Lake crossing conditions
Wind and rain over the open lake toward Likoma and Chizumulu, today and tomorrow, in plain words — no wave forecast exists for Lake Malawi, so wind is the best available signal.
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Wind and rain over the open lake toward Likoma and Chizumulu, today and tomorrow, in plain words — no wave forecast exists for Lake Malawi, so wind is the best available signal.
The boats to Likoma and Chizumulu cross roughly 70 km of open lake, and there is no official word on conditions before a sailing. This page reads the wind and rain over that open water for today and tomorrow, in plain words, so you have some idea what the lake is doing before you commit to the harbour.
The rainy season is the rough season
No wave forecast exists for this water
Right now: a gentle breeze (about 15 km/h, gusts to 21).
Rougher earlier in the day, easing later.
| When | Looks like | Wind | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning (6am–11am) | a moderate breeze | up to 35 km/h in gusts | a shower possible |
| Afternoon (noon–6pm) | a gentle breeze | up to 22 km/h in gusts | no rain expected |
| Night (7pm–midnight) | a gentle breeze | up to 22 km/h in gusts | no rain expected |
Much the same through the day.
| When | Looks like | Wind | Rain |
|---|---|---|---|
| Morning (6am–11am) | a gentle breeze | up to 20 km/h in gusts | a shower possible |
| Afternoon (noon–6pm) | a moderate breeze | up to 28 km/h in gusts | no rain expected |
| Night (7pm–midnight) | a gentle breeze | up to 22 km/h in gusts | no rain expected |
No boat on this water keeps a published timetable you can plan around: the Ilala's calls at Nkhata Bay have historically come at night and run hours late, and the smaller boats leave when they are loaded. The dayparts above describe the water through the day — they are not departure times. Confirm any sailing at the harbour first.
This lake has taken lives
On 12 April 2025, eleven people drowned near Likoma when a cracked private boat — unauthorised for passenger transport — sank while ferrying passengers out to board the MV Chilembwe during an Ilala gap. A fisherman, not the authorities, performed the rescue (Nyasa Times, April 2025).
Travel on the registered vessels and be willing to wait: those drownings happened on an informal boat working around a ferry gap. Malawi's Marine Department and marine police, under the Ministry of Transport and Public Works, are the authorities on which vessels may carry passengers. If the crew, the port office, or the older hands at the harbour say the lake is not right today, believe them.
Nothing on this page is a green light. People who do the trip describe the Ilala's lower deck as a bad place to be in bad weather, and this lake in a storm behaves like open sea. The decision to cross belongs to the people at the harbour who can see the water.
Forecast updated 12 June at 22:21. Wind figures are open-water model forecasts for the open lake between Nkhata Bay and the islands, not readings from a boat — conditions near the shore differ, and no model forecasts the waves on this water. The wind words follow one published descriptive scale (the Beaufort scale); they describe the air over the water and are never a judgement that a crossing is safe to make. Weather data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).