Kigali climate
Kigali is warmest in August, with average highs of 26 °C, and coldest in December, when nights average 14 °C. April is the wettest month (133 mm) and July the driest (4.5 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.
Across a full year Kigali averages 888 mm of rain and 175 days above 25 °C.
Rwanda · population 1,132,686 · 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 August 26 °C
- Coldest month December 14 °C
- Driest month July 5 mm
- Wettest month April 133 mm
- Least cloud July 58 % cloud
- Hottest on record February 32 °C
- Coldest on record November 11 °C
What to expectKigali through the year
Kigali 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, 175 days a year reach 25 °C, 1 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 32 °C, in February.
Rain is strongly seasonal. April averages 133 mm against 5 mm in July — 29 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.
Month by month
| Month | Avg high | Rainfall | Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25.2 °C | 74 mm | 74 % |
| February | 25.9 °C | 75 mm | 74 % |
| March | 25.3 °C | 101 mm | 77 % |
| April | 24.2 °C | 133 mm | 82 % |
| May | 24.0 °C | 79 mm | 71 % |
| June | 24.4 °C | 14 mm | 64 % |
| July | 25.3 °C | 5 mm | 58 % |
| August | 26.1 °C | 22 mm | 62 % |
| September | 26.0 °C | 52 mm | 66 % |
| October | 25.2 °C | 115 mm | 78 % |
| November | 24.4 °C | 127 mm | 82 % |
| December | 24.6 °C | 91 mm | 75 % |
Temperature month by month
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Mean | Record high | Record low | Days above 25 °C | Days above 30 °C | Days below 0 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25.2 °C | 14.5 °C | 19.9 °C | 31.3 °C | 11.4 °C | 16 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 25.9 °C | 14.8 °C | 20.3 °C | 32.1 °C | 11.5 °C | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 25.3 °C | 14.7 °C | 19.9 °C | 30.0 °C | 11.8 °C | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 24.2 °C | 14.9 °C | 19.3 °C | 28.4 °C | 11.9 °C | 7 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 24.0 °C | 14.9 °C | 19.4 °C | 28.4 °C | 12.2 °C | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 24.4 °C | 14.8 °C | 19.7 °C | 27.9 °C | 10.7 °C | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 25.3 °C | 14.9 °C | 20.3 °C | 29.4 °C | 11.1 °C | 18 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 26.1 °C | 15.4 °C | 20.8 °C | 31.4 °C | 11.2 °C | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 26.0 °C | 15.0 °C | 20.4 °C | 30.9 °C | 11.6 °C | 23 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 25.2 °C | 14.7 °C | 19.7 °C | 31.4 °C | 11.8 °C | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 24.4 °C | 14.2 °C | 19.1 °C | 27.6 °C | 10.6 °C | 9 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 24.6 °C | 14.1 °C | 19.3 °C | 28.2 °C | 11.1 °C | 10 | 0 | 0 |
Rain, sun and wind month by month
| Month | Rainfall | Wet days | Daylight | Cloud cover | Humidity | Wind |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 74 mm | 15 | 12 h/day | 74 % | 75 % | 9.5 km/h |
| February | 75 mm | 14 | 12 h/day | 74 % | 73 % | 9.4 km/h |
| March | 101 mm | 20 | 12 h/day | 77 % | 78 % | 9.1 km/h |
| April | 133 mm | 23 | 12 h/day | 82 % | 82 % | 9.2 km/h |
| May | 79 mm | 15 | 12 h/day | 71 % | 77 % | 10 km/h |
| June | 14 mm | 3 | 12 h/day | 64 % | 64 % | 11 km/h |
| July | 5 mm | 1 | 12 h/day | 58 % | 54 % | 11 km/h |
| August | 22 mm | 4 | 12 h/day | 62 % | 57 % | 12 km/h |
| September | 52 mm | 10 | 12 h/day | 66 % | 66 % | 12 km/h |
| October | 115 mm | 18 | 12 h/day | 78 % | 74 % | 11 km/h |
| November | 127 mm | 22 | 12 h/day | 82 % | 80 % | 10 km/h |
| December | 91 mm | 18 | 12 h/day | 75 % | 78 % | 9.8 km/h |
How Kigali 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kigali | 26 °C | 14 °C | 888 mm | 175 |
| Musanze · Rwanda | 24 °C | 15 °C | 1,637 mm | 20 |
| Gisenyi · Rwanda | 23 °C | 18 °C | 2,467 mm | 9 |
| Goma · Democratic Republic of the Congo | 23 °C | 17 °C | 2,467 mm | 4 |
Where Kigali ranks
| Ranking | Position | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Places with the best weather in Africa in June | 11thof 50 | 97/100 |
| Places with the best weather in the world in June | 14thof 50 | 97/100 |
| Places with the best weather in Africa in July | 17thof 50 | 96/100 |
| Places with the best weather in Africa in August | 26thof 50 | 94/100 |
| Places with the best weather in the world in July | 34thof 50 | 96/100 |
Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Kigali.
QuestionsCommon questions about Kigali’s climate
When is the best time to visit Kigali?
That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. January, March, October sit closest to 20 °C on average, August is the warmest month and July the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.
How hot does Kigali get?
In August, the warmest month, daily highs average 26 °C. About 1 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 32 °C.
How cold does it get in winter?
Nights average 14 °C in December, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.
Which month is wettest in Kigali?
April, averaging 133 mm over 23 days with rain. The driest month is July with 5 mm. The year as a whole averages 888 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 Kigali 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
- Dataset version
- era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
- Last processed
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.