How good the next few days are for drying fish and cassava in the open — strong-sun hours, when rain is coming, and the best window to have things on the racks.
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How good the next few days look for drying in the open at Nkhata Bay — usipa on the beach racks, cassava for kondowole, maize and groundnuts. It reads the forecast sun, rain and humidity and says how many good drying hours each day offers and when rain is likely. It is a weather outlook, not a promise: rain crosses the lake fast, so watch the sky and keep cover within reach.
Today
A mixed day — dry spells, then rain.
About 10 drying hours, none of them strong sun.
Rain likely from about 10 am — have cover ready.
Best window roughly 8 am–6 pm.
Modelled forecast, as of Fri 00:23. Refreshed about every half hour.
| Day | Drying | Rain | Best window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Today | Mixed (10 hrs) | 10 am | 8 am–6 pm |
| Tomorrow | Good (10 hrs) | — | 8 am–6 pm |
| Sunday | Mixed (8 hrs) | 11 am | 1 pm–6 pm |
| Monday | Mixed (7 hrs) | 9 am | noon–6 pm |
This is a weather outlook, not a promise
Nkhata Bay has long been a heart of Malawi's fish trade, and getting usipa dried and to market before it spoils is the binding constraint on that trade. A half-dried catch caught by the rain is lost income.
In October 2025 some processors were found using the pesticide Actellic to preserve usipa while drying it; the District Fisheries Officer called it illegal and urged proper sun-drying and salting instead. A good run of drying weather is what lets the safe method work.
The wet season runs roughly November to April, around 1,657 mm of rain a year. That is when showers interrupt drying and when this outlook earns its keep; the dry season, May to October, usually gives long, reliable drying days.
Fetched Fri 00:23. These are modelled estimates, not measurements. Weather data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).