Ghana
17 cities
Climate overview
Ghana (about 4°45′–11°N) is a West African country spanning roughly 238,533 km² on the Gulf of Guinea, stretching about 672 km north–south from the Atlantic coast to the northern border with Burkina Faso. The terrain is mostly low-lying, with the Akwapim-Togo ranges in the southeast rising to Mount Afadja, usually cited as the highest peak at 885 m, and the Volta basin dominating the centre around the world's largest reservoir by surface area, Lake Volta, formed behind the Akosombo Dam over the former confluence of the Black and White Volta.
The climate exhibits a clear south-to-north gradient: tropical monsoon (Am) and tropical rainforest (Af) on the wet southwestern coast, transitioning to tropical savanna (Aw) across the Ashanti region, the central Volta basin, Brong-Ahafo and around Tamale, and to hotter, drier semi-arid (BSh) conditions in the far north near Bolgatanga.
Accra on the relatively dry coast has highs of 28–33°C and nights of 23–25°C year-round with only around 800 mm of rain falling in two distinct rainy seasons (May to June and September to October), an anomalously low total linked to winds blowing parallel to the coast. Takoradi-Sekondi on the wetter southwest coast has highs of 27–31°C and nights of 21–23°C and receives 1,320 mm annually; Kumasi in the Ashanti rainforest registers highs of 28–35°C and nights of 21–23°C with 1,370 mm in two rainy seasons; Tamale in the Northern Region records highs of 30–39°C and nights of 20–26°C with 1,070 mm concentrated in a single wet season from April to October; Bolgatanga in the far north has highs of 30–39°C and nights of 20–27°C with 970 mm and endures a long dry season from November to March.
Ghana experiences notable climate extremes including Sahel-belt droughts in 1982–84 that extended southward, recurrent urban flooding in Accra, including the 3 June 2015 flood and fuel-station explosion that killed over 200 people, and ongoing coastal erosion at Keta and Ada Foah. Harmattan dust storms occur seasonally during the dry months.
Our archive covers 17 Ghanaian 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 1.5°C.
How the climate has shifted in Ghana
Average across 17 cities with full ERA5 coverage: 1940–1970 baseline vs the last decade (2016–2025).
- Annual mean temperature
- 25.6°C→27.1°C
- Days above 30°C per year
- 110 days→188 days+79
- Frost days per year
- 0 days→0 days+0
- Tropical nights (≥20°C) per year
- 359 nights→364 nights+5
Warmest year in the record so far: 2024.
What's unusual right now
From a snapshot of the world's largest cities updated each hour. Today's mean temperature compared with each city's long-term average for the same calendar date (ERA5 climatology, 1940 onward). Last 30 days uses each city's rolling daily-mean vs its monthly average. Not a global ranking.