Cape Verde
weather
Seven-day Cape Verde weather forecasts for the nine inhabited islands, updated live. With the wind front and centre, because in Cape Verde it is the wind that decides whether you hike, whether you sail and whether the boat leaves.
Choose your island
How to read these figures
- WindThis is the figure that matters. The trade winds blow almost all year round; above 35 km/h the sea gets rough and crossings between islands become uncomfortable, the Fogo–Brava ferry in particular.
- Temperature rangeTemperatures barely move: 22 to 30 °C all year. What really changes from one season to the next is the humidity and the strength of the wind.
- RainRare from November to July. The short wet season runs from August to October, with brief, localised showers, mostly on the mountainous islands.
- AltitudeThese readings are for coastal towns. At Chã das Caldeiras (1,700 m) or on the summit of Monte Gordo, expect it to be 8 to 10 °C cooler and a lot windier.
In Cape Verde, you don't check the temperature. You check the wind.
Where to find the rest
- SeaFor sea conditions before a crossing, the harbour masters' offices post the day's conditions, which is more reliable than any seven-day forecast.
- HazeFrom December to February, the bruma seca, Saharan dust, can veil the sky for several days. It appears in no forecast: you simply find it there.
Two seasons, and only one that really matters
Understanding the climate
Cape Verde doesn't have four seasons, it has two, and Cape Verdeans name them after what defines them. The tempo das brisas, the time of the breezes, runs from December to June or July: dry, windy and slightly cooler. The tempo das águas, the time of the waters, takes up August, September and October: hotter, heavier and the only time it rains.
The most common misunderstanding comes from the word "tropical". The archipelago lies at the same latitude as Senegal, but it is Sahelian, not equatorial. It doesn't get the monsoon, only its fringe, for a few weeks a year, when the intertropical convergence zone climbs far enough north to brush the islands. In some years it doesn't climb high enough, and it barely rains at all.
For comparison: Paris gets around 640 mm of precipitation a year, two and a half times what the wettest island in the archipelago receives.
Little rain falls, but it falls hard
The time of the waters
These figures describe a drought, not a gentle climate. When the rain does arrive, in August or September, it comes in short, violent downpours rather than drizzle. The ground, dry for ten months, absorbs nothing: the water rushes into the ribeiras, the dry riverbeds that shape the landscape of every mountainous island.
This is the one real weather precaution to remember for hiking: a valley floor can fill within an hour after a storm that broke several kilometres upstream, under a sky that is still clear above you. In the rainy season, don't camp in a ribeira and don't set off into a canyon if the sky is black over the ridges.
The flip side is splendid. After the rains, October and November are the two greenest months of the year: the terraces of Santo Antão are under cultivation, the slopes of Fogo take on colour again, and the photos look nothing like those taken in March.
The wind is the real story, not the rain
The trade winds
This is the parameter that decides your trip, and the one guidebooks mention least. The north-east trade winds blow across the archipelago from November to April or May, peaking between January and April. They cool the air, chase away the humidity and make February's 27 °C perfectly bearable.
They are also behind the country's sporting reputation. Sal and Boa Vista, flat and exposed, are the windiest: the kitesurfing and windsurfing season there runs from December to April, and collapses in July and August, when wind statistics hit their lowest of the year.
What the wind costs you, on the other side. The sea builds, and ferry services suffer. The ferry between Mindelo and Santo Antão, which has no air alternative, can be properly choppy at the height of the trade-wind season, though it isn't cancelled for that.
On the exposed beaches of Sal and Boa Vista, the same wind that delights the kitesurfers carries sand at calf height. A lazy beach day there is something you plan in the shelter, not out in the open.
Sand haze, the wild card for your photos
Calima
A few days a year, without warning, the wind swings round and brings back Saharan dust. This is the calima, which forecasts sometimes call by the word harmattan. The sky turns milky, the sun loses its bite, the horizon disappears and the neighbouring islands vanish completely.
An episode lasts from one to a few days and happens mostly in the dry season. It doesn't make your stay unpleasant, as the temperature doesn't change, but it radically changes what you see. Climbing Pico do Fogo in calima means a summit with no panorama. In the densest cases, visibility can be poor enough to disrupt inter-island air traffic.
No seven-day forecast predicts it reliably. It is the one weather hazard in Cape Verde you can't plan around, except by keeping a spare day before a flight, which the fourteen-day itinerary builds in every time.
Two hundred metres higher, it's a different country
Altitude
The forecasts above are taken in each island's main town, so at the water's edge. On the mountainous islands, they describe only part of the reality.
The practical upshot, true even in August: if your plans include a night at Chã das Caldeiras, in the Fogo caldera, or a walk along the ridges of Santo Antão, you need a fleece and a windproof jacket. It's the tip travellers most regret not having read. The full packing list is in the practical notebook.
The sea, and why it is colder at Mindelo
Swimming
The water goes from about 22 °C in February and March, its minimum, to 27 °C in September and October, its maximum. So it stays swimmable all year, but you can certainly feel the five-degree difference.
There is one geographical exception that surprises people: São Vicente is noticeably cooler than the others in winter, around 21 °C, because of an upwelling of cold water. Conversely, Boa Vista and Sal warm up early and have the mildest water in spring.
