Climate and average weather in Bujumbura
In Bujumbura, the weather is warm, showery, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around December.
Over the course of the year, the temperature in Bujumbura typically varies from 22°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 20°C or above 28°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.
Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Bujumbura for warm-weather activities is from mid May to late October.
- Hottest
- Feb
- 26°
- Coldest
- Jul
- 22°
- Wettest
- Dec
- 156 mm
- Driest
- Aug
- 4 mm
- Rain / yr
- 759 mm
- 70 wet days
- Daylight
- 11.8–12.2 h
- shortest–longest
- Elevation
- 807 m
- 3.4°S
- Clearest
- Jul
- 55% cloud
Bujumbura is former capital of Burundi.
- Density
- 8,890/km²
- people per km²
- Founded
- 1897
Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.
Bujumbura 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 mid May to late October.
Temperature through the year
Daily average highs and lows in Bujumbura, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.
Temperatures in Bujumbura stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 26°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 22°C and high of 24°C.
Days typically run about 3°C warmer than nights year-round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg high (°C) | 26 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 | 25 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 26 | 25 | 25 |
| Avg low (°C) | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 22 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 22 |
| Avg high (°C) | Avg low (°C) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26 | 22 |
| Feb | 26 | 23 |
| Mar | 26 | 23 |
| Apr | 25 | 23 |
| May | 25 | 23 |
| Jun | 25 | 23 |
| Jul | 24 | 22 |
| Aug | 25 | 23 |
| Sep | 26 | 23 |
| Oct | 26 | 23 |
| Nov | 25 | 23 |
| Dec | 25 | 22 |
Average hourly temperature in Bujumbura
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 February afternoons, near 26°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 22°C.
Bujumbura weather by month
Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.
| Month | High / Low (°C) | Rainfall (mm) | Wet days | Daylight (hours) | Travel score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26° / 22° | 146 | 12 | 12.2 | 6.0 |
| Feb | 26° / 23° | 92 | 8.6 | 12.1 | 6.3 |
| Mar | 26° / 23° | 82 | 7.9 | 12 | 6.5 |
| Apr | 25° / 23° | 116 | 8.8 | 11.9 | 6.3 |
| May | 25° / 23° | 53 | 5.2 | 11.8 | 7.3 |
| Jun | 25° / 23° | 13 | 2.1 | 11.8 | 8.0 |
| Jul | 24° / 22° | 4 | 0.8 | 11.8 | 8.4 |
| Aug | 25° / 23° | 4 | 1.1 | 11.9 | 8.2 |
| Sep | 26° / 23° | 7 | 1.2 | 12 | 7.8 |
| Oct | 26° / 23° | 28 | 4.4 | 12.1 | 7.0 |
| Nov | 25° / 23° | 60 | 6.8 | 12.2 | 6.6 |
| Dec | 25° / 22° | 156 | 10.6 | 12.2 | 6.2 |
Chance of rain
How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.
Bujumbura gets about 759 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.
The wetter season lasts 6.3 months, from around Nov 2 to May 12, peaking in January at about 43% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 12.
December is the wettest month by volume, with 156 mm over about 11 wet days; August is the driest, with 4 mm.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rain on a day (%) | 39 | 30 | 26 | 30 | 16 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 22 | 34 |
| Rain days | 12 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Rain on a day (%) | Rain days | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 39 | 12 |
| Feb | 30 | 9 |
| Mar | 26 | 8 |
| Apr | 30 | 9 |
| May | 16 | 5 |
| Jun | 7 | 2 |
| Jul | 3 | 1 |
| Aug | 4 | 1 |
| Sep | 4 | 1 |
| Oct | 14 | 4 |
| Nov | 22 | 7 |
| Dec | 34 | 11 |
Monthly rainfall
Over a full year, Bujumbura collects about 759 mm of rain across 70 wet days — roughly 63 mm in an average month.
