Country Guide

This small country is situated in West Africa between Ghana to the west and Benin to the east. It has a very short coastline on the Gulf of Guinea and extends between 6° and 11°N. It shares the same climatic belts and sequence of weather around the year as that described for Nigeria and adjacent countries.

As in Nigeria and other neighbouring countries, the coastal region has two rainy seasons, one peaking in May or June, the other in October, but in the north there is a single rainy season starting in May or June. However, rainfall is lower on the coast than it is a short distance inland, as in Ghana.

In the north there is a single long dry season between October and April. At this time temperatures are warm to hot with a very low relative humidity and the dust-laden harmattan, wind blows from the northeast. From December to February the harmattan affects the whole country, except a strip along the coast. The coast has southwesterly winds, the dry harmattan reaching right to the coast on only a few days.

On the coast the period from December to February is least likely to experience rainy days. The tables for Accra in Ghana and Cotonou in Benin are equally well representative of conditions on the coast of Togo. The north of the country is drier with a single rainy season and here the table for Tamale in Ghana is representative.