Climatology
This page presents Sierra Leone'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.
The local climate is tropical, with coastal areas having hot and humid weather and inland areas having a more temperate climate. The average annual temperature is 26.7°C and the annual average rainfall is 2,746 mm (1961 – 1990). The rain season is largely controlled by the movement of the tropical rain belt, Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), which oscillates between the northern and southern tropics over the course of a year.