Climate and average weather in Kananga

In Kananga, the weather is hot, wet, and mostly clear and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around November.

Best: mid May to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kananga typically varies from 20°C to 32°C, and is rarely below 18°C or above 34°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Kananga for warm-weather activities is from mid May to late August.

Hottest
Jul
32°
Coldest
Nov
20°
Wettest
Nov
186 mm
Driest
Jul
6 mm
Rain / yr
1406 mm
199 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
643 m
5.9°S
Clearest
Jul
44% cloud

Kananga is capital city of the Kasai-Central Province in DRC and capital of the former Kasaï-Occidental Province.

Density
1,679/km²
people per km²
Founded
1884

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

Kananga 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 August.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Kananga stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is July, with an average high of 32°C and low of 20°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 20°C and high of 29°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in July.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2921
Feb3021
Mar3021
Apr3021
May3121
Jun3120
Jul3220
Aug3121
Sep3021
Oct2921
Nov2920
Dec2921

How hot and cold Kananga 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, Kananga feels like about 33°C (around April 26). About 179 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in April.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan32292121
Feb33302121
Mar33302121
Apr33302121
May33312121
Jun32312020
Jul32322020
Aug32312121
Sep32302121
Oct32292121
Nov31292020
Dec31292121

Average hourly temperature in Kananga

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 July afternoons, near 32°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 20°C.

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

Kananga 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°13119.512.34.0
Feb30° / 21°1271812.23.7
Mar30° / 21°17622.2123.5
Apr30° / 21°17822.111.93.5
May31° / 21°6411.811.74.5
Jun31° / 20°102.211.75.2
Jul32° / 20°61.311.75.0
Aug31° / 21°521011.84.6
Sep30° / 21°13619.8123.8
Oct29° / 21°18124.812.13.4
Nov29° / 20°18624.912.33.5
Dec29° / 21°15922.312.33.8

Chance of rain

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

Kananga gets about 1406 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 7.9 months, from around Sep 5 to May 3, peaking in November at about 84% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 8.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 186 mm over about 25 wet days; July is the driest, with 6 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 2 · 84%Jul 8 · 2%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6320
Feb6418
Mar7122
Apr7322
May3812
Jun82
Jul51
Aug3210
Sep6620
Oct8025
Nov8225
Dec7222

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kananga collects about 1406 mm of rain across 199 wet days — roughly 117 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 186 mm, while July is the driest at just 6 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 39% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1311271761786410652136181186159
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan13120
Feb12718
Mar17622
Apr17822
May6412
Jun102
Jul61
Aug5210
Sep13620
Oct18125
Nov18625
Dec15922

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Kananga, 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 2 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around September 16. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 69% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 17 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around May 1. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 89% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 7 · 71%Jan 24 · 9%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1189
Feb1486
Mar1585
Apr2278
May4654
Jun6634
Jul6931
Aug5248
Sep3268
Oct1585
Nov1387
Dec1288

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, Kananga 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)
Jan12.36:306:49
Feb12.26:396:51
Mar12.06:396:41
Apr11.96:346:27
May11.76:356:19
Jun11.76:416:20
Jul11.76:456:27
Aug11.86:406:29
Sep12.06:266:24
Oct12.16:116:19
Nov12.36:076:24
Dec12.36:166:37

Sunny days

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

Kananga averages about 5 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 15 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.3 months, from around May 1 to Sep 8. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 14 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is November, down near 1 sunny days — about 96% fewer than the July peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightJul 1015 daysNov 240 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May9Mixed
Jun13Mixed
Jul14Mixed
Aug8Gloomy
Sep4Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec1Gloomy

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 Kananga, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 9.4 months, from around August 18 to May 29. 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 May 30 to August 17, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 51% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 9 · 59%Jan 1 · 0%oppressivehumidmuggycomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan0014158
Feb0003169
Mar0002080
Apr0001584
May12113453
Jun191822348
Jul321827230
Aug5718646
Sep0025543
Oct0003664
Nov0003664
Dec0004258

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 11 · 6 km/hNov 18 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Kananga

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late August, Kananga 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 Kananga for general outdoor tourist activities is from early May to late August, with a peak score in the second week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 13 · 5.3

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
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.4poor
Apr3.5poor
May4.5fair
Jun5.2fair
Jul5.0fair
Aug4.6fair
Sep3.8fair
Oct3.4poor
Nov3.5poor
Dec3.8fair

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 Kananga for hot-weather activities is from mid May to late August, with a peak score in the first week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 6 · 8.0

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 Kananga, 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.

Kananga packs about the same all year — highs hold near 32°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, sun protection and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In July, Kananga sees daytime highs around 32°C and nights near 20°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Kananga 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 Kananga peaks around March 18 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near August 12 at about 5 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highHighExtremeMar 18UV 15Aug 12UV 5
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May10Very high
Jun8Very high
Jul6High
Aug5Moderate
Sep12Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Kananga

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 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)
Jan86
Feb8.56.5
Mar86.5
Apr86.5
May75
Jun74
Jul62
Aug5.50
Sep7.55.5
Oct86.5
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Kananga 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 Kananga is worst in August — around 134 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 7.2× the cleanest month (November, 19 µg/m³).

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

0306090120150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorUnhealthyModerateAug 13128 µg/m³Nov 2019 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan27Moderate
Feb36Poor
Mar22Moderate
Apr22Moderate
May38Poor
Jun59Unhealthy
Jul102Unhealthy
Aug134Unhealthy
Sep45Poor
Oct23Moderate
Nov19Moderate
Dec20Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Kananga 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. Kananga banks about 5,567 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around July.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan463
Feb431
Mar480
Apr464
May486
Jun463
Jul487
Aug486
Sep457
Oct460
Nov437
Dec454

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.

Kananga receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.0 and 5.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 215.6 kWhAug 165.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.1Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun5.2Bright
Jul5.3Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep5.2Bright
Oct5.2Bright
Nov5.2Bright
Dec5.1Bright

Where is Kananga?

Kananga sits at 5.9°S, 22.4°E, 643 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Demba, 47 km away.

LueboMbuji-MayiMwekaLusamboMwene-Ditu

Topography around Kananga

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kananga has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 92 m around an average of 612 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 200 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 467 m.

The land around Kananga is covered by artificial surfaces (50%) and trees (32%) within 3 km, trees (34%), shrubs (30%) and grassland (30%) within 16 km, and trees (64%) within 80 km.

3 km
92 m
16 km
200 m
80 km
467 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Demba 47 km · Kabeya-Kamwanga 93 km · Miabi 114 km · Luebo 126 km · Mbuji-Mayi 132 km · Mweka 150 km · Lusambo 153 km · Mwene-Ditu 169 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 Kananga (-5.8962°, 22.4166°, elevation 643 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).