Editing Geography of Ghana (section)

== Climate ==
{{Main|Climate of Ghana}}
The country's warm, humid climate has an annual mean temperature between {{convert|26|and|29|°C}}.<ref name=":1">{{citation-attribution|1={{cite encyclopedia|title=Ghana: a country study|publisher=[[Federal Research Division]], [[Library of Congress]]|location=Washington, D.C.|url=https://www.loc.gov/item/95018891/|last=Owusu-Ansah|first=David|date=1995|editor-last=Berry|editor-first=LaVerle|edition=3rd|pages=72–73|isbn=0-8444-0835-2|oclc=32508385}}|entry=Climate}}</ref> Variations in the principal elements of temperature, rainfall, and humidity that govern the climate are influenced by the movement and interaction of the dry tropical continental air mass, or the harmattan, which blows from the northeast across the Sahara, and the opposing tropical maritime or moist equatorial system.<ref name=":1" /> The cycle of the seasons follows the apparent movement of the sun back and forth across the equator.<ref name=":1" />
[[File:Flooding Accra 8.jpg|thumb|[[File:Accra Flooding.jpg|thumb|Part of Accra was flooded during rainy season]]Most part of Accra mostly flooded during rainy season causing environmental crisis in Ghana]]
During summer in the northern hemisphere, a warm and moist maritime air mass intensifies and pushes northward across the country.<ref name=":1" /> A low-pressure belt, or intertropical front, in the airmass brings warm air, rain, and prevailing winds from the southwest.<ref name=":1" /> As the sun returns south across the equator, the dry, dusty, tropical continental front, or harmattan, prevails.<ref name=":1" /> Climatic conditions across the country are hardly uniform.<ref name=":1" /> The Kwahu Plateau, which marks the northernmost extent of the forest area, also serves as an important climatic divide.<ref name=":1" /> To its north, two distinct seasons occur.<ref name=":1" /> The harmattan season, with its dry, hot days and relatively cool nights from November to late March or April, is followed by a wet period that reaches its peak in late August or September.<ref name=":1" /> To the south and southwest of the Kwahu Plateau, where the annual mean rainfall from north to south ranges from {{convert|1,250|to|2,150|mm}}, four separate seasons occur.<ref name=":1" /> Heavy rains fall from about April through late June.<ref name=":1" /> After a relatively short dry period in August, another rainy season begins in September and lasts through November, before the longer harmattan season sets in to complete the cycle.<ref name=":1" />

The extent of drought and rainfall varies across the country.<ref name=":1" /> To the south of the Kwahu Plateau, the heaviest rains occur in the Axim area in the southwest corner of Ghana.<ref name=":1" /> Farther to the north, Kumasi receives an average annual rainfall of about {{convert|1,400|mm}}, while Tamale in the drier northern savanna receives rainfall of {{convert|1,000|mm}} per year.<ref name=":1" /> From Takoradi eastward to the Accra Plains, including the lower Volta region, rainfall averages only {{convert|750|to|1,000|mm}} a year.<ref name=":1" />

Temperatures are usually high at all times of the year throughout the country.<ref name=":1" /> At higher elevations, temperatures are more comfortable.<ref name=":1" /> In the far north, temperature highs of {{convert|31|°C}} are common.<ref name=":1" /> The southern part of the country is characterized by generally humid conditions.<ref name=":1" /> This is particularly so during the night, when 95 to 100 percent humidity is possible.<ref name=":1" /> Humid conditions also prevail in the northern section of the country during the rainy season.<ref name=":1" /> During the harmattan season, however, humidity drops as low as 25 percent in the north.<ref name=":1" />