Climate and average weather in Rutshuru

In Rutshuru, the weather is warm, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: mid May to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Rutshuru typically varies from 13°C to 24°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 26°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Feb
24°
Coldest
Nov
14°
Wettest
Oct
305 mm
Driest
Jul
55 mm
Rain / yr
2145 mm
199 wet days
Daylight
11.9–12.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,241 m
1.2°S
Clearest
Jul
69% cloud

Rutshuru is town in North Kivu in the DRC.

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

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

Temperatures in Rutshuru stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 24°C and low of 14°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 14°C and high of 23°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2314
Feb2414
Mar2414
Apr2315
May2315
Jun2413
Jul2413
Aug2414
Sep2414
Oct2314
Nov2314
Dec2314

Average hourly temperature in Rutshuru

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 24°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 14°C.

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

Rutshuru 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
Jan23° / 14°12116.512.15.6
Feb24° / 14°12414.7125.7
Mar24° / 14°22223124.7
Apr23° / 15°21721.6124.7
May23° / 15°13914.911.95.9
Jun24° / 13°857.411.97.0
Jul24° / 13°555.211.97.5
Aug24° / 14°16012.4126.3
Sep24° / 14°23016.6125.6
Oct23° / 14°30522124.7
Nov23° / 14°28723.412.14.4
Dec23° / 14°20120.912.14.9

Chance of rain

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

Rutshuru gets about 2145 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 3.8 months, from around Sep 21 to Jan 13, peaking in November at about 80% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 9.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 305 mm over about 22 wet days; July is the driest, with 55 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 6 · 80%Jul 9 · 13%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan5317
Feb5315
Mar7323
Apr7322
May4815
Jun257
Jul185
Aug4112
Sep5517
Oct7022
Nov7823
Dec6721

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Rutshuru collects about 2145 mm of rain across 199 wet days — roughly 179 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 305 mm, while July is the driest at just 55 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 38% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1211242222171398555160230305287201
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan12117
Feb12415
Mar22223
Apr21722
May13915
Jun857
Jul555
Aug16012
Sep23017
Oct30522
Nov28723
Dec20121

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Rutshuru, 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 12 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around September 21. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 33% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 22 and lasts for 3.2 months, ending around December 28. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 92% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 1 · 38%Nov 12 · 7%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2080
Feb2080
Mar1585
Apr1090
May2575
Jun3367
Jul3268
Aug2773
Sep2179
Oct1189
Nov892
Dec1684

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, Rutshuru 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)
Jan12.16:106:13
Feb12.06:166:18
Mar12.06:126:12
Apr12.06:036:02
May11.96:005:57
Jun11.96:046:00
Jul11.96:106:06
Aug12.06:076:05
Sep12.05:575:56
Oct12.05:465:48
Nov12.15:465:49
Dec12.15:566:00

Sunny days

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

Rutshuru averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 4 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.6 months, from around May 10 to Aug 28. The sunniest month is May, with roughly 3 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is October, down near 0 sunny days — about 83% fewer than the May peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedMay 314 daysOct 290 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan2Gloomy
Feb2Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May3Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul3Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
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 Rutshuru, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 3.0 months, from around March 4 to June 1. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 28% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around June 2 to October 10, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 13 · 99%May 4 · 58%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan13834
Feb20737
Mar48016
Apr06930
May76528
Jun39546
Jul65331
Aug40564
Sep20737
Oct68212
Nov28711
Dec5896

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 7 · 5 km/hJul 29 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec5calm

Best time to visit Rutshuru

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late May, Rutshuru 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. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Rutshuru for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to late August, with a peak score in the second week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 10 · 7.7

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
Jan5.6good
Feb5.7good
Mar4.7fair
Apr4.7fair
May5.9good
Jun7.0good
Jul7.4good
Aug6.3good
Sep5.6good
Oct4.7fair
Nov4.4fair
Dec4.9fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 11 · 6.5

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 Rutshuru, 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.

Rutshuru packs about the same all year — highs hold near 24°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, Rutshuru sees daytime highs around 24°C and nights near 14°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes and sun protection. About 15 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Rutshuru 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 Rutshuru peaks around March 17 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 21 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 17UV 16Jun 21UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Rutshuru

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 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 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
Mar8.57
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug7.55.5
Sep86.5
Oct86
Nov86
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Rutshuru 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 Rutshuru is worst in July — around 106 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

0306090120JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyJul 16105 µg/m³Apr 1877 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan92Unhealthy
Feb96Unhealthy
Mar82Unhealthy
Apr77Unhealthy
May80Unhealthy
Jun100Unhealthy
Jul106Unhealthy
Aug100Unhealthy
Sep89Unhealthy
Oct82Unhealthy
Nov83Unhealthy
Dec88Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Rutshuru 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. Rutshuru banks about 3,153 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan263
Feb251
Mar277
Apr269
May278
Jun255
Jul260
Aug269
Sep262
Oct265
Nov248
Dec255

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.

Rutshuru receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.8 and 5.5 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 105.5 kWhMay 44.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.4Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun4.9Bright
Jul5.1Bright
Aug5.2Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct5.1Bright
Nov5.0Bright
Dec5.2Bright

Where is Rutshuru?

Rutshuru sits at 1.2°S, 29.4°E, 1,241 m above sea level, in Democratic Republic of the Congo. The nearest listed city is Kirumba, 20 km away.

Topography around Rutshuru

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Rutshuru has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 235 m around an average of 1,219 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,127 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,555 m.

The land around Rutshuru is covered by grassland (35%), trees (33%) and shrubs (22%) within 3 km, trees (48%), grassland (24%) and shrubs (22%) within 16 km, and trees (46%) and grassland (28%) within 80 km.

3 km
235 m
16 km
1,127 m
80 km
3,555 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Kirumba 20 km · Kisoro 29 km · Musanze 41 km · Mukingo 41 km · Katanda 41 km · Busogo 43 km · Rubanda 44 km · Kanungu 46 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 Rutshuru (-1.1867°, 29.4467°, elevation 1,241 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).