, with 208 mm of rain.

Among the 24 cities listed in Zambia, Chipata ranks joint 14th of 24 for the warmest January highs and 19th of 24 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 24 cities is 25.5°C; Chipata is 0.3°C cooler than that mean.

From January to February, average highs rise by 0.1°C to 25.3°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 279 mm to 221 mm.

The annual picture

January in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

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

Every month, side by side

Chipata climate table

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Chipata, 1991–2020
Month	Average highHigh / low	Average low	Rainfall mm/month	Rain days ≥1 mm/day	Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day
January, selected	25.2°C18.3°C	18.3°C	279	27.4	12.813 h
February	25.3°C18.0°C	18.0°C	221	22.9	12.513 h
March	25.4°C17.7°C	17.7°C	166	21.5	12.212 h
April	25.1°C16.5°C	16.5°C	35	7.3	11.812 h
May	25.0°C14.8°C	14.8°C	4.7	1.2	11.511 h
June	23.6°C12.8°C	12.8°C	0.6	0.1	11.311 h
July	23.3°C12.2°C	12.2°C	0.7	0.2	11.411 h
August	25.9°C14.0°C	14.0°C	0.9	0.2	11.712 h
September	29.1°C16.9°C	16.9°C	1.8	0.4	12.012 h
October	30.8°C19.2°C	19.2°C	18	3.4	12.412 h
November	30.4°C19.9°C	19.9°C	78	12.0	12.713 h
December	27.0°C18.8°C	18.8°C	240	25.2	12.913 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

January in nearby cities

Distance from Chipata

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 Chipata) is explained once on the Chipata year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.