Kinshasa climate

Name: Kinshasa
Address: CD

Kinshasa is warmest in September, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in July, when nights average 20 °C. November is the wettest month (189 mm) and July the driest (0.7 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Kinshasa averages 1,074 mm of rain and 365 days above 25 °C.

Democratic Republic of the Congo · population 16,000,000 · 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 31 °C
Coldest month July 20 °C
Driest month July 1 mm
Wettest month November 189 mm
Least cloud June 54 % cloud
Hottest on record March 35 °C
Coldest on record July 16 °C

What to expectKinshasa through the year

Kinshasa changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 30 and 31 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 365 days a year reach 25 °C, 161 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C, in March.

Rain is strongly seasonal. November averages 189 mm against 1 mm in July — 258 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	29.3 °C	119 mm	84 %
February	30.0 °C	108 mm	85 %
March	30.3 °C	117 mm	84 %
April	29.8 °C	153 mm	83 %
May	29.6 °C	76 mm	70 %
June	29.5 °C	4 mm	54 %
July	29.9 °C	1 mm	55 %
August	30.1 °C	7 mm	65 %
September	31.1 °C	19 mm	71 %
October	30.4 °C	119 mm	77 %
November	29.0 °C	189 mm	81 %
December	28.9 °C	162 mm	84 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	29.3 °C	22.6 °C	25.6 °C	33.7 °C	20.5 °C	31	9
February	30.0 °C	22.8 °C	26.0 °C	35.0 °C	20.3 °C	28	14
March	30.3 °C	23.1 °C	26.3 °C	35.2 °C	20.8 °C	31	17
April	29.8 °C	23.0 °C	26.0 °C	33.2 °C	20.8 °C	30	14
May	29.6 °C	22.7 °C	25.8 °C	34.5 °C	20.2 °C	31	11
June	29.5 °C	20.7 °C	24.8 °C	33.5 °C	17.5 °C	30	11
July	29.9 °C	19.9 °C	24.5 °C	33.9 °C	16.2 °C	31	16
August	30.1 °C	20.5 °C	25.0 °C	33.8 °C	16.8 °C	31	16
September	31.1 °C	21.8 °C	26.1 °C	35.2 °C	18.7 °C	30	23
October	30.4 °C	22.5 °C	26.0 °C	35.2 °C	20.0 °C	31	18
November	29.0 °C	22.4 °C	25.3 °C	32.9 °C	20.7 °C	30	6
December	28.9 °C	22.4 °C	25.3 °C	31.6 °C	20.2 °C	31	5

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	119 mm	20	12 h/day	84 %	84 %	8.2 km/h
February	108 mm	16	12 h/day	85 %	83 %	8.8 km/h
March	117 mm	18	12 h/day	84 %	83 %	8.6 km/h
April	153 mm	21	12 h/day	83 %	85 %	7.9 km/h
May	76 mm	14	12 h/day	70 %	84 %	7.7 km/h
June	4 mm	1	12 h/day	54 %	76 %	9.3 km/h
July	1 mm	0	12 h/day	55 %	70 %	11 km/h
August	7 mm	1	12 h/day	65 %	68 %	12 km/h
September	19 mm	5	12 h/day	71 %	68 %	11 km/h
October	119 mm	19	12 h/day	77 %	77 %	9.5 km/h
November	189 mm	25	12 h/day	81 %	85 %	7.9 km/h
December	162 mm	25	12 h/day	84 %	86 %	7.6 km/h

How Kinshasa 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
Kinshasa	31 °C	20 °C	1,074 mm	365
Masina · Democratic Republic of the Congo	31 °C	19 °C	1,197 mm	365
Bandundu Province · Democratic Republic of the Congo	32 °C	23 °C	1,362 mm	365
Matadi · Democratic Republic of the Congo	31 °C	18 °C	1,065 mm	359
Boma · Democratic Republic of the Congo	31 °C	19 °C	1,150 mm	363
Uíge · Angola	30 °C	16 °C	1,921 mm	345
Cabinda · Angola	29 °C	20 °C	1,267 mm	298

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Kinshasa’s climate

When is the best time to visit Kinshasa?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. June, July, August 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 Kinshasa get?

In September, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 161 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 35 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 20 °C in July, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Kinshasa?

November, averaging 189 mm over 25 days with rain. The driest month is July with 1 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,074 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 Kinshasa 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: -4.328°, 15.314° (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.