Climate and average weather in Ruangwa

In Ruangwa, 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 March.

Best: early May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Ruangwa typically varies from 17°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 15°C or above 33°C. November is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Nov
31°
Coldest
Jul
17°
Wettest
Mar
229 mm
Driest
Jul
3 mm
Rain / yr
962 mm
133 wet days
Daylight
11.4–12.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
348 m
10.1°S
Clearest
Oct
45% cloud

Ruangwa is settlement in Tanzania.

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

Ruangwa 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 September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Ruangwa stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 31°C and low of 21°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 17°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in September.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3022
Feb3022
Mar2922
Apr2921
May2919
Jun2918
Jul2817
Aug2918
Sep3018
Oct3120
Nov3121
Dec3122

How hot and cold Ruangwa 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, Ruangwa feels like about 34°C (around December 14). About 164 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in December.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan33302222
Feb33302222
Mar33292122
Apr31292121
May30291919
Jun29291818
Jul28281717
Aug29291818
Sep30301818
Oct32312020
Nov33312121
Dec34312222

Average hourly temperature in Ruangwa

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 November afternoons, near 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 17°C.

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

Ruangwa 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°15820.312.53.7
Feb30° / 22°15219.112.33.7
Mar29° / 22°22925.912.13.4
Apr29° / 21°14618.711.84.4
May29° / 19°305.711.56.3
Jun29° / 18°5111.47.1
Jul28° / 17°30.511.57.1
Aug29° / 18°51.311.76.6
Sep30° / 18°82.311.96.0
Oct31° / 20°215.412.25.2
Nov31° / 21°6111.512.54.3
Dec31° / 22°14621.212.63.5

Chance of rain

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

Ruangwa gets about 962 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.5 months, from around Nov 15 to Apr 30, peaking in March at about 85% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 13.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 229 mm over about 26 wet days; July is the driest, with 3 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 24 · 85%Jul 13 · 1%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6720
Feb6919
Mar8226
Apr6119
May196
Jun41
Jul21
Aug41
Sep82
Oct185
Nov3912
Dec6721

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Ruangwa collects about 962 mm of rain across 133 wet days — roughly 80 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 229 mm, while July is the driest at just 3 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 56% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1581522291463053582161146
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan15820
Feb15219
Mar22926
Apr14619
May306
Jun51
Jul31
Aug51
Sep82
Oct215
Nov6112
Dec14621

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Ruangwa, 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 April 23 and lasts for 7.4 months, ending around December 2. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 80% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around December 3 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around April 22. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 80% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 24 · 84%Feb 16 · 19%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2476
Feb2080
Mar2575
Apr4753
May7228
Jun7327
Jul6634
Aug7030
Sep8020
Oct8020
Nov7030
Dec4456

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. The longest day, around January 1, brings about 12 h 36 min of light; the shortest, around June 3, only 11 h 24 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.56:186:49
Feb12.36:296:49
Mar12.16:326:36
Apr11.86:316:18
May11.56:346:07
Jun11.46:426:07
Jul11.56:466:14
Aug11.76:386:18
Sep11.96:206:17
Oct12.26:026:16
Nov12.55:556:24
Dec12.66:036:38

Sunny days

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

Ruangwa averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 15 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 2.5 months, from around Apr 23 to Jul 7. The sunniest month is May, with roughly 13 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is February, down near 2 sunny days — about 84% fewer than the May peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightMay 3115 daysFeb 72 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan2Gloomy
Feb2Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr6Gloomy
May14Mixed
Jun12Mixed
Jul8Gloomy
Aug9Mixed
Sep11Mixed
Oct13Mixed
Nov11Mixed
Dec6Gloomy

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 Ruangwa, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 8.3 months, from around September 18 to May 28. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 100% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 29 to September 17, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 71% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 15 · 76%Jan 1 · 0%muggyoppressivehumidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan00016840
Feb00013870
Mar0007921
Apr00435600
May17315480
Jun1037431000
Jul165527200
Aug74844200
Sep120681000
Oct03514520
Nov001365220
Dec00128710

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.

Across the year, average wind speed in Ruangwa is typically calm, near 8 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Jun 6 to Dec 7. The windiest month is October, averaging about 10 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Dec 8 to Jun 5, with March the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmlight breezeOct 19 · 10 km/hMar 24 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan8calm
Feb7calm
Mar5calm
Apr6calm
May7calm
Jun8calm
Jul9calm
Aug9calm
Sep10calm
Oct10calm
Nov9calm
Dec8calm

Hazard calendar for Ruangwa

In seasonPeak

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

Ruangwa's monsoon runs December–April, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Ruangwa

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 5 · 7.2

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
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.4poor
Apr4.4fair
May6.3good
Jun7.1good
Jul7.1good
Aug6.6good
Sep6.0good
Oct5.2fair
Nov4.3fair
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 Ruangwa for hot-weather activities is from early May to early November, with a peak score in the second week of June.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 8 · 8.6

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 Ruangwa, 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.

Ruangwa packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°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 November, Ruangwa sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 12 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Ruangwa 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 Ruangwa peaks around March 11 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 10 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 highExtremeMar 11UV 15Jul 10UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Very high
Jun9Very high
Jul9Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Ruangwa

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 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)
Jan8.56.5
Feb8.56.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May75
Jun74.5
Jul75
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov86.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Ruangwa 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 Ruangwa is worst in July — around 18 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.1× the cleanest month (May, 8 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodModerateGoodJul 2318 µg/m³May 139 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan14Moderate
Feb12Moderate
Mar10Good
Apr10Good
May8Good
Jun12Good
Jul18Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep11Good
Oct13Moderate
Nov10Good
Dec9Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Ruangwa 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. Ruangwa banks about 5,371 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around December.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan496
Feb441
Mar476
Apr442
May434
Jun390
Jul394
Aug413
Sep426
Oct472
Nov483
Dec504

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.

Ruangwa receives about 5.4 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.8 and 6.3 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 306.3 kWhJul 14.8 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.3Bright
Feb5.2Bright
Mar5.0Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May5.1Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul4.9Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep5.8Bright
Oct6.2Intense
Nov6.2Intense
Dec5.7Bright

Where is Ruangwa?

Ruangwa sits at 10.1°S, 38.9°E, 348 m above sea level, in Tanzania. The nearest listed city is Nachingwea, 39 km away.

MasasiLindiLuchinguNangomba

Topography around Ruangwa

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Ruangwa has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 199 m around an average of 342 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 630 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 939 m.

The land around Ruangwa is covered by trees (49%) and shrubs (22%) within 3 km, trees (62%) within 16 km, and trees (50%), grassland (24%) and shrubs (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
199 m
16 km
630 m
80 km
939 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaces
Nearby: Nachingwea 39 km · Nanganga 42 km · Nyangao 48 km · Lukuledi 57 km · Masasi 74 km · Lindi 86 km · Luchingu 102 km · Nangomba 104 km

Tanzania travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 3
Reconsider Travel
Power plugs
Type D / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 29% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,319
2025
Happiness
3.9 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
31%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
3.7
per 100k, 2020
Road deaths
31.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 479
Religion
Christian 63%Muslim 34%folk religion 1%

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 Ruangwa (-10.0667°, 38.9333°, elevation 348 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).