Climatology
This page presents Niger'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.
As part of the West Africa Sahel region, Niger has a hot climate characterized by very high temperatures year-round; a long, intense dry season from October–May; and a brief, irregular rainy season linked to the West African monsoon. Mean annual temperatures range 21.9°–36.4°C, with substantially cooler temperatures in the mountainous regions. Annual rainfall varies from year to year, but generally is lower in the north (100–200 mm) than in the south (500–600 mm) and is limited to the summer months of June–September. The length of the rainy season ranges from one to two months in the north and four to five months in the south.