Climate and average weather in Rusizi

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

Best: late May to mid September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Rusizi typically varies from 16°C to 25°C, and is rarely below 15°C or above 27°C. September is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Sep
25°
Coldest
Nov
17°
Wettest
Apr
180 mm
Driest
Jul
2 mm
Rain / yr
1051 mm
170 wet days
Daylight
11.9–12.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,582 m
2.5°S
Clearest
Jul
51% cloud

Rusizi is city in Rwanda.

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

Rusizi 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 mid September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Rusizi stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is September, with an average high of 25°C and low of 17°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 17°C and high of 24°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2417
Feb2417
Mar2417
Apr2417
May2417
Jun2416
Jul2416
Aug2517
Sep2517
Oct2417
Nov2417
Dec2417

Average hourly temperature in Rusizi

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 September afternoons, near 25°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 17°C.

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

Rusizi 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
Jan24° / 17°9320.312.15.1
Feb24° / 17°7417.112.15.3
Mar24° / 17°12220.1125.1
Apr24° / 17°18021.811.94.7
May24° / 17°761311.96.3
Jun24° / 16°82.211.98.1
Jul24° / 16°20.611.98.6
Aug25° / 17°92.111.98.1
Sep25° / 17°398.4126.8
Oct24° / 17°14219.712.15.2
Nov24° / 17°17823.412.14.5
Dec24° / 17°12821.612.14.8

Chance of rain

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

Rusizi gets about 1051 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 7.4 months, from around Oct 2 to May 13, peaking in November at about 79% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 12.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 180 mm over about 22 wet days; July is the driest, with 2 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 8 · 79%Jul 12 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6520
Feb6017
Mar6520
Apr7322
May4213
Jun82
Jul21
Aug82
Sep288
Oct6320
Nov7723
Dec7022

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Rusizi collects about 1051 mm of rain across 170 wet days — roughly 88 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 180 mm, while July is the driest at just 2 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 48% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec93741221807682939142178128
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan9320
Feb7417
Mar12220
Apr18022
May7613
Jun82
Jul21
Aug92
Sep398
Oct14220
Nov17823
Dec12822

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Rusizi, 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 14 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around September 23. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 61% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 24 and lasts for 7.6 months, ending around May 13. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 94% 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 13 · 64%Nov 13 · 5%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1684
Feb1981
Mar1684
Apr1090
May3070
Jun5050
Jul6139
Aug5248
Sep3268
Oct1189
Nov694
Dec1288

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, Rusizi 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)
Jan12.16:106:18
Feb12.16:176:21
Mar12.06:146:15
Apr11.96:066:03
May11.96:045:57
Jun11.96:096:00
Jul11.96:146:06
Aug11.96:116:06
Sep12.05:595:58
Oct12.15:485:51
Nov12.15:465:53
Dec12.15:566:05

Sunny days

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

Rusizi averages about 4 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.1 months, from around May 17 to Sep 17. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is November, down near 0 sunny days — about 97% fewer than the July peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJul 1112 daysNov 90 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May4Gloomy
Jun8Mixed
Jul12Mixed
Aug9Mixed
Sep4Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
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 Rusizi, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.4 months, from around November 10 to May 23. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 31% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 24 to November 9, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 9 · 100%Apr 30 · 66%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan27919
Feb57817
Mar17722
Apr16931
May97021
Jun46522
Jul84160
Aug77230
Sep45551
Oct10828
Nov08614
Dec08217

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmJul 11 · 6 km/hJan 1 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr5calm
May6calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct5calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Rusizi

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Rusizi's rainy season runs March–April, when most of the year's rain falls.

Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Rusizi

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early September, Rusizi 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 Rusizi for general outdoor tourist activities is from late May to mid September, with a peak score in the second week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 13 · 8.7

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
Jan5.1fair
Feb5.3fair
Mar5.1fair
Apr4.7fair
May6.3good
Jun8.1ideal
Jul8.6ideal
Aug8.1ideal
Sep6.8good
Oct5.2fair
Nov4.5fair
Dec4.8fair

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 Rusizi for hot-weather activities is from late May to late September, with a peak score in the third week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 15 · 7.2

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 Rusizi, 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.

Rusizi packs about the same all year — highs hold near 25°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 September, Rusizi sees daytime highs around 25°C and nights near 17°C. Worth packing: light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 8 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Rusizi 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 Rusizi peaks around March 21 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 13 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 21UV 16Jul 13UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan11Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul10Extreme
Aug10Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Rusizi

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
Feb86
Mar8.57
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun7.55
Jul7.55
Aug7.55.5
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Rusizi 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 Rusizi is worst in February — around 73 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyFeb 1073 µg/m³Apr 2059 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan72Unhealthy
Feb73Unhealthy
Mar65Unhealthy
Apr59Unhealthy
May61Unhealthy
Jun71Unhealthy
Jul69Unhealthy
Aug73Unhealthy
Sep70Unhealthy
Oct65Unhealthy
Nov65Unhealthy
Dec69Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Rusizi 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. Rusizi banks about 3,768 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around September.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan317
Feb295
Mar326
Apr306
May317
Jun302
Jul309
Aug327
Sep329
Oct326
Nov303
Dec312

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.

Rusizi receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.0 and 5.7 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 65.7 kWhNov 135.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.6Bright
Mar5.6Bright
Apr5.2Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun5.1Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.5Bright
Sep5.7Bright
Oct5.2Bright
Nov5.0Bright
Dec5.1Bright

Where is Rusizi?

Rusizi sits at 2.5°S, 28.9°E, 1,582 m above sea level, in Rwanda. The nearest listed city is Bukavu, 7.0 km away.

KabareShangiKarengeraNyabitekeliBushekeriBugarama

Topography around Rusizi

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Rusizi has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 398 m around an average of 1,599 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,100 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,665 m.

The land around Rusizi is covered by trees (30%), cropland (21%) and artificial surfaces (20%) within 3 km, trees (30%) and cropland (27%) within 16 km, and trees (43%) and grassland (32%) within 80 km.

3 km
398 m
16 km
1,100 m
80 km
2,665 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Bukavu 7.0 km · Bushenge 10 km · Kabare 13 km · Shangi 14 km · Karengera 14 km · Nyabitekeli 20 km · Bushekeri 22 km · Bugarama 26 km

Rwanda travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type C / E / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 27% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,124
2025
Happiness
3.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2021
Homicide rate
3.6
per 100k, 2020
Road deaths
29.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Very low
EF EPI 417
Religion
Catholic 40%Pentecostal 21%Protestant 15%Adventist 12%

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 Rusizi (-2.4846°, 28.9075°, elevation 1,582 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).