Climate and average weather in Lukula

In Lukula, 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: mid May to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lukula 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 Lukula for warm-weather activities is from mid May to late August.

Hottest
Jul
31°
Coldest
Nov
21°
Wettest
Nov
188 mm
Driest
Jul
27 mm
Rain / yr
1509 mm
232 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
610 m
3.9°S
Clearest
Jul
56% cloud

Lukula 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 Lukula, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in Lukula 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 9°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3021
Feb3022
Mar3022
Apr3022
May3021
Jun3021
Jul3121
Aug3021
Sep3021
Oct2921
Nov2921
Dec2921

How hot and cold Lukula 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, Lukula feels like about 34°C (around February 25). About 350 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in February.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan33302121
Feb34302122
Mar34302222
Apr33302222
May33302121
Jun33302121
Jul32312021
Aug33302121
Sep33302121
Oct33292121
Nov32292121
Dec32292121

Average hourly temperature in Lukula

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

Lukula 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° / 21°1312112.23.7
Feb30° / 22°12318.512.13.5
Mar30° / 22°15822.8123.3
Apr30° / 22°16923.311.93.4
May30° / 21°9716.511.84.2
Jun30° / 21°357.511.85.0
Jul31° / 21°275.911.84.9
Aug30° / 21°9115.911.94.2
Sep30° / 21°14423.3123.5
Oct29° / 21°18526.812.13.2
Nov29° / 21°18825.612.23.3
Dec29° / 21°16124.512.23.5

Chance of rain

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

Lukula gets about 1509 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 8.3 months, from around Aug 29 to May 7, peaking in October at about 90% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 9.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 188 mm over about 26 wet days; July is the driest, with 27 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 30 · 90%Jul 9 · 13%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6821
Feb6619
Mar7423
Apr7723
May5317
Jun258
Jul206
Aug5216
Sep7723
Oct8627
Nov8626
Dec7825

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lukula collects about 1509 mm of rain across 232 wet days — roughly 126 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 188 mm, while July is the driest at just 27 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 36% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec13112315816997352791144185188161
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan13121
Feb12319
Mar15823
Apr16923
May9717
Jun358
Jul276
Aug9116
Sep14423
Oct18527
Nov18826
Dec16125

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lukula, 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 6 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around September 20. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 52% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 21 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around May 5. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 86% 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 · 57%Oct 31 · 12%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1486
Feb1486
Mar1486
Apr1882
May3466
Jun4951
Jul5248
Aug4060
Sep2872
Oct1684
Nov1486
Dec1486

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, Lukula 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)
Jan12.26:286:40
Feb12.16:356:43
Mar12.06:336:35
Apr11.96:276:22
May11.86:266:15
Jun11.86:316:18
Jul11.86:366:24
Aug11.96:326:25
Sep12.06:196:18
Oct12.16:076:12
Nov12.26:046:15
Dec12.26:146:27

Sunny days

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

Lukula 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 11 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.2 months, from around May 4 to Sep 7. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 10 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is November, down near 1 sunny days — about 92% fewer than the July peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJul 811 daysNov 31 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr2Gloomy
May6Gloomy
Jun9Mixed
Jul10Mixed
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.

Lukula 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 13% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 12 · 17%Jan 1 · 0%oppressivemuggyhumidcomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan00013860
Feb0008921
Mar0004961
Apr0002981
May00112870
Jun141339430
Jul582053140
Aug01546480
Sep00017830
Oct00011890
Nov00010900
Dec00011890

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 17 · 6 km/hDec 13 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Lukula

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid August, Lukula 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 Lukula for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late August, with a peak score in the first week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 1 · 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
Jan3.7fair
Feb3.5poor
Mar3.3poor
Apr3.4poor
May4.2fair
Jun5.0fair
Jul4.9fair
Aug4.2fair
Sep3.5poor
Oct3.2poor
Nov3.3poor
Dec3.5fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 8 · 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 Lukula, 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.

Lukula 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, Lukula sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes. Worth having: sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Lukula 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 Lukula peaks around March 20 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near August 10 at about 7 (high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeMar 20UV 15Aug 10UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun8Very high
Jul7Very high
Aug7High
Sep11Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec10Very high

Average hourly UV index in Lukula

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
Mar86.5
Apr86.5
May7.55
Jun6.54
Jul6.53.5
Aug6.53
Sep7.55.5
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55

Air quality in Lukula 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 Lukula is worst in July — around 221 µg/m³ PM2.5 (very unhealthy), about 20.0× the cleanest month (November, 11 µg/m³).

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

0306090120150180210240JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateVery unhealthyModerateModerateJul 11214 µg/m³Nov 1411 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan18Moderate
Feb22Moderate
Mar16Moderate
Apr14Moderate
May33Moderate
Jun192Very unhealthy
Jul221Very unhealthy
Aug50Poor
Sep21Moderate
Oct13Moderate
Nov11Good
Dec15Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lukula 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. Lukula banks about 5,640 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)
Jan477
Feb445
Mar489
Apr468
May484
Jun465
Jul487
Aug483
Sep459
Oct469
Nov448
Dec464

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.

Lukula 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 195.6 kWhMay 34.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.3Bright
Nov5.2Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Lukula?

Lukula sits at 3.9°S, 23.9°E, 610 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Lodja, 50 km away.

LusamboKabeya-KamwangaKinduMbuji-MayiDembaKabindaLubao

Topography around Lukula

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lukula has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 138 m around an average of 567 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 298 m.

The land around Lukula is covered by trees (68%) and grassland (24%) within 3 km, trees (62%) and grassland (33%) within 16 km, and trees (74%) and grassland (24%) within 80 km.

3 km
138 m
16 km
200 m
80 km
298 m
treesshrubsgrassland
Nearby: Lodja 50 km · Lusambo 132 km · Kabeya-Kamwanga 247 km · Kindu 249 km · Mbuji-Mayi 254 km · Demba 254 km · Kabinda 261 km · Lubao 267 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 Lukula (-3.8688°, 23.8835°, elevation 610 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).