Mbandaka climate

Name: Mbandaka
Address: CD

Mbandaka is warmest in February, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in September, when nights average 23 °C. October is the wettest month (202 mm) and January the driest (87 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Mbandaka averages 1,663 mm of rain and 364 days above 25 °C.

Democratic Republic of the Congo · population 455,011 · 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 February 31 °C
Coldest month September 23 °C
Driest month January 87 mm
Wettest month October 202 mm
Least cloud June 69 % cloud
Hottest on record August 38 °C
Coldest on record January 20 °C

What to expectMbandaka through the year

Mbandaka changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 29 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, 364 days a year reach 25 °C, 175 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 38 °C, in August.

Rain is strongly seasonal. October averages 202 mm against 87 mm in January — 2.3 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	31.2 °C	87 mm	77 %
February	31.3 °C	115 mm	80 %
March	30.8 °C	152 mm	80 %
April	30.2 °C	157 mm	80 %
May	30.0 °C	129 mm	75 %
June	29.6 °C	89 mm	69 %
July	29.3 °C	96 mm	72 %
August	28.9 °C	153 mm	76 %
September	28.8 °C	188 mm	80 %
October	29.0 °C	202 mm	83 %
November	29.4 °C	179 mm	82 %
December	30.2 °C	117 mm	78 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	31.2 °C	23.2 °C	26.4 °C	36.6 °C	19.8 °C	31	23
February	31.3 °C	23.6 °C	26.6 °C	36.3 °C	21.1 °C	28	21
March	30.8 °C	23.6 °C	26.4 °C	35.3 °C	20.9 °C	31	21
April	30.2 °C	23.5 °C	26.1 °C	34.8 °C	21.5 °C	30	17
May	30.0 °C	23.4 °C	26.0 °C	34.5 °C	21.4 °C	31	16
June	29.6 °C	23.0 °C	25.7 °C	34.0 °C	21.2 °C	30	13
July	29.3 °C	22.7 °C	25.4 °C	33.9 °C	20.1 °C	31	10
August	28.9 °C	22.6 °C	25.1 °C	38.3 °C	20.3 °C	31	7
September	28.8 °C	22.5 °C	25.0 °C	32.6 °C	20.7 °C	30	7
October	29.0 °C	22.6 °C	25.1 °C	33.7 °C	20.3 °C	31	9
November	29.4 °C	22.7 °C	25.3 °C	33.1 °C	20.3 °C	30	12
December	30.2 °C	22.9 °C	25.8 °C	33.7 °C	20.9 °C	31	19

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind
January	87 mm	15	12 h/day	77 %	81 %	9.0 km/h
February	115 mm	16	12 h/day	80 %	83 %	9.9 km/h
March	152 mm	21	12 h/day	80 %	86 %	9.6 km/h
April	157 mm	22	12 h/day	80 %	88 %	8.5 km/h
May	129 mm	22	12 h/day	75 %	88 %	7.2 km/h
June	89 mm	17	12 h/day	69 %	86 %	7.3 km/h
July	96 mm	18	12 h/day	72 %	86 %	8.1 km/h
August	153 mm	23	12 h/day	76 %	87 %	8.7 km/h
September	188 mm	25	12 h/day	80 %	89 %	8.6 km/h
October	202 mm	26	12 h/day	83 %	89 %	8.1 km/h
November	179 mm	24	12 h/day	82 %	89 %	7.5 km/h
December	117 mm	19	12 h/day	78 %	86 %	8.0 km/h

How Mbandaka 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
Mbandaka	31 °C	23 °C	1,663 mm	364
Bandundu Province · Democratic Republic of the Congo	32 °C	23 °C	1,362 mm	365
Gemena · Democratic Republic of the Congo	33 °C	21 °C	1,375 mm	363
Bumba · Democratic Republic of the Congo	33 °C	22 °C	1,402 mm	363

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Mbandaka’s climate

When is the best time to visit Mbandaka?

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

How hot does Mbandaka get?

In February, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 175 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 38 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 23 °C in September, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Mbandaka?

October, averaging 202 mm over 26 days with rain. The driest month is January with 87 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,663 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 Mbandaka 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: 0.049°, 18.260° (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.