Cape Verde gives its name to a category of hurricane
Hurricane season
Meteorologists call "Cape Verde-type hurricanes" the Atlantic hurricanes born from tropical waves that leave West Africa and pass close to the archipelago in August and early September. About two form each season, and they are often the largest and most powerful of the year.
That doesn't make it a risky destination: these systems race westward and deepen far out in the Atlantic, well away from the islands. Cape Verde is their cradle, not their target.
One documented exception. On 31 August 2015, Hurricane Fred passed over the Barlavento islands as a category 1 storm, the only recorded case of hurricane-force winds on land in the country's history. Nine people died, all at sea. In Povoação Velha, on Boa Vista, around 70% of houses suffered light to moderate damage.
One episode in more than a century of records: that is the order of magnitude of the risk, not a reason to avoid August.
The climate month by month
The table
| Month | Air in Praia | Sea | Wind | Rain | What it's worth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 21–26 °C | 23 °C | Strong | None | Dry and bright. Peak kitesurfing season. Calima possible. |
| February | 20–26 °C | 22 °C | Strong | None | The coolest month, the coldest sea. Carnival. |
| March | 21–27 °C | 22 °C | Strong | None | Wind still steady. Dry, very mineral landscapes. |
| April | 22–27 °C | 23 °C | Steady | None | End of the windy season. A good all-round compromise. |
| May | 22–28 °C | 24 °C | Moderate | None | The wind drops, the sea warms up. Very pleasant. |
| June | 23–29 °C | 25 °C | Moderate | None | Warm without being excessive, calm, before the humidity. |
| July | 25–29 °C | 26 °C | Light | 5 days | The air grows heavy. First showers. Little wind. |
| August | 25–30 °C | 27 °C | Light | 8 days | The wettest month. Hot and heavy. Baía das Gatas. |
| September | 26–30 °C | 27 °C | Light | 7 days | The hottest. Showers. The mountains turn green. |
| October | 25–30 °C | 27 °C | Picking up | 3 days | End of the rains, landscapes at their greenest, sea at its warmest. |
| November | 24–29 °C | 26 °C | Picking up | None | Arguably the best month: green, warm, dry, not very windy. |
| December | 23–27 °C | 24 °C | Strong | None | The wind returns. Tourist high season and the festive period. |
Orders of magnitude, recorded at sea level in Praia, on the island of Santiago. The northern islands are a little cooler and distinctly drier; altitude changes everything. Averages are no substitute for the seven-day forecasts above.
Which month for what
Choosing your window
Hiking
October → December
The valleys are green, the air is still mild and the wind hasn't regained its full strength. February to April works too, but in a dry and sometimes hazy landscape.
Swimming
May → November
The sea is above 24 °C and the wind drops. July to October for those who feel the cold, with the water at 26 to 27 °C.
Kitesurfing and windsurfing
December → April
Sal and Boa Vista, peaking between January and April. In July and August, the wind is no longer there.
Music and festivals
February and August
The Mindelo carnival in February, the Baía das Gatas festival at the August full moon, on São Vicente. Check the dates: they shift from year to year.
Avoiding the crowds
May, June, October
Outside the European holidays and outside the windy season, with a climate that stays excellent. Accommodation is easier to find.
Book early
December → February, July–August
Tourist high season on one side, the return of the Cape Verdean diaspora on the other. Domestic flights go out full.
Frequently asked questions
In brief
What is the best time to visit Cape Verde?
October to December if you want to hike: the rains have just finished, the landscapes are at their greenest, the sea is still at 26 °C and the wind hasn't regained its full strength. December to April if you're coming for wind sports. May to July for a compromise that is very dry, very sunny and quiet.
There is no bad time to go in the strict sense: the temperature never drops below 20 °C at sea level, and the archipelago gets sunshine all year.
Does it rain a lot in Cape Verde?
No. The northern islands get less than 100 mm of rain a year, the southern ones between 150 and 250 mm, against around 640 mm in Paris. The rain is concentrated in August, September and October, and takes the form of short showers rather than grey days. From February to June, it practically never rains.
Is the wind a nuisance in Cape Verde?
It depends on what you've come to do. The trade winds blow from November to April, peaking from January to April: that is what gives Sal and Boa Vista their reputation among kitesurfers, and also what makes the heat bearable. In return, the sea gets rough, sand blows across exposed beaches and ferry crossings are bumpier. In July and August, the wind drops almost completely.
Should I worry about hurricanes in Cape Verde?
Very little. The archipelago is the cradle of so-called "Cape Verde" hurricanes, but these form offshore and race westward. Only one has hit the islands with hurricane-force winds since records began: Fred, on 31 August 2015, as a category 1 storm over the Barlavento.
What is sand haze?
A veil of Saharan dust carried by the wind, called calima, which affects the archipelago a few days a year, mostly in the dry season. It whitens the sky, mutes the colours and erases the horizon. It changes neither the temperature nor the rain, but it can spoil a summit panorama and, in dense cases, disrupt flights between the islands. No forecast predicts it reliably.
Keep exploring
What's next
The weather tells you when to go. These pages tell you where to go and how long to stay.