Climate averages 1991–2020
Bulawayo weather
in January.
A warm, wet month: the 5th warmest and the 11th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a warm month in Bulawayo: daytime highs average 26.6°C and nights cool to about 17.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 134 mm of rain on roughly 15 days, which makes January a wet month (the 11th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 13 h 12 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Gweru (151 km away). In January its highs average 25.3°C, 1.2°C cooler than Bulawayo, with 161 mm of rain.
Among the 11 cities listed in Zimbabwe, Bulawayo ranks 5th of 11 for the warmest January highs and 2nd of 11 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 11 cities is 25.9°C; Bulawayo is 0.7°C warmer than that mean.
From January to February, average highs fall by 0.2°C to 26.3°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 134 mm to 111 mm.
The annual picture
January 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
Bulawayo climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 26.6°C17.1°C | 17.1°C | 134 | 14.9 | 13.213 h |
| February | 26.3°C16.9°C | 16.9°C | 111 | 11.9 | 12.813 h |
| March | 25.9°C16.0°C | 16.0°C | 65 | 9.4 | 12.212 h |
| April | 24.6°C13.6°C | 13.6°C | 23 | 4.0 | 11.612 h |
| May | 23.1°C10.8°C | 10.8°C | 6.3 | 1.3 | 11.211 h |
| June | 20.8°C8.5°C | 8.5°C | 4.0 | 0.8 | 10.911 h |
| July | 20.3°C7.8°C | 7.8°C | 2.6 | 0.7 | 11.011 h |
| August | 24.2°C10.0°C | 10.0°C | 0.9 | 0.2 | 11.411 h |
| September | 28.1°C13.2°C | 13.2°C | 5.3 | 1.4 | 12.012 h |
| October | 29.6°C15.5°C | 15.5°C | 23 | 5.5 | 12.513 h |
| November | 28.6°C16.8°C | 16.8°C | 87 | 12.6 | 13.113 h |
| December | 26.9°C17.0°C | 17.0°C | 148 | 17.0 | 13.313 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
- Gweru in JanuaryZimbabwe · 151 kmHigh 25.3°C · Low 16.4°C · 161 mm rain
- Francistown in JanuaryBotswana · 159 kmHigh 29.7°C · Low 19.6°C · 95 mm rain
- Kwekwe in JanuaryZimbabwe · 187 kmHigh 27.5°C · Low 18.0°C · 146 mm rain
- Masvingo in JanuaryZimbabwe · 235 kmHigh 26.7°C · Low 17.8°C · 127 mm rain
- Kadoma in JanuaryZimbabwe · 246 kmHigh 27.3°C · Low 18.7°C · 186 mm rain
- Norton in JanuaryZimbabwe · 336 kmHigh 25.4°C · Low 17.4°C · 192 mm rain
- Louis Trichardt in JanuarySouth Africa · 350 kmHigh 28.1°C · Low 18.8°C · 102 mm rain
- Chinhoyi in JanuaryZimbabwe · 353 kmHigh 26.7°C · Low 18.6°C · 216 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 Bulawayo) is explained once on the Bulawayo year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.