🇦🇴Angola

Angola stretches from roughly 4°S to 18°S along the Atlantic coast of southwestern Africa, encompassing four broad climate belts: tropical savanna in the lower interior, turning to subtropical highland (Cwb) on the central plateau, an arid coastal strip from Benguela south, the northern extension of the Namib Desert, shaped by the cold Benguela Current (BWh/BSh), and wetter tropical conditions in the Cabinda enclave and parts of the north. The central plateau, rising to about 1,500–1,800 metres in elevation, moderates temperatures across the interior, while the narrow coastal plain remains hot but surprisingly dry year-round.

The capital Luanda, despite its tropical latitude, receives only about 400 mm of rain annually: a semi-arid regime locked in by the cold Benguela Current's stabilising effect on coastal air masses. Inland, the plateau brings relief: Huambo and Lubango, at elevations near 1,700 metres, experience July days around 24–25°C and nights near 8°C, with occasional frost on the highest peaks.

Rainfall gradients are steep: the central Bié Plateau receives up to about 1,400 mm per year, with the wettest areas in the north and northeast, while Namibe (Moçâmedes) on the southern coast records only about 50 mm annually: true desert conditions. Angola's climate follows a single wet season, broadly October to April and shorter in the south, followed by the cacimbo (a cool, misty dry season). ENSO events strongly modulate rainfall, intensifying drought cycles in the south.

Our archive covers 47 Angolan cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. The hottest July afternoons are in Dundo, with average highs around 32.7°C, while Lubango has the coldest January nights, with average lows near 13.7°C. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.4°C.