The Climate of Cameroon is very diverse. Cameroon is generally referred to as the Africa in miniature because it has the major climates and vegetation of the continent. The country is separated in two mains climatic zones: the equatorial climate in the south and the tropical climate in the northern part[1].
Cameroon has two main climate areas: the equatorial and subequatorial domain, in the south, and the tropical domains in the north.
The equatorial zone in Cameroon stretches from 2 to 5° N, covering the southern and the mountainous western part of the country. The equatorial zone has 4 seasons 2 dry and 2 wet.[2] The equatorial zone It is characterized by abundant rainfall (more than 1,000 mm of rainfall per year) and especially by the absence of a dry season: we speak here of "dry seasons" for the periods when it rains less (December-January, then July -August, with local variations). The atmosphere is humid all year round: The temperature ranges from 20-25°C and the wettest regions receive more than 400 mm of rainfall per month.[3]
This climate has many nuances, classified differently according to the studies, but which all depend on the relief and the proximity of the Atlantic coast. The coastal plain around Douala experiences a so-called “hyperhumid” climate with a total absence of a dry season. Douala is regularly flooded in the rainy season. At the foot of Mount Cameroon, rainfall is at record levels: more than 7,500 mm per year in Limbé. The equatorial climate of the western highlands is “mountain facies” (the relief creates strong variations in rainfall and lowers temperatures).
The coastal belt includes some of the wettest places on earth. The coast near Mount Cameroon experiences the most abundant rainfall in the country. The locality of Debundscha for example, has an average annual rainfall of 10,299 mm.[4]
The southern Cameroon plateaux and the southern coastal plain experience the so-called Guinean-type climate that characterizes the Congo Basin forest.