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The Weather and Climate in Maldives

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The best time to visit the Republic of Maldives is between December and April. This is a high season for tourists, a period of cloudless skies and, little rain, and lower humidity. In this tourist season, resorts become expensive and fully booked.

The wet season starts in mid-May and ends in November. This is characterized by torrential rains in the Central, Southern and Northern parts of the island-nation, which receive and average rainfall of 1924.7mm, 2277.8mm, and 1786.4mm, respectively. The heaviest rainfall to hit the country in 24 hours was recorded at the Kaadedhdhoo Meteorological Office at 219.8mm. But being in the equatorial belt, storms and cyclones rarely strike and monsoons are mild. Cyclone forms affect the country only if they are in the Bay of Bengal or in the Arabian sea.

The hottest month is usually April or May. The country’s highest temperature was recorded in May 1991 at the same meteorological office at 36.8°C, while the minimum temperature of 17.2°C was recorded at the National Meteorological Center in April 1978, a dry season month. Normally the temperature rarely falls below 25°C.

In the central part of the country, that includes Hulehule, the maximum temperature is 30.5°C and the minimum is 25.7°C. In the north, or Hanimaaddho, it is 30.7°C and 25.2°C for maximum and minimum temperatures, respectively. The south area, especially at the Gan Island, the maximum temperature is 30.9°C and the minimum is 25.4°C.

The Maldivians have been used to a system of Nakaiy which is divided into two seasons of iruvai northeast monsoon and the hulhangu southwest monsoon. The iruvai northeast monsoon falls any time between December and April, and the hulhangu southwest monsoon from May to September. The Nakaiy calendar is still used by most of the Maldivian people to know beforehand the best time for travel, fishing and for planting agricultural crops.