It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 156 mm, while August is the driest at just 4 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 55% of the year’s total.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainfall (mm) | 146 | 92 | 82 | 116 | 53 | 13 | 4 | 4 | 7 | 28 | 60 | 156 |
| Rain days | 12 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 11 |
| Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 146 | 12 |
| Feb | 92 | 9 |
| Mar | 82 | 8 |
| Apr | 116 | 9 |
| May | 53 | 5 |
| Jun | 13 | 2 |
| Jul | 4 | 1 |
| Aug | 4 | 1 |
| Sep | 7 | 1 |
| Oct | 28 | 4 |
| Nov | 60 | 7 |
| Dec | 156 | 11 |
Clouds and sunshine
How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.
In Bujumbura, 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 11 and lasts for 4.8 months, ending around October 2. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 54% of the time on average.
The cloudier part of the year begins around October 3 and lasts for 7.2 months, ending around May 10. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 95% of the time.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearer (%) | 10 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 31 | 44 | 54 | 52 | 38 | 13 | 5 | 7 |
| Cloudier (%) | 90 | 87 | 88 | 91 | 69 | 56 | 46 | 48 | 62 | 87 | 95 | 93 |
| Clearer (%) | Cloudier (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 10 | 90 |
| Feb | 13 | 87 |
| Mar | 12 | 88 |
| Apr | 9 | 91 |
| May | 31 | 69 |
| Jun | 44 | 56 |
| Jul | 54 | 46 |
| Aug | 52 | 48 |
| Sep | 38 | 62 |
| Oct | 13 | 87 |
| Nov | 5 | 95 |
| Dec | 7 | 93 |
Daylight, sunrise and sunset
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. Close to the equator, Bujumbura barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 12 min of light in every season.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 12.2 | 12.1 | 12.0 | 11.9 | 11.8 | 11.8 | 11.8 | 11.9 | 12.0 | 12.1 | 12.2 | 12.2 |
| Sunrise (AM) | 6:07 | 6:14 | 6:12 | 6:05 | 6:03 | 6:09 | 6:14 | 6:10 | 5:57 | 5:45 | 5:43 | 5:53 |
| Sunset (PM) | 6:17 | 6:20 | 6:13 | 6:01 | 5:54 | 5:57 | 6:03 | 6:03 | 5:56 | 5:50 | 5:52 | 6:05 |
| Daylight (h) | Sunrise (AM) | Sunset (PM) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 12.2 | 6:07 | 6:17 |
| Feb | 12.1 | 6:14 | 6:20 |
| Mar | 12.0 | 6:12 | 6:13 |
| Apr | 11.9 | 6:05 | 6:01 |
| May | 11.8 | 6:03 | 5:54 |
| Jun | 11.8 | 6:09 | 5:57 |
| Jul | 11.8 | 6:14 | 6:03 |
| Aug | 11.9 | 6:10 | 6:03 |
| Sep | 12.0 | 5:57 | 5:56 |
| Oct | 12.1 | 5:45 | 5:50 |
| Nov | 12.2 | 5:43 | 5:52 |
| Dec | 12.2 | 5:53 | 6:05 |
Sunny days
How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.
Bujumbura averages about 4 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 11 days.
The sunnier stretch runs 4.6 months, from around May 13 to Sep 30. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 10 sunny days (mixed).
The greyest month is November, down near 0 sunny days — about 96% fewer than the July peak.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunny days | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sky | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Mixed | Mixed | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy |
| Sunny days | Sky | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 1 | Gloomy |
| Feb | 1 | Gloomy |
| Mar | 1 | Gloomy |
| Apr | 1 | Gloomy |
| May | 5 | Gloomy |
| Jun | 8 | Gloomy |
| Jul | 10 | Mixed |
| Aug | 9 | Mixed |
| Sep | 5 | Gloomy |
| Oct | 1 | Gloomy |
| Nov | 0 | Gloomy |
| Dec | 0 | Gloomy |
Humidity comfort
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 Bujumbura, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.
The more humid part of the year lasts 6.4 months, from around November 10 to May 23. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 90% of the time.
