Discover the best time of year, based on historical climate, temperature, and precipitation.
The best weather in Harare is from June, August, September. — consistent weather climate
☀️Pleasant
| Score | 60 | 74 | 80 | 87 | 98 | 99 | 99 | 100 | 100 | 95 | 80 | 73 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Climate | Rainy | Humid | Pleasant | Pleasant | Mild | Mild | Mild | Mild | Pleasant | Pleasant | Humid | Humid |
| Temperature | 16–25°C | 16–25°C | 15–25°C | 13–24°C | 11–23°C | 9–21°C | 8–21°C | 11–24°C | 13–27°C | 15–29°C | 16–28°C | 17–27°C |
| Feels like | 16–26°C | 17–27°C | 15–27°C | 13–24°C | 9–22°C | 6–19°C | 6–19°C | 8–22°C | 11–26°C | 14–28°C | 16–29°C | 17–28°C |
| Precipitation | 223mm 23 days | 126mm 16 days | 79mm 11 days | 46mm 7 days | 4mm 2 days | 2mm 1 days | 1mm 1 days | 0mm 0 days | 1mm 0 days | 20mm 2 days | 89mm 9 days | 136mm 16 days |
| Sunshine | 8.1h ☀︎ 62% | 9.9h ☀︎ 78% | 11.0h ☀︎ 90% | 10.3h ☀︎ 88% | 10.7h ☀︎ 95% | 10.1h ☀︎ 91% | 10.3h ☀︎ 92% | 11.2h ☀︎ 97% | 11.5h ☀︎ 96% | 11.6h ☀︎ 93% | 11.3h ☀︎ 87% | 10.7h ☀︎ 81% |
| Wind | E · 16 km/h | E · 16 km/h | E · 16 km/h | E · 15 km/h | E · 15 km/h | E · 16 km/h | E · 16 km/h | E · 17 km/h | NE · 20 km/h | E · 20 km/h | NE · 19 km/h | NE · 17 km/h |
| Humidity (%) | 78% | 77% | 73% | 69% | 59% | 58% | 54% | 47% | 42% | 46% | 60% | 69% |
| Day length | 13.1h | 12.7h | 12.2h | 11.7h | 11.3h | 11.1h | 11.2h | 11.5h | 12.0h | 12.5h | 12.9h | 13.2h |
The Harare International Festival of the Arts brings together theatre, dance, music, and visual arts from across Zimbabw…
The Harare Agricultural Show is one of the oldest and largest exhibitions in the region, bringing farmers, businesses, a…
Harare runs on an inverted calendar: the city swells with crowds during the stormy, humid months of midsummer, while its dry highland winter and early spring offer near-flawless weather in peaceful, unhurried streets.
Perched nearly 1,500 metres up on the Mashonaland plateau, Zimbabwe's capital does not feel like the tropical Africa of travel brochures. The elevation strips away oppressive heat and replaces it with crisp, luminous highland air. Yet the rhythm of travel here is entirely upside down. Visitors pour in during the festive holiday stretch and late summer, walking into torrential afternoon downpours and clammy heat, while leaving the city's golden, completely rain-free winter months almost entirely to the locals.
This is Harare at its absolute best. Starting in May, the rains stop dead, leaving behind crystalline skies, radiant sunshine, and mild days that give way to sharply cool evenings. By June and July, you will want a light jacket for morning walks through the National Botanic Garden, where indigenous woodland trails sit silent and dusted with early morning dew. The midday sun remains pleasantly warm, never stifling.
Life during these months shifts outdoors without a second thought for rain gear. Suburban avenues in Avondale and Borrowdale hum with activity, their open-air courtyards filled with people drinking tea under immaculate blue canopies. August brings the Harare Agricultural Show, filling the city showgrounds with farmers, livestock displays, and families celebrating the height of the dry season.
September is the transition into brilliant spring warmth. The weather stays dry, daytime temperatures lift comfortably, and the city remains remarkably uncrowded compared to year-end. If you are coming to Harare to experience the city rather than navigate holiday traffic, this winter-to-spring window is the obvious and undeniable choice.
October is the warmest month of the year, bringing a dry, gathering heat that settles over the granite ridge of the Kopje. The air feels taut and expectant, but what defines October in Harare is the sudden, overwhelming bloom of jacaranda trees. Whole avenues across the central city and residential belts erupt in deep purple, shedding carpets of petals along every sidewalk.
Toward the end of the month, humidity begins to creep into the late afternoons. Tall cumulus clouds build along the horizon by three o'clock, hinting at the rains to come, but the days remain largely dry and comfortably walkable. It is a striking, atmospheric bridge between the cool winter and the wet summer, well worth catching before the deluge arrives.
November flips the switch. The rainy season lands in earnest, breaking the spring heat with sudden, drenching afternoon thunderstorms that rattle tin roofs and pool quickly along low-lying roads. December is the busiest month in the city, packed with returning diaspora, holiday traffic, and bustling commercial strips, all set against a backdrop of gray skies and frequent, soaking cloudbursts.
January brings the heaviest rainfall of the entire year, leaving Harare lush, green, and waterlogged. The surrounding countryside of Mashonaland turns vibrant emerald, but city travel requires patience and flexibility as downpours routinely disrupt outdoor plans. March sees another surprising spike in crowds, even though late-season showers still linger across the plateau. If you visit now, pack reliable water protection, schedule your strolls through Harare Gardens for early mornings before the clouds convene, and expect an intense, wet city pulse.
April is the soft release valve of the wet season. Showers become sporadic and light, tapering down to gentle drizzles that clear quickly into long spells of calm sunshine. The highland grass is still tall and green, and daytime temperatures hover in that effortless sweet spot where neither coat nor sunhat is strictly necessary.
It is also when the cultural calendar catches fire. Spanning the turn from April into May, the Harare International Festival of the Arts draws dancers, musicians, and theater companies from across the region into the city centre. Venues and open plazas fill with impromptu crowds, capturing Harare at its most creative and energetic, right as the dry weather settles in for the long winter haul.