Bukavu climate

Name: Bukavu
Address: CD

Bukavu is warmest in September, with average highs of 26 °C, and coldest in July, when nights average 16 °C. November is the wettest month (299 mm) and July the driest (8.3 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Bukavu averages 1,961 mm of rain and 109 days above 25 °C.

Democratic Republic of the Congo · population 816,811 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month September 26 °C
Coldest month July 16 °C
Driest month July 8 mm
Wettest month November 299 mm
Least cloud July 56 % cloud
Hottest on record September 30 °C
Coldest on record July 12 °C

What to expectBukavu through the year

Bukavu changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 25 and 26 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 109 days a year reach 25 °C, 0 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 30 °C, in September.

Rain is strongly seasonal. November averages 299 mm against 8 mm in July — 36 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	24.1 °C	269 mm	84 %
February	24.6 °C	218 mm	83 %
March	24.6 °C	209 mm	83 %
April	24.0 °C	194 mm	86 %
May	24.0 °C	99 mm	73 %
June	24.1 °C	25 mm	62 %
July	24.6 °C	8 mm	56 %
August	25.5 °C	28 mm	63 %
September	25.7 °C	87 mm	74 %
October	24.5 °C	237 mm	87 %
November	23.8 °C	299 mm	89 %
December	23.8 °C	290 mm	86 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C
January	24.1 °C	16.2 °C	19.9 °C	27.9 °C	13.8 °C	5
February	24.6 °C	16.4 °C	20.2 °C	29.5 °C	13.6 °C	10
March	24.6 °C	16.6 °C	20.3 °C	27.8 °C	13.4 °C	11
April	24.0 °C	16.2 °C	19.8 °C	27.6 °C	14.2 °C	5
May	24.0 °C	16.2 °C	19.7 °C	27.1 °C	12.7 °C	5
June	24.1 °C	15.8 °C	19.6 °C	26.7 °C	12.6 °C	6
July	24.6 °C	15.6 °C	19.8 °C	27.6 °C	11.7 °C	11
August	25.5 °C	16.1 °C	20.5 °C	28.5 °C	11.8 °C	19
September	25.7 °C	16.5 °C	20.8 °C	30.2 °C	13.0 °C	20
October	24.5 °C	16.5 °C	20.1 °C	29.2 °C	13.7 °C	10
November	23.8 °C	16.3 °C	19.7 °C	26.6 °C	13.9 °C	3
December	23.8 °C	16.3 °C	19.7 °C	26.8 °C	14.3 °C	2

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	269 mm	24	12 h/day	84 %	75 %	8.8 km/h
February	218 mm	21	12 h/day	83 %	74 %	9.4 km/h
March	209 mm	23	12 h/day	83 %	74 %	10 km/h
April	194 mm	23	12 h/day	86 %	77 %	12 km/h
May	99 mm	15	12 h/day	73 %	74 %	13 km/h
June	25 mm	5	12 h/day	62 %	66 %	12 km/h
July	8 mm	2	12 h/day	56 %	60 %	12 km/h
August	28 mm	4	12 h/day	63 %	58 %	12 km/h
September	87 mm	10	12 h/day	74 %	63 %	12 km/h
October	237 mm	21	12 h/day	87 %	73 %	11 km/h
November	299 mm	26	12 h/day	89 %	76 %	9.7 km/h
December	290 mm	25	12 h/day	86 %	76 %	9.0 km/h

How Bukavu compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Bukavu	26 °C	16 °C	1,961 mm	109
Gisenyi · Rwanda	23 °C	18 °C	2,467 mm	9
Goma · Democratic Republic of the Congo	23 °C	17 °C	2,467 mm	4
Uvira · Democratic Republic of the Congo	28 °C	22 °C	499 mm	350
Bujumbura · Burundi	28 °C	22 °C	475 mm	344
Musanze · Rwanda	24 °C	15 °C	1,637 mm	20
Kigali · Rwanda	26 °C	14 °C	888 mm	175

Where Bukavu ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Places with the best weather in Africa in July	9th of 50	97/100
Places with the best weather in Africa in June	14th of 50	96/100
Places with the best weather in the world in July	14th of 50	97/100
Places with the best weather in the world in June	17th of 50	96/100
Places with the best weather in Africa in August	19th of 50	95/100
Places with the best weather in the world in August	35th of 50	95/100

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Bukavu.

QuestionsCommon questions about Bukavu’s climate

When is the best time to visit Bukavu?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. January, July, October sit closest to 20 °C on average, September is the warmest month and July the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Bukavu get?

In September, the warmest month, daily highs average 26 °C. About 0 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 30 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 16 °C in July, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Bukavu?

November, averaging 299 mm over 26 days with rain. The driest month is July with 8 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,961 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Bukavu rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: -2.491°, 28.843° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.