Climatology
This page presents Myanmar'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.
Myanmar has a tropical to sub-tropical monsoon climate with three seasons: i) hot, dry inter-monsoonal (mid-February to mid-May); ii) rainy southwest monsoon (mid-May to late October); and iii) cool relatively dry northeast monsoon (late October to mid-February). Climate varies across Myanmar’s different ecological zones, controlled mainly by distance from the coast and altitude. The country’s southern regions in and around the Ayeyarwady Delta and along the Rakhine, Mon, and Tanintharyi coast lines experience a climate typical of Southeast Asia. Temperatures are high and relatively the same all year round and precipitation can be very high ranging between 2,500-5,500 mm per year. These regions experience the highest exposure to tropical cyclones. Myanmar’s central zone is drier (typically 500-1,000 mm of rain per year) and experiences greater temperature variation, but temperatures can still exceed 40°C. Myanmar’s more mountainous regions in the north and east are generally cooler and receive moderate rainfall in the range of 1,000-2,000 mm per year.