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The climate of Madagascar
Madagascar is an island located southwest of the African continent. Madagascar has a great variety of climate types and consequently many different landscapes can be found here, such as rainforests, mountains and steppes. The striking thing about Madagascar are the large differences in precipitation figures within the country. This is because most depressions come from the east or northeast. A mountain range centrally situated on the island causes most rain to fall in the east, northeast and the most northern tip. In these areas the climate types can be classified as tropical; precipitation figures in these areas determine whether the climate type should be classified as a tropical rainforest climate, a tropical monsoon climate or a tropical savannah climate. The central part of Madagascar has a wet subtropical climate, types Cwa and Cwb according to the Köppen climate classification. The western part of Madagascar has a warm steppe climate (type BSh) and a small area surrounding the mouth of the Mangoky River has a warm desert climate.

Climate information of places and areas in Madagascar
The climate information on this page is only brief. Specific information about weather and climate can be found on the climate pages per area or town. As for Madagascar the following climate information is available:

Seasons
Madagascar is situated in the southern hemisphere, meaning seasons are reversed to those on the northern hemisphere. Madagascar has no spring, summer, autumn and winter. There are only two distinct seasons: a wet season (rainy season, monsoon) and a dry season. In some places in the eastern and northern parts of Madagascar differences between these two seasons are very small. However, precipitation figures are lower during winter than during summer in these regions. With an average precipitation figures of more than 100 millimeters per month this period cannot really be classified as dry. There are also few differences in temperatures on the island. In most places maximum temperatures are around tropical figures of 30 degrees Celsius all year round. In the interior at a higher altitude temperatures are slightly lower.

Hurricanes
Madagascar is one of the countries in the world where the risk of hurricanes and tropical storms is fairly high. Hurricane season in Madagascar is from December till the second part of May. Especially in February and March the risk of hurricanes and tropical depressions is high. The east coast has the highest risk of being hit by a hurricane. The most southern tip of Madagascar has the smallest risk of getting hit by a hurricane.

Climate figures
Throughout Madagascar several climate figures and temperatures can be recorded. The figures below are for the capital Antananarivo and cannot be seen as an average for the country. Please, visit the individual climate pages for climate records on other places in Madagascar.

	average  maximum temperature (°C)	average minimum temperature (°C)	average hours of sunshine per day	average days with precipitation per month	average mm precipitation per month	average sea temperature (°C)
January	26	16	7	24		n/a
February	26	17	6	23		n/a
March	25	16	6	21		n/a
April	25	15	7	10		n/a
May	23	12	7	6		n/a
June	21	10	7	6		n/a
July	20	10	7	7		n/a
August	20	10	7	8		n/a
September	23	11	8	6		n/a
October	25	13	8	11		n/a
November	26	15	8	18		n/a
December	26	16	6	25		n/a
= 0-5 mm ● = 6-30 mm ● = 31-60 mm ● = 61-100 mm ● = 101-200 mm ● = over 200 mm = 0-0.2 inches ● = 0.2-1.2 inches ● = 1.2-2.4 inches ● = 2.5-4 inches ● = 4.1-8 inches ● = over 8 inches

More climate information
Climate tables are useful but they don’t give an overall picture of the climate and possible weather conditions during a period of time. How high the chances are of hot or cold weather or hurricanes can often not be found in these tables. This is why we offer extra climate information per month. The figures below can are for the capital Antananarivo. Please, visit the individual climate pages for climate records on other places in Madagascar.

	chance of (very) hot weather	chance of (very) cool weather	chance of long-term precipitation	chance of hurricanes (cyclones)	chance of sunny days	UV-index
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December
click here for the explanation of the symbols

Disclaimer
The information at this site was carefully composed from climate data collected by meteorological services, meteorological offices, climate experts and other sources. “More climate info” is based on statistics, climate data and personal experience. No rights can be derived from this site. Weather has no memory and gives no guaranties. Nothing is as changeable and unpredictable as the weather. The authors of this site feel in no way responsible for any damages caused by misinterpretation or other circumstances that may influence your holiday or trip to a certain destination. We provide information, it’s up to the reader to use it to it’s benefit.