Bulawayo, Zimbabwe's second city, sits on the Highveld plateau in the southwest of the country at around 1,340 metres above sea level, at approximately -20.15°S, 28.58°E. Its altitude and its position in the drier southwest give it a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh) — warm, thundery summers and mild, dry winters — markedly drier than Harare.

The wet season, from November to March — the austral summer — is warm and the rainy time, with highs around 28–30°C, tempered by the plateau altitude. Afternoon thunderstorms bring nearly all of the year's rain, though they are fewer and less reliable than on the wetter northeastern Highveld, and drought is a frequent visitor.

The dry season, from May to August — the austral winter — is mild, dry and brilliantly sunny by day but cold at night, with highs around 22–23°C and nights that regularly drop to 5–7°C and sometimes to frost. Rain is entirely absent, the skies are clear, and the day-to-night swing is wide.

Bulawayo is dry, receiving only around 550–600 mm of rain a year — considerably less than Harare — almost all of it in the wet season from November to March, while May to September is essentially rainless. The unreliable rains make water supply a chronic problem for the city. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Bulawayo lies in Zimbabwe's dry southwest, where the rains are meagre and unreliable, and the city has repeatedly faced severe water crises when its supply dams have run low after failed rainy seasons — a chronic vulnerability that sets it apart from the greener, wetter Highveld around Harare.

To follow any single measurement in Bulawayo 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.