Climate and average weather in Lisala

In Lisala, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: late May to early August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lisala typically varies from 22°C to 32°C, and is rarely below 20°C or above 35°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Lisala for warm-weather activities are from late May to early August and late November to late December.

Hottest
Feb
32°
Coldest
Jul
22°
Wettest
Oct
185 mm
Driest
Jan
45 mm
Rain / yr
1439 mm
234 wet days
Daylight
11.9–12.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
418 m
2.2°N
Clearest
Jan
65% cloud

Lisala is capital of the Mongala province in the north of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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

Lisala 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 August.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Lisala stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 32°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 22°C and high of 29°C.

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

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3222
Feb3223
Mar3223
Apr3123
May3023
Jun2923
Jul2922
Aug2922
Sep2922
Oct2922
Nov2922
Dec3022

How hot and cold Lisala 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, Lisala feels like about 36°C (around February 28). About 349 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)
Jan34322222
Feb36322323
Mar36322323
Apr35312323
May34302323
Jun33292223
Jul32292222
Aug32292222
Sep33292222
Oct32292222
Nov33292222
Dec34302222

Average hourly temperature in Lisala

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 32°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 22°C.

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

Lisala 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
Jan32° / 22°459.111.94.1
Feb32° / 23°7111.811.93.5
Mar32° / 23°13618.3123.3
Apr31° / 23°14220.7123.4
May30° / 23°11821.212.13.6
Jun29° / 23°10419.512.14.0
Jul29° / 22°11721.612.13.9
Aug29° / 22°15525.512.13.5
Sep29° / 22°16124.8123.4
Oct29° / 22°18526.1123.4
Nov29° / 22°14623.111.93.6
Dec30° / 22°601211.94.4

Chance of rain

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

Lisala gets about 1439 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 5.4 months, from around Jun 16 to Nov 26, peaking in October at about 85% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jan 9.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 185 mm over about 26 wet days; January is the driest, with 45 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 26 · 85%Jan 9 · 27%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan309
Feb4212
Mar6018
Apr6821
May6821
Jun6620
Jul7122
Aug8126
Sep8325
Oct8426
Nov7623
Dec3912

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lisala collects about 1439 mm of rain across 234 wet days — roughly 120 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 185 mm, while January is the driest at just 45 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 35% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec457113614211810411715516118514660
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan459
Feb7112
Mar13618
Apr14221
May11821
Jun10420
Jul11722
Aug15526
Sep16125
Oct18526
Nov14623
Dec6012

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lisala, 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 November 26 and lasts for 3.3 months, ending around March 5. The clearest month is January, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 40% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around July 14 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around November 25. The cloudiest month is October, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 82% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJan 4 · 43%Oct 21 · 17%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4060
Feb3367
Mar2674
Apr2377
May3367
Jun3367
Jul2674
Aug2179
Sep2278
Oct1882
Nov2377
Dec3961

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, Lisala barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 06 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.95:475:40
Feb11.95:515:46
Mar12.05:445:43
Apr12.05:335:36
May12.15:275:33
Jun12.15:305:38
Jul12.15:365:43
Aug12.15:365:40
Sep12.05:285:29
Oct12.05:205:18
Nov11.95:225:16
Dec11.95:345:26

Sunny days

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

Lisala averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 7 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.2 months, from around Nov 29 to Mar 5. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 6 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is November, down near 2 sunny days — about 66% fewer than the January peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedJan 77 daysNov 31 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan6Gloomy
Feb5Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr3Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun4Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov2Gloomy
Dec5Gloomy

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.

Lisala 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 February, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 94% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 6% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggyhumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan24925610
Feb01417762
Mar0003906
Apr00008812
May00008911
Jun0000973
Jul0001990
Aug0001990
Sep0001990
Oct00001000
Nov0001980
Dec00214830

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 13 · 6 km/hOct 25 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec5calm

Best time to visit Lisala

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late July, Lisala 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 times of year to visit Lisala for general outdoor tourist activities run from late May to late July and again from late November to early February, with a peak score in the last week of December.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationDec 22 · 4.6

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
Jan4.1fair
Feb3.5fair
Mar3.3poor
Apr3.4poor
May3.6fair
Jun4.0fair
Jul3.9fair
Aug3.5fair
Sep3.4poor
Oct3.4poor
Nov3.6fair
Dec4.4fair

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 Lisala for hot-weather activities is from late November to late February, with a peak score in the first week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 1 · 6.7

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 Lisala, 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.

Lisala packs about the same all year — highs hold near 32°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, Lisala sees daytime highs around 32°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: rain gear and sun protection. About 12 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lisala 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 Lisala peaks around March 22 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 11 at about 9 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeVery highMar 22UV 13Jul 11UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug12Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov9Very high
Dec9Very high

Average hourly UV index in Lisala

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 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)
Jan7.55.5
Feb86
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun74.5
Jul74.5
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov75
Dec74.5

Air quality in Lisala 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 Lisala is worst in March — around 110 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 11.1× the cleanest month (October, 10 µg/m³).

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

0306090120JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyModerateGoodModerateMar 12106 µg/m³Oct 1210 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan39Poor
Feb91Unhealthy
Mar110Unhealthy
Apr43Poor
May16Moderate
Jun18Moderate
Jul21Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep11Good
Oct10Good
Nov15Moderate
Dec26Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lisala 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. Lisala banks about 5,929 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)
Jan525
Feb489
Mar537
Apr506
May513
Jun478
Jul479
Aug478
Sep468
Oct481
Nov470
Dec505

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.

Lisala receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.8 and 5.7 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 135.7 kWhJul 294.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.6Bright
Feb5.7Bright
Mar5.7Bright
Apr5.4Bright
May5.2Bright
Jun4.8Bright
Jul4.8Bright
Aug4.9Bright
Sep5.1Bright
Oct4.9Bright
Nov4.9Bright
Dec5.2Bright

Where is Lisala?

Lisala sits at 2.2°N, 21.5°E, 418 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Bumba, 106 km away.

BusingaBasankusuGemenaGbadoliteBasokoAketi

Topography around Lisala

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lisala has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 132 m around an average of 384 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 154 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 216 m.

The land around Lisala is covered by water (32%), trees (27%) and artificial surfaces (23%) within 3 km, trees (69%) within 16 km, and trees (95%) within 80 km.

3 km
132 m
16 km
154 m
80 km
216 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Bumba 106 km · Binga 116 km · Businga 149 km · Basankusu 217 km · Gemena 229 km · Gbadolite 243 km · Basoko 254 km · Aketi 260 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 Lisala (2.1513°, 21.5167°, elevation 418 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).