Climatology
This page presents Liberia's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
Liberia is one of the wettest countries in the world, with the heaviest rainfall occurring from May to October. The country’s average annual rainfall exceeds 2,500 millimeters (mm). Rainfall is highest along the coast, but decreases towards Liberia’s interior plateaus and low mountains, where average rainfall reaches approximately 2,030 mm per year. Southern areas of the country receive rain year-round, while the rest of the country experiences two seasons due to the West African Monsoon. The wet season typically occurs in the summer months between May and November, with average temperatures of 25°C. The dry season typically occurs in the winter months, December to April. The dry season is dominated by the harmattan winds with average temperatures between 24 to 27°C. Relative humidity reaches 90%-100% during the rainy season and 60%-90% during the dry season. The annual temperature for the country is 25.7°C, with observed monthly temperatures ranging between 23.9°C (August) and 26.8°C (March). Mean annual precipitation is 2,467.07 mm and mean monthly precipitation of the country varies from 27 mm in January to 408 mm in September. Rainfall occurs throughout the year, with peak rainfall occurring from June to September, for the latest climatology, 1991-2020