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Antananarivo, the capital of Madagascar, sits on a ridge in the central highlands of the island at around 1,250 metres above sea level, at approximately -18.88°S, 47.51°E. Its considerable altitude tempers the tropical latitude to give a mild subtropical highland climate (Köppen Cwb) — warm, rainy summers and cool, dry winters — with a sharply seasonal rainfall pattern.
Summer, from November to March — the austral summer — is warm and the rainy season, with December the warmest month averaging around 22°C and daytime highs near 27–28°C. Heavy afternoon and evening downpours and thunderstorms are frequent, and January alone can bring over 310 mm of rain, greening the terraced rice paddies that surround the city.
Winter, from June to August — the austral winter — is cool and dry, with July the coolest month averaging around 15.6°C and nights that can drop close to 9–10°C, occasionally lower. Rain is almost entirely absent — August receives barely 5 mm — and the days are clear, bright and pleasantly mild, comfortably the best time of year.
Antananarivo receives around 1,170 mm of rain a year, overwhelmingly concentrated in the wet season from November to March, when January alone averages over 310 mm, while August is virtually rainless with barely 5 mm — one of the sharpest wet-dry contrasts of any capital. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Antananarivo's highland altitude gives it a mild, temperate climate quite unlike Madagascar's steamy coasts — cool enough at night in July to need a jacket, despite lying deep in the tropics. Tropical cyclones that strike the island's east coast between January and March can bring torrential rain inland to the highlands, triggering landslides on the city's steep hillsides.
To follow any single measurement in Antananarivo 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.