Windhoek, Namibia’s Climate

Brooke Johnson

Windhoek, Namibia is a wonderful place to visit in Africa because of its climate. Oftentimes, people want to visit Windhoek because of its climate and they don’t care about why Windhoek has that climate. Well, Windhoek is not hot just by chance. Rather latitudes, elevation, wind and ocean patterns, and landforms all contribute to the climate.

Latitudes play a big role in Windhoek’s climate. Windhoek is in the low latitudes which are between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn. Because it receives direct rays of sunlight year-round, it has a very hot climate. For this reason, latitudes are important.

Next, elevation affects climate just as much as latitude does. Temperature is often determined by the elevation of an area. The earth’s atmosphere gets thinner as altitude increases making the air temperatures decrease 3.5 degrees with every 1,000 feet gained. Windhoek’s elevation is 5,669 feet above sea level. This creates a cooling influence of about 20 degrees Fahrenheit.

Wind and ocean patterns are also responsible for the climate of Windhoek. Windhoek has warm trade winds that are in the low latitudes adding to the warm temperatures. They blow from the Tropic of Capricorn northwest toward the Equator. On the other hand, we have ocean currents. They can give off warm or cold influences, depending on whether they are circulating water that has been warmed at the Equator toward a pole or frigid polar water back to the Equator’s heat. Windhoek is not right on the coast of Africa, so it isn‘t impacted by the ocean currents.

Landforms affect the climate of Windhoek a little. If Windhoek were located next to a large body of water, then temperature extremes would be moderated by the water’s unique properties. Instead, Windhoek is inland and susceptible to temperature extremes. As you can see, landforms are very important.

In conclusion, these are reasons as to why Windhoek has the climate it does. These reasons are the latitude, elevation, and wind patterns/ocean currents, and landforms. Without these reasons, Windhoek wouldn’t have its unique climate