Climate and average weather in Mbanza Kongo

In Mbanza Kongo, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around April.

Best: late May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Mbanza Kongo typically varies from 17°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 15°C or above 32°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while August is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Mbanza Kongo for warm-weather activities is from late May to late September.

Hottest
Mar
30°
Coldest
Aug
18°
Wettest
Apr
229 mm
Driest
Jul
0 mm
Rain / yr
1266 mm
167 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
531 m
6.3°S
Clearest
Jun
52% cloud

Mbanza Kongo is capital of Angola's northwestern Zaire Province.

Founded
1390

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Mbanza Kongo weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late May to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Mbanza Kongo, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Mbanza Kongo stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 30°C and low of 22°C; the coolest is August, with an average low of 18°C and high of 27°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2921
Feb3022
Mar3022
Apr3022
May2921
Jun2719
Jul2717
Aug2718
Sep2820
Oct2921
Nov2921
Dec2921

How hot and cold Mbanza Kongo really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Mbanza Kongo feels like about 33°C (around March 21). About 96 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in March.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan31292121
Feb32302222
Mar33302222
Apr33302222
May31292121
Jun28271919
Jul27271717
Aug27271818
Sep29282020
Oct30292121
Nov31292121
Dec31292121

Average hourly temperature in Mbanza Kongo

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on March afternoons, near 30°C, and coldest before dawn in August, near 18°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Mbanza Kongo weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan29° / 21°15421.612.33.9
Feb30° / 22°12617.812.23.9
Mar30° / 22°15220.4123.6
Apr30° / 22°22924.411.93.3
May29° / 21°9014.611.75.1
Jun27° / 19°20.511.67.9
Jul27° / 17°00.111.78.1
Aug27° / 18°30.811.87.6
Sep28° / 20°113.5126.8
Oct29° / 21°9115.112.14.8
Nov29° / 21°20724.212.33.5
Dec29° / 21°20124.512.43.7

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Mbanza Kongo gets about 1266 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 7.0 months, from around Oct 15 to May 15, peaking in April at about 86% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 28.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 229 mm over about 24 wet days; July is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 23 · 86%Jun 28 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan7022
Feb6318
Mar6720
Apr8024
May4615
Jun31
Jul00
Aug31
Sep124
Oct4815
Nov8024
Dec7925

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Mbanza Kongo collects about 1266 mm of rain across 167 wet days — roughly 105 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 229 mm, while July is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 50% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec154126152229902031191207201
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan15422
Feb12618
Mar15220
Apr22924
May9015
Jun21
Jul00
Aug31
Sep114
Oct9115
Nov20724
Dec20125

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Mbanza Kongo, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 6 and lasts for 3.5 months, ending around August 20. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 59% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around August 21 and lasts for 8.5 months, ending around May 5. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 92% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 22 · 65%Dec 19 · 7%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan991
Feb1387
Mar1189
Apr1288
May3367
Jun5941
Jul5644
Aug2773
Sep1288
Oct1189
Nov1189
Dec892

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around January 1, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around June 8, only 11 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 0 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.36:036:22
Feb12.26:126:24
Mar12.06:116:14
Apr11.96:075:59
May11.76:085:51
Jun11.66:145:52
Jul11.76:195:59
Aug11.86:136:01
Sep12.05:585:56
Oct12.15:445:52
Nov12.35:405:57
Dec12.45:486:10

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Mbanza Kongo averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 13 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.4 months, from around May 11 to Aug 20. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 11 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is December, down near 0 sunny days — about 98% fewer than the June peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJun 2313 daysDec 240 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun10Mixed
Jul11Mixed
Aug4Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Mbanza Kongo, how humid it feels changes noticeably over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 9.5 months, from around September 3 to June 19. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around June 20 to September 2, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 18% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 26 · 25%Jan 1 · 0%muggyhumidoppressivecomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan013069
Feb022672
Mar001684
Apr00595
May023068
Jun350434
Jul187660
Aug128170
Sep156440
Oct0116722
Nov023564
Dec002673

