Benin City, the capital of Edo State, sits inland in southern Nigeria in the tropical rainforest belt, on a plain north of the Niger Delta at approximately 6.34°N, 5.62°E. It has a tropical monsoon climate (Köppen Am) — hot, humid and very rainy — with a long wet season and a short, drier season in which no month is truly dry.

There is little seasonal change in temperature: it stays hot and humid year-round, with highs around 30–32°C, hottest in February and March before the rains build. The long rainy season, from April to October, brings frequent heavy downpours and thunderstorms, with a peak around June to September; humidity is relentless and the sun appears for only a few hours a day.

There is no true winter, but the drier season from December to February brings somewhat less rain, more sunshine and slightly lower humidity, with warm days around 32–33°C. An occasional Harmattan haze reaches this far south between December and January, briefly drying the air — the only real respite from the year-round humidity.

Benin City is very wet, receiving on the order of 2,000–2,200 mm of rain a year, concentrated in the long rainy season from April to October, while December and January are relatively dry; even the driest months see some rain in the rainforest belt. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Benin City lies in Nigeria's rainforest belt, where the tropical rain belt lingers for seven months of the year, delivering over two metres of rain and near-permanent humidity. Its heavy downpours regularly cause severe gully erosion in the surrounding soft soils, a chronic problem across southern Nigeria.

To follow any single measurement in Benin City 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.