Seychelles

In the Seychelles, the climate is tropical, hot all year round. From November to March, there is a rainy and muggy season due to the northwest monsoon, while from June to September, when the southeast trade winds prevail, there is a dry and slightly cooler season. Tropical rains usually occur in the form of downpours or thunderstorms, and in the Seychelles, they usually occur in the afternoon in the sultry and rainy season, and at night in the driest season (when they are fairly frequent but of short duration).

The average daily temperature is around 26°C in July and August, 27°C in January, and 28°C in March, April, and May, which are the warmest months. However, the temperature varies little both between night and day and between seasons: it rarely exceeds 33°C during the day or drops below 22°C at night.

The Seychelles archipelago is made up of more than a hundred islands, islets and atolls, scattered in the Indian Ocean over a wide area, up to 1,200 kilometers wide; therefore, although they have a fairly homogeneous climate, they still have some differences. The islands can be divided into two groups. In the north, we find the Inner Islands, which include the so-called Granitic Seychelles; among these, there are the largest and most densely populated islands (Mahé, Praslin and La Digue). In the south, we find the Outer Islands, which are flat coral atolls stretched towards the south-west.

As regards to the rains, the northern islands (which are closer to the Equator) are generally rainier than the southern ones. The northernmost islands, at a latitude of 3 degrees south, are Bird Island, where annual precipitation is around 1,950 millimeters, and Denis Island, where it is around 1,700 mm. Mahé, the main island, at a latitude of 4 degrees south, is the rainiest. The southernmost of the Outer Islands are drier, in particular the Farquhar Group, and even more so the Aldabra Group in the south-west, so much so that rainfall drops to 985 mm per year on the island of the same name and to as low as 865 mm on the smaller island of Assumption.

The rain pattern in the Seychelles is quite erratic from year to year, in particular, it can be affected by the so-called ENSO cycle. In El Niño years, it can sometimes rain a lot during the dry season, while the rainy season can be drier than normal. In La Niña years, the opposite happens.

The Seychelles are close to the Equator, in fact, their latitude ranges from 3 to 10 degrees south, which means that the day lasts about 12 hours all year round, and sunset comes quite early.