Lampmile · summit wind forecasts

Kilimanjaro summit wind forecast

Tanzania · summit 5,895 m (19,341 ft) · 3.0764° S, 37.3540° E

Lampmile forecasts the wind on Kilimanjaro for as far ahead as the models reach, about a week, in three-hour steps, at the summit and at named points on its routes. The numbers start from the wind in the free atmosphere at the summit's height, read from each weather model (ECMWF's IFS and AIFS and NOAA's GFS) at the pressure level the summit sits at, and are shown as a range across the models, widened by how the forecast has verified at stations.

On the map, a terrain wind field solved over the mountain's own ground shows how its ridges, cols and slopes bend that wind, and each named point is marked exposed or sheltered for each hour's wind direction. The page also marks the calmer windows under a wind threshold you choose, the hours when a model calls a storm, the freezing level, cloud, and the snowline from this week's satellite snow cover, and a planner works out a start time and a turnaround for a route, and plans Marangu as a trip, day by day: the walk in to Mandara Huts, the walk from Mandara Huts to Horombo Huts, the walk from Horombo Huts to Kibo Hut, the summit day from Kibo Hut down to Horombo Huts, and the walk out to Marangu Gate, each day's start against that day's forecast, with a turnaround on the summit day.

Routes on the map

Named points with their own forecast

Checked against stations

No weather station near Kilimanjaro reports to Lampmile yet, so the page infers its forecast's error from summit stations elsewhere, and says so.

A forecast here is one input among several. It does not resolve gusts, lee turbulence, rotors or thermally driven winds, and those regimes are low confidence. Make your own assessment on the mountain, and turn around when what you see disagrees with what you read here.

Other mountains

The live forecast, the 3D map and the climb planner open with the page's script. Questions and corrections to matt@lampmile.com · Privacy