Climate and average weather in Rukungiri

In Rukungiri, 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 November.

Best: mid May to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Rukungiri typically varies from 15°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 14°C or above 29°C. July is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Rukungiri for warm-weather activities are from mid January to late February and mid May to late August.

Hottest
Jul
26°
Coldest
Nov
15°
Wettest
Nov
189 mm
Driest
Jul
42 mm
Rain / yr
1449 mm
238 wet days
Daylight
12.0–12.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,575 m
0.8°S
Clearest
Jul
69% cloud

Rukungiri is place in Uganda.

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

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

Temperatures in Rukungiri stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is July, with an average high of 26°C and low of 15°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 15°C and high of 25°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2616
Feb2616
Mar2616
Apr2516
May2616
Jun2616
Jul2615
Aug2616
Sep2616
Oct2516
Nov2515
Dec2515

Average hourly temperature in Rukungiri

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 26°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 15°C.

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

Rukungiri 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
Jan26° / 16°10319.1125.2
Feb26° / 16°9015.4125.3
Mar26° / 16°14222.8124.6
Apr25° / 16°15323.3124.4
May26° / 16°11219.2125.2
Jun26° / 16°6013125.9
Jul26° / 15°4211.1126.2
Aug26° / 16°9618.2125.2
Sep26° / 16°13321124.8
Oct25° / 16°17825.3124.3
Nov25° / 15°18926124.1
Dec25° / 15°15024124.6

Chance of rain

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

Rukungiri gets about 1449 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 4.3 months, from around Aug 31 to Jan 8, peaking in November at about 88% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 11.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 189 mm over about 26 wet days; July is the driest, with 42 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 12 · 88%Jul 11 · 30%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6119
Feb5515
Mar7323
Apr7923
May6119
Jun4313
Jul3711
Aug5918
Sep7021
Oct8125
Nov8726
Dec7724

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Rukungiri collects about 1449 mm of rain across 238 wet days — roughly 121 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 189 mm, while July is the driest at just 42 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 36% of the year’s total.

050100150200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec10390142153112604296133178189150
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan10319
Feb9015
Mar14223
Apr15323
May11219
Jun6013
Jul4211
Aug9618
Sep13321
Oct17825
Nov18926
Dec15024

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Rukungiri, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 12 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around September 24. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 31% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 25 and lasts for 2.7 months, ending around December 14. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 89% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 31 · 36%Nov 9 · 9%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2377
Feb2476
Mar2179
Apr1288
May2674
Jun3169
Jul3169
Aug2872
Sep2575
Oct1288
Nov1189
Dec2179

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, Rukungiri barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 hours of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.07:087:11
Feb12.07:147:16
Mar12.07:107:10
Apr12.07:017:00
May12.06:586:55
Jun12.07:026:59
Jul12.07:077:05
Aug12.07:057:03
Sep12.06:556:54
Oct12.06:456:46
Nov12.06:446:47
Dec12.06:556:58

Sunny days

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

Rukungiri averages about 2 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 4 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.7 months, from around May 12 to Sep 1. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 3 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is November, down near 1 sunny days — about 79% fewer than the June peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedJun 14 daysNov 171 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan2Gloomy
Feb2Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May3Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul3Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
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.

In Rukungiri, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.7 months, from around March 2 to May 22. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 74% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 23 to October 5, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 97% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 13 · 99%Apr 29 · 21%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan96328
Feb165925
Mar34750
Apr12574
May64153
Jun414613
Jul69293
Aug375012
Sep126226
Oct25445
Nov03763
Dec24949

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmMay 21 · 6 km/hDec 8 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr6calm
May6calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Best time to visit Rukungiri

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late May, Rukungiri 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 times of year to visit Rukungiri for general outdoor tourist activities run from mid January to late February and again from mid May to late August, with a peak score in the second week of July.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 10 · 6.5

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
Jan5.2fair
Feb5.3fair
Mar4.6fair
Apr4.4fair
May5.2fair
Jun6.0good
Jul6.2good
Aug5.2fair
Sep4.8fair
Oct4.3fair
Nov4.1fair
Dec4.6fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Rukungiri for hot-weather activities run from late January to mid February and again from late May to mid August, with a peak score in the second week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 11 · 6.4

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 Rukungiri, 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.

Rukungiri packs about the same all year — highs hold near 26°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 July, Rukungiri sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 15°C. Worth packing: light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 11 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Rukungiri 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 Rukungiri peaks around March 16 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 16UV 16Jun 21UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan11Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug10Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Rukungiri

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)
Jan7.55.5
Feb8.56.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov86
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Rukungiri 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 Rukungiri is worst in July — around 79 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecUnhealthyJul 1578 µg/m³Apr 2259 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan77Unhealthy
Feb77Unhealthy
Mar63Unhealthy
Apr59Unhealthy
May60Unhealthy
Jun72Unhealthy
Jul79Unhealthy
Aug68Unhealthy
Sep60Unhealthy
Oct59Unhealthy
Nov61Unhealthy
Dec68Unhealthy
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Rukungiri 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. Rukungiri banks about 3,881 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan325
Feb311
Mar338
Apr320
May333
Jun325
Jul337
Aug341
Sep323
Oct322
Nov298
Dec308

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.

Rukungiri receives about 5.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.2 and 6.0 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 16.0 kWhJun 195.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.0Bright
Mar5.8Bright
Apr5.5Bright
May5.3Bright
Jun5.2Bright
Jul5.3Bright
Aug5.5Bright
Sep5.7Bright
Oct5.5Bright
Nov5.4Bright
Dec5.5Bright

Where is Rukungiri?

Rukungiri sits at 0.8°S, 29.9°E, 1,575 m above sea level, in Uganda. The nearest listed city is Nyamunuka, 17 km away.

NtungamoIshakaRubandaKabaleKyamahungu

Topography around Rukungiri

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Rukungiri has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 177 m around an average of 1,582 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,124 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,188 m.

The land around Rukungiri is covered by trees (41%) and grassland (33%) within 3 km, trees (46%) and grassland (35%) within 16 km, and trees (40%) and grassland (32%) within 80 km.

3 km
177 m
16 km
1,124 m
80 km
3,188 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Nyamunuka 17 km · Kanungu 21 km · Kihihi 29 km · Ntungamo 36 km · Ishaka 40 km · Rubanda 40 km · Kabale 46 km · Kyamahungu 47 km

Uganda travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 4
Do Not Travel
Power plugs
Type G
240 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 35% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,206
2025
Happiness
4.5 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
18%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
29.4
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Low
World Bank
English
Moderate
EF EPI 518
Religion
Protestant 45%Roman Catholic 39%Muslim 14%other 2%

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 Rukungiri (-0.8411°, 29.9419°, elevation 1,575 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).