GEOGRAPHY AND CLIMATE
Geography
Malawi's most striking feature is the Rift Valley, which runs the entire length of the country from Lake Malawi in the Northern and Central regions, to the Shire Valley in the Southern Region. Lake Malawi covers 2.43 million hectares of Malawi's total area of 11.85 million hectares. To the west and south of the lake are fertile plains and high mountain ranges (heights below).
Mulanje Plateau	3,002m			Zomba Plateau		2,087m
Nyika Plateau	2,606m			Viphya Plateau		1,954m
Kirk Range	2,198m			Dowa Highlands		1,698m
Climate
Malawi has two distinct seasons, a wet, warm season and a dryer, cooler season. The wet, rainy season runs from October to April, while the dry season runs from May to September.
Annual rainfall (mm)		2003	2002	2004	2005	2006
Mzuzu		1,359	1,245	1,411	1,004	1,048
Lilongwe		1038	787	776	797	726
Blantyre		1,182	1,130	852	871	1,315
Average monthly temperature (1996-2005, degree celsius)
		Q1		Q2	Q3	Q4
Maximum
Mzuzu		26.1		21.6	24.1	27.1
Lilongwe		27.2		24.1	28.1	27.9
Blantyre		26.6		22.3	26.7	26.9
Minimum
Mzuzu		17.0		9.2	10.7	16.8
Lilongwe		17.7		9.8	13.6	18.9
Blantyre		17.9		12.6	15.3	18.6
Malawi in Figures is an annual publication of the National Statistical Office. Data sources include the Statistical Yearbook, the 1998 Population and housing census, the 2005 Integrated Household Survey(IHS2), 2005 Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS), 2004 Demographic and Health Survey (MDHS),  Crime and Labour Survey.
Symbols Used and their meaning:
..	not available	K	K	Malawi Kwacha
%	per cent	mn	mn	million
mm	millimetres	Km	Km	kilometres
ha	hectares