The sun-drenched Cape Verde has a subtropical dry climate. This means that you can enjoy fine weather in May on the Cape Verde islands. There are relatively many hours of sunshine, a constant temperature and no rain. What the sun does on average each month is set out in the monthly figures for Cape Verde. Cape Verde is even one of the 20 driest countries in the world. Cape Verde consists of nine inhabited islands, namely Sal, Boa Vista, São Nicolau, São Vicente, Santo Antão, Santiago, Maio, Fogo and Brava. The ever-present and cooling trade winds on the archipelago ensure that it can be pleasant in Cape Verde despite the high temperature.

What kind of weather can you expect in Cape Verde in May? Below you will find the averages of the most important meteorological variables for you. These are the average daytime maximum, the sea temperature and the days of rain, as the climate table gives them. The weather data for the month of May is based on historical weather data and does not provide an actual weather forecast for Cape Verde.

In short

  • Temperatures 26.1°C
  • Very stable and sunny weather
  • Light winds
  • Sea temperature 22.5°C
  • One of the best months to visit

Temperature in May

The average daytime maximum in May is 26.1 degrees Celsius. That makes May one of the steadiest months of the year, with little variation from day to day.

Maximum temperature in May - Cape Verde

Maximum temperature — day by day within the month

Rain in May

May stands at 0 days of rain in the climate table. The dry season is drawing to a close, but rainfall has not yet arrived.

Rain in May - Cape Verde

Rainfall — day by day within the month

Wind in May

May is one of the calmest months of the year for wind. That makes for pleasant beach days and a quieter sea. The climate table carries no wind values.

The weather in Cape Verde in other months

Data accounting

Every figure on this page comes from the climate table on Cape Verde climate and weather: measuring station Sal, Amílcar Cabral airport (Espargos), reference period the 1991–2020 climate normal. A day of rain is a day with at least 1 millimetre of rainfall. Those values hold for Sal and for the flat eastern islands. The other islands have no measuring series of their own, so we give no figures island by island. On the mountainous islands such as Santo Antão and Fogo it is cooler and wetter at altitude.

The graph above shows something different from the table: how the month runs day by day, taken from the historical daily reports of weather station 85940 over 2012 to 2018. That series is not a climate normal and is not the source of any figure in the text; it is there to show whether a month runs flat or erratic.