Climatology
This page presents Central African Republic'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.
CAR has a tropical, humid equatorial climate in the south and a Sahelo-Sudanian climate in the north. The country experiences hot, dry winters and mild to hot, wet summers (June to August). Only the northernmost part of the country, near the borders to Chad and Sudan, have a hot semi-arid climate. CAR is a relatively homogenous territory, which receives abundant rainfall. Across the country, annual average temperatures range from 23°C in the south to 26°C in the north. The country’s altitude does play a role in temperature variation. Highest temperatures are typically observed in March and the lowest in July during the rainy season. Two high pressure zones are responsible for the alternation between rainy and dry seasons in CAR. In winter (December to March) the Libyan anticyclone in the north brings dry air to the country together with the north-east wind (Harmattan). In the northern summer, the St. Helena high pressure zone pushes moist air from south-west to north-east across the country, bringing decreasing amounts of rainfall towards the north-east. The dry season is typically from November to February but is longer in the north, and with little to no rainfall from October to April. The rainy season varies in length from over 300 days in the south to about 125 days in the north-east.