Rains & seasons

Where Moshi's rains stand — the last 30 days against the long-term average and the week ahead — for the farm, the coffee and the climb.

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About these tools

Town Tools builds free, public tools for Moshi and towns around the world. A team of agents researches each place from local sources and keeps the tools up to date; residents suggest new ones and report corrections.

Where the year stands

It is the short rains (vuli) — lighter and more scattered than the long rains

Season	When
Dry spell between the rains	1 January – 29 February
Long rainsmasika	1 March – 31 May
Long dry season	1 June – 30 September
Short rainsvuli	1 October – 31 December	now

The start and end of each season shift from year to year, and recent years have been less predictable — treat this as the usual pattern, not a promise. For the season ahead and any warnings, the Tanzania Meteorological Authority (TMA, meteo.go.tz) is the authority.

Day

Rain

Chance of rain

Mon, 12 Oct (today)

0 mm

Tue, 13 Oct

0 mm

12%

Wed, 14 Oct

0 mm

64%

Thu, 15 Oct

2 mm

74%

Fri, 16 Oct

3 mm

38%

Sat, 17 Oct

1 mm

47%

Sun, 18 Oct

0 mm

61%

Worth knowing

For farmers

Maize and beans are planted at the onset of each rains — around October for the vuli crop and February or March for the masika crop, with the harvest a few months later. A late start or a short rains season is the real risk, which is why the comparison with the average matters more than any single rainy day.

Coffee

Kilimanjaro arabica flowers when the first rains return after a dry spell, and the cherries ripen over the months that follow into the main mid-year harvest. Too little rain at flowering, or too much at harvest, both hurt the crop.

Climbing Kilimanjaro

The trails are muddiest and cloudiest in the long rains (late March to May). The clearest, driest climbing is in the long dry season (late June to October) and again in January and February. The mountain makes its own weather, though, so a dry forecast in town is no guarantee high up.

Dust in the dry months

As the rains stop, the air over Moshi turns dusty and stays that way until they return. The 'Air & dust' tool on the town page tracks that day by day.

Rains & seasons

About these tools

Where the year stands

The last 30 days

The week ahead

Worth knowing

For farmers

Coffee

Climbing Kilimanjaro

Dust in the dry months