Climate and average weather in Lodja

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

Best: early May to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lodja typically varies from 21°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 19°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 Lodja for warm-weather activities is from early May to late August.

Hottest
Jul
31°
Coldest
Nov
21°
Wettest
Nov
148 mm
Driest
Jul
24 mm
Rain / yr
1240 mm
212 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
478 m
3.5°S
Clearest
Jul
57% cloud

Lodja is city in Sankuru, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

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

Lodja 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 early May to late August.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Lodja stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is July, with an average high of 31°C and low of 21°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 21°C and high of 29°C.

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

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3022
Feb3022
Mar3022
Apr2922
May3022
Jun3121
Jul3121
Aug3021
Sep3021
Oct2921
Nov2921
Dec2921

How hot and cold Lodja 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, Lodja feels like about 34°C (around March 1). About 334 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in March.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan33302222
Feb34302222
Mar34302222
Apr33292222
May33302222
Jun33312121
Jul32312121
Aug33302121
Sep33302121
Oct33292121
Nov32292121
Dec32292121

Average hourly temperature in Lodja

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 21°C.

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

Lodja 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°11218.312.23.9
Feb30° / 22°1031712.13.6
Mar30° / 22°13120.6123.5
Apr29° / 22°14021.711.93.6
May30° / 22°8516.311.84.3
Jun31° / 21°296.711.85.0
Jul31° / 21°245.211.84.9
Aug30° / 21°7314.911.94.2
Sep30° / 21°11821.5123.6
Oct29° / 21°14624.412.13.4
Nov29° / 21°14823.712.23.6
Dec29° / 21°13221.412.23.9

Chance of rain

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

Lodja gets about 1240 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 4.9 months, from around Aug 28 to Jan 22, peaking in November at about 81% 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 148 mm over about 24 wet days; July is the driest, with 24 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 3 · 81%Jul 8 · 12%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6018
Feb6017
Mar6721
Apr7222
May5116
Jun237
Jul185
Aug4815
Sep7022
Oct7824
Nov7924
Dec6921

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lodja collects about 1240 mm of rain across 212 wet days — roughly 103 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 148 mm, while July is the driest at just 24 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 35% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec11210313114085292473118146148132
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan11218
Feb10317
Mar13121
Apr14022
May8516
Jun297
Jul245
Aug7315
Sep11822
Oct14624
Nov14824
Dec13221

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lodja, 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 7 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around September 24. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 50% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 25 and lasts for 7.4 months, ending around May 6. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 85% 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 9 · 54%Feb 22 · 14%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1585
Feb1684
Mar1684
Apr1981
May3466
Jun4753
Jul5050
Aug3961
Sep2971
Oct1981
Nov1684
Dec1585

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

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.26:296:40
Feb12.16:376:44
Mar12.06:356:36
Apr11.96:286:24
May11.86:276:17
Jun11.86:326:20
Jul11.86:376:26
Aug11.96:336:26
Sep12.06:206:19
Oct12.16:086:13
Nov12.26:066:16
Dec12.26:166:28

Sunny days

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

Lodja 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 10 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around May 5 to Sep 8. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 9 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is February, down near 1 sunny days — about 90% fewer than the July peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJul 710 daysFeb 251 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May5Gloomy
Jun9Mixed
Jul9Mixed
Aug5Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
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.

Lodja 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 99% of the time. Even in July, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 10% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 13 · 13%Jan 1 · 0%oppressivemuggyhumidcomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan00110890
Feb0006940
Mar0003961
Apr0001981
May0008910
Jun131138480
Jul381953180
Aug01445500
Sep00015840
Oct00010900
Nov0006940
Dec0007930

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 20 · 6 km/hDec 3 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Lodja

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid August, Lodja 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 Lodja for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late August, with a peak score in the last week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 25 · 5.1

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
Mar3.5fair
Apr3.6fair
May4.3fair
Jun5.0fair
Jul4.9fair
Aug4.2fair
Sep3.7fair
Oct3.4poor
Nov3.6fair
Dec3.9fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 7 · 7.5

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 Lodja, 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.

Lodja packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°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, Lodja sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: sun protection. About 5 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lodja 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 Lodja peaks around March 18 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near August 10 at about 7 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeMar 18UV 14Aug 10UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May10Very high
Jun7Very high
Jul7Very high
Aug7Very high
Sep11Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec10Very high

Average hourly UV index in Lodja

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
Feb86.5
Mar86.5
Apr86.5
May75
Jun6.53.5
Jul6.53.5
Aug6.53.5
Sep7.55.5
Oct86
Nov85.5
Dec7.55

Air quality in Lodja 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 Lodja is worst in July — around 228 µg/m³ PM2.5 (very unhealthy), about 21.5× the cleanest month (November, 11 µg/m³).

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

0306090120150180210240JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateUnhealthyVery unhealthyModerateGoodModerateJul 15210 µg/m³Nov 1411 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan18Moderate
Feb21Moderate
Mar15Moderate
Apr12Good
May22Moderate
Jun103Unhealthy
Jul228Very unhealthy
Aug57Unhealthy
Sep21Moderate
Oct13Moderate
Nov11Good
Dec15Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lodja 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. Lodja banks about 5,724 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)
Jan486
Feb452
Mar497
Apr471
May490
Jun474
Jul496
Aug490
Sep467
Oct477
Nov453
Dec470

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.

Lodja receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.9 and 5.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 225.6 kWhMay 34.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar5.5Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.1Bright
Aug5.0Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.3Bright
Nov5.1Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Lodja?

Lodja sits at 3.5°S, 23.6°E, 478 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Lukula, 50 km away.

LusamboDembaKinduMwekaKabeya-KamwangaMbuji-MayiKananga

Topography around Lodja

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lodja has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 86 m around an average of 456 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 180 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 304 m.

The land around Lodja is covered by trees (58%) and artificial surfaces (29%) within 3 km, trees (69%) and grassland (24%) within 16 km, and trees (84%) within 80 km.

3 km
86 m
16 km
180 m
80 km
304 m
treesshrubsgrasslandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Lukula 50 km · Lusambo 163 km · Demba 265 km · Kindu 266 km · Mweka 270 km · Kabeya-Kamwanga 278 km · Mbuji-Mayi 291 km · Kananga 295 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 Lodja (-3.521°, 23.6005°, elevation 478 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).