Climate and average weather in Kisangani

In Kisangani, 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 October.

Best: mid April to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kisangani typically varies from 22°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 21°C or above 34°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Kisangani for warm-weather activities are from early January to late February and mid April to mid September.

Hottest
Feb
31°
Coldest
Nov
22°
Wettest
Oct
186 mm
Driest
Jan
70 mm
Rain / yr
1573 mm
246 wet days
Daylight
12.0–12.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
400 m
0.5°N
Clearest
Jan
72% cloud

Kisangani is city in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Density
619/km²
people per km²

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

Kisangani 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 April to mid September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Kisangani stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 31°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 22°C and high of 28°C.

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

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3022
Feb3123
Mar3123
Apr3023
May2923
Jun2922
Jul2922
Aug2922
Sep2922
Oct2922
Nov2822
Dec2922

How hot and cold Kisangani 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, Kisangani feels like about 35°C (around February 19). About 202 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in February.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan34302222
Feb35312323
Mar34312323
Apr33302323
May33292323
Jun32292222
Jul32292222
Aug32292222
Sep32292222
Oct32292222
Nov31282222
Dec32292222

Average hourly temperature in Kisangani

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 22°C.

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

Kisangani 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° / 22°7012.8124.3
Feb31° / 23°9014123.7
Mar31° / 23°16119.7123.5
Apr30° / 23°16121.3123.6
May29° / 23°12221.7123.8
Jun29° / 22°9619.1124.2
Jul29° / 22°9619.5124.2
Aug29° / 22°13823.8123.8
Sep29° / 22°16524.5123.6
Oct29° / 22°18626.3123.5
Nov28° / 22°18224.5123.6
Dec29° / 22°10718.8124.2

Chance of rain

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

Kisangani gets about 1573 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 4.5 months, from around Jul 25 to Dec 7, peaking in October at about 86% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 17.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 186 mm over about 26 wet days; January is the driest, with 70 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 19 · 86%Jan 17 · 39%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4213
Feb5014
Mar6420
Apr7121
May7022
Jun6419
Jul6420
Aug7624
Sep8225
Oct8526
Nov8125
Dec6019

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kisangani collects about 1573 mm of rain across 246 wet days — roughly 131 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 186 mm, while January is the driest at just 70 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 34% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec70901611611229696138165186182107
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan7013
Feb9014
Mar16120
Apr16121
May12222
Jun9619
Jul9620
Aug13824
Sep16525
Oct18626
Nov18225
Dec10719

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Kisangani, 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 December 6 and lasts for 3.2 months, ending around March 12. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 29% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 6 and lasts for 3.0 months, ending around December 5. The cloudiest month is October, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 87% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 4 · 32%Nov 2 · 12%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2971
Feb2872
Mar2080
Apr1684
May2278
Jun2377
Jul2377
Aug1981
Sep1882
Oct1387
Nov1486
Dec2575

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, Kisangani barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 hours of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.06:296:28
Feb12.06:346:33
Mar12.06:296:29
Apr12.06:196:20
May12.06:156:16
Jun12.06:196:20
Jul12.06:246:26
Aug12.06:236:24
Sep12.06:136:14
Oct12.06:056:04
Nov12.06:056:04
Dec12.06:166:15

Sunny days

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

Kisangani averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 4 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.1 months, from around Dec 12 to Mar 16. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 3 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is October, down near 1 sunny days — about 76% fewer than the February peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyergloomymixedFeb 24 daysOct 301 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan4Gloomy
Feb3Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec2Gloomy

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.

Kisangani 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 96% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 0% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggy
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan413821
Feb210853
Mar02917
Apr009010
May009010
Jun01972
Jul03970
Aug01990
Sep00991
Oct00990
Nov00991
Dec13951

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 Kisangani is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 13 · 6 km/hMay 21 · 3 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb6calm
Mar5calm
Apr4calm
May3calm
Jun3calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec5calm

Best time to visit Kisangani

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late April, Kisangani is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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. In Kisangani it holds close to 4.4 all year, so any month is about as good as another for general outdoor tourist activities.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDectravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitation

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
Jan4.3fair
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.5fair
Apr3.6fair
May3.8fair
Jun4.2fair
Jul4.2fair
Aug3.8fair
Sep3.6fair
Oct3.5poor
Nov3.6fair
Dec4.2fair

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 Kisangani for hot-weather activities run from late April to late July and again from early December to late March, with a peak score in the third week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 15 · 6.2

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 Kisangani, 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.

Kisangani 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 February, Kisangani sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 14 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Kisangani 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 Kisangani peaks around April 9 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 12 at about 8 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeVery highApr 9UV 14Jul 12UV 8
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul8Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep11Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov10Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Kisangani

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 April 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
Feb86
Mar86.5
Apr86.5
May7.55.5
Jun74.5
Jul74
Aug7.55.5
Sep85.5
Oct86
Nov7.55
Dec7.55

Air quality in Kisangani 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 Kisangani is worst in February — around 70 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 6.2× the cleanest month (October, 11 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyModerateModerateFeb 1667 µg/m³Oct 2012 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan37Poor
Feb70Unhealthy
Mar46Poor
Apr19Moderate
May14Moderate
Jun19Moderate
Jul25Moderate
Aug20Moderate
Sep15Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov13Moderate
Dec25Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Kisangani 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. Kisangani banks about 5,729 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan505
Feb473
Mar514
Apr483
May493
Jun464
Jul470
Aug467
Sep455
Oct470
Nov453
Dec483

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.

Kisangani receives about 5.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.6 and 5.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 135.6 kWhJun 264.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.4Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar5.5Bright
Apr5.1Bright
May4.8Bright
Jun4.6Bright
Jul4.6Bright
Aug4.8Bright
Sep4.9Bright
Oct4.9Bright
Nov4.7Bright
Dec4.9Bright

Where is Kisangani?

Kisangani sits at 0.5°N, 25.2°E, 400 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Yangambi, 88 km away.

BasokoBabambaButaAketiBumbaWambaIsiro

Topography around Kisangani

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kisangani has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 50 m around an average of 394 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 81 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 399 m.

The land around Kisangani is covered by artificial surfaces (65%) within 3 km, trees (66%) within 16 km, and trees (96%) within 80 km.

3 km
50 m
16 km
81 m
80 km
399 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Yangambi 88 km · Basoko 193 km · Babamba 258 km · Buta 258 km · Aketi 293 km · Bumba 355 km · Wamba 361 km · Isiro 368 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 Kisangani (0.5153°, 25.191°, elevation 400 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).