🇧🇯Benin

Benin lies between about 6° and 12.5°N in West Africa, a narrow north–south country with roughly 120 km of Atlantic coast on the Bight of Benin, stretching north toward the edge of the Sahel. Elevation is modest throughout: coastal plains remain below 200 m, the central plateau rises to 200–400 m, and the Atacora ridge in the northwest reaches 600–700 m.

The south exhibits a bimodal tropical climate (Köppen Aw) with long rains from April to July and short rains from September to October, separated by two dry seasons. This pattern transitions northward into a single Sudano-Sahelian wet season from May to September in the far north.

Cotonou, the economic capital on the coast, sees highs of 28–32°C and nights around 24–27°C year-round with 1,300–1,400 mm of rainfall, peaking in June at about 330–360 mm. Central Parakou receives about 1,150 mm with a more unimodal April–October pattern, while the far north around Kandi records about 1,000 mm concentrated in a sharp wet season and endures a severe dry season from November to March.

The harmattan (a dry, dusty northeast wind) sweeps through from December to March, suppressing temperatures and visibility, especially in the north. Coastal humidity stays high year-round, mostly around 75–85%. Benin faces acute coastal erosion, with stretches of the Bight of Benin shoreline retreating by several metres a year, threatening infrastructure in Cotonou.

Our archive covers 6 Beninese cities with daily ERA5 reanalysis data going back to 1940. Comparing the last decade against the 1940–1970 baseline, mean temperatures across these cities have risen by about 1.4°C.