• Weather in Ghana

As usual in tropical country (we are close to equator), expatriation in Ghana means to kiss the seasons goodbye…….

Accra features a tropical savanna climate that borders on a semiarid climate. You can see the equator is just under Ghana.

The only seasonal change is the switch between dry season  with harmattan and the rainy and humid season.

But it will always be more than 24 ° !

• SUN:

As Accra is close to the equator, the daylight hours are practically uniform during the year.

The sunrise  is around 6am latest and Sunset around 6pm. There are never clouds and it is always shiny except when the harmattan is coming.

You can see how is the sunrise from Airport area during the harmattan in february 2016 :

AND the nice blue sky during the year : in markets and in the villages …

Tema where it is always sunny even when it is cloudy in the center of Accra city:

• RAINFALL

The average annual rainfall is about 730 mm, which falls  during Ghana’s two rainy seasons ( from April to mid-July and october) and causes local flooding in which drainage channels are obstructed.

Precipitation is most likely around June, occurring in 31% of days. Precipitation is least likely in January , occurring in 4% of days.

On March,1st, 2016,  after 3 months without rain… in Accra, we had a “sand storm” coming from Tema.

I was outside in East Legon with a friend eating in a restaurant when the waitress tolds us that this storm was coming… here are the pictures:

We came rapidely inside a room and afterwards wemanage to come into our car to go back home …you can see how was theroad from East Legon to Airport area:

• TEMPERATURES

Very little variation in temperature occurs throughout the year. The average monthly temperature is between 24.7 °C to 35 °.

Cooler months are more humid and humidity generally high, varying from 65% in the midafternoon to 95% at night. Strong wind gusts occur with thunderstorms often cause damage to property by removing roofing material.

Warmer months are when there is the windy harmattan season in January. You can see on the right how the sky is.

As to the consequence,  Accra feels “dry heat” when this wind comes from Sahara desert: it lowers the humidity, dissipates cloud cover, prevents rainfall formation and sometimes creates big clouds of dust which can result in duststorms or sandstorms.

Humidity drops to as low as 15%, which can result in spontaneous nosebleeds for some people.

Other health effects on humans may include conditions of the skin, eyes, and respiratory system, including aggravation of asthma.

Hope you will enjoy coming here and discover the tropical weather !!

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