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in Mbanza Kongo is typically calm, near 6 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.8 months, from around Jun 7 to Oct 30. The windiest month is August, averaging about 8 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 31 to Jun 6, with April the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeAug 27 · 8 km/hApr 24 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug8calm
Sep8calm
Oct7calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Mbanza Kongo

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Mbanza Kongo's rainy season runs November–April, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Mbanza Kongo

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Mbanza Kongo throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around mid September, Mbanza Kongo is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Mbanza Kongo for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to late September, with a peak score in the last week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 25 · 8.1

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan3.9fair
Feb3.9fair
Mar3.6fair
Apr3.3poor
May5.1fair
Jun7.8ideal
Jul8.1ideal
Aug7.6ideal
Sep6.8good
Oct4.8fair
Nov3.5fair
Dec3.6fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Mbanza Kongo for hot-weather activities is from late May to early October, with a peak score in the last week of June.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 22 · 8.3

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Mbanza Kongo, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

Mbanza Kongo packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Mbanza Kongo sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 22°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 20 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Mbanza Kongo by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Mbanza Kongo peaks around March 14 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 24 at about 6 (high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighVery highExtremeMar 14UV 15Jul 24UV 6
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May9Very high
Jun8Very high
Jul6High
Aug6High
Sep10Very high
Oct13Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Mbanza Kongo

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in March the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan8.56.5
Feb8.56.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May74.5
Jun6.54
Jul62
Aug62
Sep7.55
Oct86
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Mbanza Kongo by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Mbanza Kongo is worst in July — around 56 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 5.4× the cleanest month (November, 10 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorUnhealthyPoorModerateGoodJul 2256 µg/m³Nov 2011 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan13Moderate
Feb15Moderate
Mar14Moderate
Apr13Moderate
May24Moderate
Jun44Poor
Jul56Unhealthy
Aug55Poor
Sep38Poor
Oct16Moderate
Nov10Good
Dec12Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Mbanza Kongo is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Mbanza Kongo banks about 5,248 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan466
Feb435
Mar490
Apr467
May460
Jun391
Jul375
Aug383
Sep406
Oct459
Nov453
Dec462

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Mbanza Kongo receives about 4.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.0 and 5.3 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightMar 15.3 kWhSep 74.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.0Bright
Feb5.2Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr4.7Bright
May4.2Bright
Jun4.5Bright
Jul4.8Bright
Aug4.2Bright
Sep4.0Moderate
Oct4.3Bright
Nov4.8Bright
Dec4.7Bright

Where is Mbanza Kongo?

Mbanza Kongo sits at 6.3°S, 14.2°E, 531 m above sea level, in Angola. The nearest listed city is Cuímba, 45 km away.

MatadiMaquela do ZomboTombôcoMbanza-NgunguSongo

Topography around Mbanza Kongo

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Mbanza Kongo.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Mbanza Kongo has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 171 m around an average of 475 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 369 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 991 m.

The land around Mbanza Kongo is covered by grassland (32%), shrubs (27%) and artificial surfaces (25%) within 3 km, grassland (47%) and trees (36%) within 16 km, and grassland (67%) and trees (28%) within 80 km.

3 km
171 m
16 km
369 m
80 km
991 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Cuímba 45 km · Kimpese 81 km · Kenge 85 km · Matadi 98 km · Maquela do Zombo 99 km · Tombôco 117 km · Mbanza-Ngungu 131 km · Songo 138 km

Angola travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 35% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$3,129
2025
Happiness
3.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2017
Homicide rate
4.1
per 100k, 2016
Road deaths
26.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 413
Religion
Roman Catholic 41%Protestant 38%none 12%other 9%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Mbanza Kongo (-6.2667°, 14.2383°, elevation 531 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).