Climate and average weather in Boma

In Boma, 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 December.

Best: late May to early October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Boma typically varies from 18°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 17°C or above 33°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Boma for warm-weather activities is from late May to early October.

Hottest
Mar
31°
Coldest
Jul
18°
Wettest
Dec
187 mm
Driest
Jul
2 mm
Rain / yr
1130 mm
155 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
11 m
5.9°S
Clearest
Jun
73% cloud

Boma is city in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Density
4,569/km²
people per km²
Founded
1550

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

Boma 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 early October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Boma stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 31°C and low of 24°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 18°C and high of 26°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3023
Feb3024
Mar3124
Apr3124
May2923
Jun2720
Jul2618
Aug2619
Sep2720
Oct2922
Nov3023
Dec3023

How hot and cold Boma 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, Boma feels like about 37°C (around March 29). About 219 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in March.

15°20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan34302323
Feb35302424
Mar36312424
Apr36312424
May33292323
Jun28272020
Jul26261818
Aug26261919
Sep28272020
Oct32292222
Nov33302323
Dec34302323

Average hourly temperature in Boma

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 18°C.

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

Boma 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
Jan30° / 23°17621.912.33.4
Feb30° / 24°14419.212.23.4
Mar31° / 24°14720.5123.3
Apr31° / 24°18422.211.93.2
May29° / 23°6311.611.74.9
Jun27° / 20°30.411.77.5
Jul26° / 18°20.111.77.7
Aug26° / 19°60.811.87.3
Sep27° / 20°122.6126.8
Oct29° / 22°5210.412.15.0
Nov30° / 23°1552212.33.4
Dec30° / 23°18723.412.33.4

Chance of rain

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

Boma gets about 1130 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.7 months, from around Oct 22 to May 13, peaking in April at about 77% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 1.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 187 mm over about 23 wet days; July is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 22 · 77%Jul 1 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan7122
Feb6719
Mar6821
Apr7322
May3812
Jun20
Jul00
Aug21
Sep93
Oct3510
Nov7322
Dec7623

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Boma collects about 1130 mm of rain across 155 wet days — roughly 94 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 187 mm, while July is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 48% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec176144147184633261252155187
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan17622
Feb14419
Mar14721
Apr18422
May6312
Jun30
Jul20
Aug61
Sep123
Oct5210
Nov15522
Dec18723

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Boma, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 2 and lasts for 3.0 months, ending around August 1. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 24% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around August 2 and lasts for 7.0 months, ending around March 2. The cloudiest month is September, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 99% 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 20 · 27%Sep 4 · 1%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan991
Feb1090
Mar1090
Apr1288
May1783
Jun2476
Jul2080
Aug595
Sep199
Oct595
Nov991
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. Close to the equator, Boma barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 18 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.36:086:26
Feb12.26:176:28
Mar12.06:166:19
Apr11.96:126:04
May11.76:125:56
Jun11.76:185:58
Jul11.76:236:04
Aug11.86:186:06
Sep12.06:036:01
Oct12.15:495:57
Nov12.35:456:01
Dec12.35:546:14

Sunny days

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

Boma averages about 1 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 3 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.0 months, from around May 16 to Aug 13. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 3 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is September, down near 0 sunny days — about 96% fewer than the June peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJun 213 daysSep 10 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul3Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
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.

Boma is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in July, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 1% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserablemuggyoppressivehumid
Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan0037323
Feb0026434
Mar0005446
Apr0004554
May00106822
Jun0868230
Jul1445510
Aug0336700
Sep058960
Oct0038610
Nov006895
Dec0028612

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.

Wind in Boma is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmOct 6 · 7 km/hApr 22 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Boma

In seasonPeak

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

Boma'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 Boma

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late September, Boma 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 Boma for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to early October, with a peak score in the last week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 29 · 7.7

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
Jan3.4poor
Feb3.4poor
Mar3.3poor
Apr3.2poor
May5.0fair
Jun7.4good
Jul7.7ideal
Aug7.3good
Sep6.8good
Oct5.0fair
Nov3.5poor
Dec3.4poor

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 Boma for hot-weather activities is from mid May to late October, with a peak score in the second week of June.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 13 · 7.7

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 Boma, 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.

Boma packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°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, Boma sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 24°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 21 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Boma 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 Boma peaks around March 15 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 18 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 15UV 15Jul 18UV 6
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May8Very high
Jun7High
Jul6High
Aug7High
Sep10Very high
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Boma

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
Feb86.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May74
Jun62.5
Jul61.5
Aug62.5
Sep7.55
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec85.5

Air quality in Boma 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 Boma is worst in July — around 30 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 3.1× the cleanest month (November, 10 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodJul 1429 µg/m³Nov 1710 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan12Moderate
Feb14Moderate
Mar12Moderate
Apr14Moderate
May20Moderate
Jun27Moderate
Jul30Moderate
Aug24Moderate
Sep19Moderate
Oct13Moderate
Nov10Good
Dec12Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Boma 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. Boma banks about 5,602 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan515
Feb475
Mar536
Apr514
May496
Jun405
Jul377
Aug384
Sep412
Oct483
Nov494
Dec509

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.

Boma receives about 4.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — moderate — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.0 and 4.9 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.0 months, from around Oct 27 to Apr 28. The brightest month is March, averaging about 4.8 kWh/m² (bright).

The dimmest month is August, down near 3.1 kWh/m² — roughly 35% less than the March peak.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightMar 44.9 kWhAug 313.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.6Bright
Feb4.8Bright
Mar4.9Bright
Apr4.3Bright
May3.6Moderate
Jun3.4Moderate
Jul3.5Moderate
Aug3.1Moderate
Sep3.1Moderate
Oct3.6Moderate
Nov4.3Bright
Dec4.3Bright

Where is Boma?

Boma sits at 5.9°S, 13.1°E, 11 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Matadi, 45 km away.

Buco Zau

Topography around Boma

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Boma has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 142 m around an average of 27 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 436 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 585 m.

The land around Boma is covered by artificial surfaces (33%), grassland (23%) and water (20%) within 3 km, grassland (58%) and trees (22%) within 16 km, and trees (54%) and grassland (37%) within 80 km.

3 km
142 m
16 km
436 m
80 km
585 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfaceswaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Matadi 45 km · Kenge 67 km · Moanda 76 km · Soyo 82 km · Tshela 96 km · Cabinda 100 km · Tombôco 110 km · Buco Zau 133 km

Democratic Republic of the Congo travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type C / E
220 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 42% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$807
2025
Happiness
3.8 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
12%
of population, 2024
Road deaths
34.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 400

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 Boma (-5.851°, 13.0536°, elevation 11 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).