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Climate · Sossusvlei (Sesriem)

Sossusvlei (Sesriem) in May

Hot and dry, as the days shorten.

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years

May in Sossusvlei (Sesriem) is hot: highs near 87°F, lows near 55°F. Rain is rare, and the days shorten by 26 minutes from the first week to the last.May in Sossusvlei (Sesriem) is hot: highs near 31°C, lows near 13°C. Rain is rare, and the days shorten by 26 minutes from the first week to the last.

High
87°F31°Caverage
Low
55°F13°Caverage
Wet days
0a week · 1% of days
Daylight
10h 56mon average

Is May a good time to visit Sossusvlei (Sesriem)?

A good month, just outside Sossusvlei (Sesriem)'s best months, which run from June to August.

How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 70°F to 80°F, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.How we judge it: every month is scored on how close its typical high comes to the range from 21°C to 27°C, how mild its nights are, and how rarely it rains. The best months are the run of months that scores best.

How May sits in the year

week by week

Temperature

Highs near 87°F in May, against 80°F to 96°F through the year.Highs near 31°C in May, against 27°C to 36°C through the year.

Chance of a wet day

1% of days in May, against 1% to 18% through the year.

Cloud cover

15% cover in May, against 10% to 38% through the year.

Daylight

10h 56m in May, against 10h 39m to 13h 38m through the year.

Week by week, lightly smoothed, with May shaded. The olive line marks the best months. Hover or tap a week for its figures.

Either side

  1. April91°33°low 61°low 16°1 wet day a weekRain on about one day a week.
  2. May87°31°low 55°low 13°no wet daysRain on fewer than one day a week.
  3. June80°27°low 48°low 9°no wet daysRain on fewer than one day a week.

Where Sossusvlei (Sesriem) sits, in May

Africa/Windhoek
this place
typical high in May 40°F4°C95°F35°C
Sunrise, mid-May
7:24 AMsets 6:21 PM
Above the sea
780 mupland
Latitude
24.5°Ssouthern hemisphere
Nearest of ours
Windhoek249 km north-east

The land around Sossusvlei (Sesriem), shaded by its typical high in May, the planning map's own layer. Hover the map for the figure at that spot; tap it on a phone. Clock times are local, for the 15th.

Elsewhere in Namibia in May

high · low · wet days
See May on the planning mapThe whole year in Sossusvlei (Sesriem)

Typical weather, averaged over 30 years (1995–2024), from the 11 km grid square nearest Sossusvlei (Sesriem). Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 3.1°F cold in the source data and are raised to match, and both highs and lows are adjusted for the town's height (780 m) against the climate model's (830 m).Temperatures are adjusted against 66 weather stations: daytime highs read about 1.7°C cold in the source data and are raised to match, and both highs and lows are adjusted for the town's height (780 m) against the climate model's (830 m). Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not. Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.

Daylight is calculated from latitude. Charts are lightly smoothed week to week; the figures in the table are not.

Source: Copernicus ERA5-Land reanalysis; cloud cover from NASA's MERRA-2 reanalysis, on a coarser grid of about 50 km. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use of it. These are averages, not a forecast.