Drying Days

How good the next few days are for drying fish and cassava in the open — strong-sun hours, when rain is coming, and the best window to have things on the racks.

How good the next few days look for drying in the open at Nkhata Bay — usipa on the beach racks, cassava for kondowole, maize and groundnuts. It reads the forecast sun, rain and humidity and says how many good drying hours each day offers and when rain is likely. It is a weather outlook, not a promise: rain crosses the lake fast, so watch the sky and keep cover within reach.

Today

Excellent drying today.

About 10 drying hours, 8 of them strong sun.

No rain expected.

Best window roughly 8 am–6 pm.

Modelled forecast, as of Sun 19:02. Refreshed about every half hour.

The next few days

Day	Drying	Rain	Best window
Today	Excellent (10 hrs)	—	8 am–6 pm
Tomorrow	Mixed (5 hrs)	10 am	2 pm–5 pm
Tuesday	Good (9 hrs)	—	8 am–5 pm
Wednesday	Good (10 hrs)	—	8 am–6 pm

Drying tips

Spread the catch thin on raised racks so air moves underneath, rather than in deep piles.
Turn it around midday so both sides get the strongest sun.
When the lake darkens to the south or east, rain can reach the bay quickly — cover up before it arrives, not after.
A breeze off the lake dries as much as the sun does; an open, airy rack beats a sheltered corner.

This is a weather outlook, not a promise

It describes the sun, rain and humidity in plain words — not how fast your catch will dry, which depends on how it’s spread, the rack and the wind off the water. Rain over the lake can arrive earlier or heavier than any forecast, so watch the sky and keep cover within reach.

Worth knowing

Why drying matters here

Nkhata Bay has long been a heart of Malawi's fish trade, and getting usipa dried and to market before it spoils is the binding constraint on that trade. A half-dried catch caught by the rain is lost income.

Dry it properly, not with chemicals

In October 2025 some processors were found using the pesticide Actellic to preserve usipa while drying it; the District Fisheries Officer called it illegal and urged proper sun-drying and salting instead. A good run of drying weather is what lets the safe method work.

The rains are the threat

The wet season runs roughly November to April, around 1,657 mm of rain a year. That is when showers interrupt drying and when this outlook earns its keep; the dry season, May to October, usually gives long, reliable drying days.

Fetched Sun 19:02. These are modelled estimates, not measurements. Weather data by Open-Meteo (CC BY 4.0).