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Conakry, the capital of Guinea, sits on the Atlantic coast of West Africa on the low island of Tombo and the adjoining Kaloum peninsula, at approximately 9.51°N, 13.71°W. It has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) — hot, humid and among the rainiest capitals in the world — with a dry season from December to April and a torrential monsoon season from May to November.
The monsoon season, from May to November, brings extraordinary rainfall, with July and August the wettest — each often exceeding a metre of rain, when it rains almost every day — as moist southwest monsoon air is forced up against the nearby Fouta Djallon escarpment. Skies are heavily overcast, humidity climbs to around 85%, and temperatures ease slightly, with highs near 27–28°C.
The dry season, from December to April, is hot, sunny and much less humid, with highs around 31°C and warm nights. Rain nearly ceases, and the Harmattan — a dry, dust-laden wind off the Sahara — can blow in, hazing the sky. This bright, drier stretch is comfortably the best time of year, and December and January are the pleasantest months.
Conakry is one of the wettest capital cities on earth, receiving on the order of 3,800–4,300 mm of rain a year, overwhelmingly in the monsoon months from May to November; July and August alone can each exceed 1,000 mm, while February is nearly rainless. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Conakry's colossal rainfall stems from its exposed coastal promontory and the Fouta Djallon highlands just inland, which lift the moist southwest monsoon air and wring out extraordinary totals — in some years over 5,000 mm. It is both the rainiest and the least sunny part of Guinea, with the monsoon months bringing near-daily downpours and overcast skies.
To follow any single measurement in Conakry more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.