The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 24 to November 9, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 82% of the time.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry (%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Comfortable (%) | 10 | 14 | 17 | 26 | 35 | 62 | 76 | 72 | 60 | 52 | 36 | 16 |
| Humid (%) | 66 | 64 | 62 | 58 | 63 | 37 | 18 | 25 | 39 | 47 | 59 | 65 |
| Muggy (%) | 24 | 22 | 21 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 18 |
| Dry (%) | Comfortable (%) | Humid (%) | Muggy (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 0 | 10 | 66 | 24 |
| Feb | 0 | 14 | 64 | 22 |
| Mar | 0 | 17 | 62 | 21 |
| Apr | 0 | 26 | 58 | 17 |
| May | 0 | 35 | 63 | 2 |
| Jun | 1 | 62 | 37 | 0 |
| Jul | 6 | 76 | 18 | 0 |
| Aug | 3 | 72 | 25 | 0 |
| Sep | 1 | 60 | 39 | 0 |
| Oct | 0 | 52 | 47 | 1 |
| Nov | 0 | 36 | 59 | 5 |
| Dec | 0 | 16 | 65 | 18 |
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 Bujumbura is typically calm, near 11 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.
The windier part of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around May 5 to Nov 6. The windiest month is August, averaging about 13 km/h (light breeze).
The calmer part of the year runs from around Nov 7 to May 4, with January the calmest month at about 8 km/h.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wind speed (km/h) | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 13 | 13 | 12 | 10 | 9 |
| Feels | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | light breeze | light breeze | light breeze | calm | calm | calm |
| Wind speed (km/h) | Feels | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | calm |
| Feb | 9 | calm |
| Mar | 9 | calm |
| Apr | 10 | calm |
| May | 11 | calm |
| Jun | 12 | calm |
| Jul | 12 | light breeze |
| Aug | 13 | light breeze |
| Sep | 13 | light breeze |
| Oct | 12 | calm |
| Nov | 10 | calm |
| Dec | 9 | calm |
Hazard calendar for Bujumbura
When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.
Bujumbura's rainy season runs December–April, when most of the year's rain falls.
Best time to visit Bujumbura
To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Bujumbura throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.
Around mid October, Bujumbura 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 Bujumbura for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late October, with a peak score in the second week of July.
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).
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel score (0–10) | 6.0 | 6.3 | 6.5 | 6.4 | 7.3 | 8.0 | 8.4 | 8.2 | 7.8 | 7.0 | 6.6 | 6.2 |
| Rating | good | good | good | good | good | ideal | ideal | ideal | ideal | good | good | good |
| Travel score (0–10) | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6.0 | good |
| Feb | 6.3 | good |
| Mar | 6.5 | good |
| Apr | 6.4 | good |
| May | 7.3 | good |
| Jun | 8.0 | ideal |
| Jul | 8.4 | ideal |
| Aug | 8.2 | ideal |
| Sep | 7.8 | ideal |
| Oct | 7.0 | good |
| Nov | 6.6 | good |
| Dec | 6.2 | good |
The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Bujumbura for hot-weather activities run from late January to late March and again from mid April to early December, with a peak score in the third week of September.
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 Bujumbura, by month
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.
Bujumbura packs about the same all year — highs hold near 26°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.
In February, Bujumbura sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 23°C. Worth packing: light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 9 days see rain.
UV index (midday) in Bujumbura by month
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 Bujumbura peaks around March 20 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 21 at about 10 (very high).
The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV index (midday) | 13 | 13 | 16 | 15 | 12 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 13 | 14 | 13 | 12 |
| Level | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Very high | Extreme | Very high | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme |
| UV index (midday) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 13 | Extreme |
| Feb | 13 | Extreme |
| Mar | 16 | Extreme |
| Apr | 15 | Extreme |
| May | 12 | Extreme |
| Jun | 10 | Very high |
| Jul | 10 | Extreme |
| Aug | 10 | Very high |
| Sep | 13 | Extreme |
| Oct | 14 | Extreme |
| Nov | 13 | Extreme |
| Dec | 12 | Extreme |
Average hourly UV index in Bujumbura
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 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV ≥ 3 (h/day) | 8 | 8 | 8.5 | 8 | 8 | 7.5 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 |
| UV ≥ 6 (h/day) | 6.5 | 6.5 | 7 | 6.5 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6 | 6 |
| UV ≥ 3 (h/day) | UV ≥ 6 (h/day) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 8 | 6.5 |
| Feb | 8 | 6.5 |
| Mar | 8.5 | 7 |
| Apr | 8 | 6.5 |
| May | 8 | 6 |
| Jun | 7.5 | 5 |
| Jul | 7 | 5 |
| Aug | 7 | 5 |
| Sep | 8 | 6 |
| Oct | 8 | 6.5 |
| Nov | 8 | 6 |
| Dec | 8 | 6 |
Air quality in Bujumbura by month
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 Bujumbura is worst in August — around 59 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 3.0× the cleanest month (April, 19 µg/m³).
Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 28 | 28 | 24 | 19 | 23 | 33 | 42 | 59 | 54 | 33 | 24 | 23 |
| Level | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Poor | Unhealthy | Poor | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate |
| PM2.5 (µg/m³) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 28 | Moderate |
| Feb | 28 | Moderate |
| Mar | 24 | Moderate |
| Apr | 19 | Moderate |
| May | 23 | Moderate |
| Jun | 33 | Moderate |
| Jul | 42 | Poor |
| Aug | 59 | Unhealthy |
| Sep | 54 | Poor |
| Oct | 33 | Moderate |
| Nov | 24 | Moderate |
| Dec | 23 | Moderate |
Growing season
Bujumbura is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frost-free chance (%) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Frost nights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frost-free chance (%) | Frost nights | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 100 | 0 |
| Feb | 100 | 0 |
| Mar | 100 | 0 |
| Apr | 100 | 0 |
| May | 100 | 0 |
| Jun | 100 | 0 |
| Jul | 100 | 0 |
| Aug | 100 | 0 |
| Sep | 100 | 0 |
| Oct | 100 | 0 |
| Nov | 100 | 0 |
| Dec | 100 | 0 |
Growing degree days
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. Bujumbura banks about 5,108 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around September.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growing degree days (°C·days) | 432 | 404 | 447 | 419 | 432 | 409 | 412 | 429 | 436 | 447 | 417 | 424 |
| Growing degree days (°C·days) | |
|---|---|
| Jan | 432 |
| Feb | 404 |
| Mar | 447 |
| Apr | 419 |
| May | 432 |
| Jun | 409 |
| Jul | 412 |
| Aug | 429 |
| Sep | 436 |
| Oct | 447 |
| Nov | 417 |
| Dec | 424 |
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.
Bujumbura receives about 4.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.2 and 5.3 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar energy (kWh/m²) | 4.7 | 4.9 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.8 | 5.1 | 5.3 | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Level | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright |
| Solar energy (kWh/m²) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4.7 | Bright |
| Feb | 4.9 | Bright |
| Mar | 4.7 | Bright |
| Apr | 4.3 | Bright |
| May | 4.6 | Bright |
| Jun | 4.6 | Bright |
| Jul | 4.8 | Bright |
| Aug | 5.1 | Bright |
| Sep | 5.3 | Bright |
| Oct | 4.7 | Bright |
| Nov | 4.3 | Bright |
| Dec | 4.4 | Bright |
Where is Bujumbura?
Bujumbura sits at 3.4°S, 29.4°E, 807 m above sea level, in Burundi. The nearest listed city is Gatumba, 13 km away.
Topography around Bujumbura
How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Bujumbura.
Within 3 km, the terrain around Bujumbura has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 218 m around an average of 807 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,558 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,681 m.
The land around Bujumbura is covered by artificial surfaces (62%) within 3 km, grassland (28%) and water (26%) within 16 km, and grassland (39%) and trees (24%) within 80 km.
Burundi travel facts
- Travel advisory
- Level 3
- Reconsider Travel
- Power plugs
- Type C / E
- 220 V · 50 Hz
- Prices
- ≈ 34% of US
- price level, 2025
- GDP per capita
- $234
- 2025
- Happiness
- 3.8 / 10
- World Happiness, 2020
- Homicide rate
- 5.6
- per 100k, 2016
- Road deaths
- 35.5
- per 100k/yr, 2019
- Income group
- Low
- World Bank
- Religion
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 Bujumbura (-3.3819°, 29.3614°, elevation 807 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).