Climate and average weather in Chingola

In Chingola, the summers are hot, fairly dry, and mostly clear and the winters are warm and clear.

Best: late April to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Chingola typically varies from 12°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 9°C or above 34°C. October is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Oct
31°
Coldest
Jul
12°
Wettest
Jan
269 mm
Driest
Jul
0 mm
Rain / yr
1107 mm
129 wet days
Daylight
11.3–12.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,363 m
12.5°S
Clearest
Jul
20% cloud

Chingola is city.

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

Chingola 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 April to late August.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Chingola stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is October, with an average high of 31°C and low of 20°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 12°C and high of 25°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in August.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2618
Feb2618
Mar2618
Apr2616
May2614
Jun2512
Jul2512
Aug2714
Sep3017
Oct3120
Nov2919
Dec2618

Average hourly temperature in Chingola

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 October afternoons, near 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 12°C.

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

Chingola 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° / 18°2692812.73.7
Feb26° / 18°23024.212.44.0
Mar26° / 18°17521.512.14.8
Apr26° / 16°346.511.77.1
May26° / 14°20.611.48.5
Jun25° / 12°00.111.39.3
Jul25° / 12°0011.39.4
Aug27° / 14°0011.68.6
Sep30° / 17°10.311.96.5
Oct31° / 20°173.412.35.2
Nov29° / 19°13016.612.64.5
Dec26° / 18°24927.312.73.9

Chance of rain

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

Chingola gets about 1107 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 5.0 months, from around Nov 6 to Apr 7, peaking in January at about 92% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 15.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 269 mm over about 28 wet days; July is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 18 · 92%Jun 15 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9128
Feb8524
Mar6822
Apr237
May21
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep10
Oct123
Nov5417
Dec8727

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Chingola collects about 1107 mm of rain across 129 wet days — roughly 92 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 269 mm, while July is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 68% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec26923017534200117130249
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan26928
Feb23024
Mar17522
Apr347
May21
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep10
Oct173
Nov13017
Dec24927

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Chingola, 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 14 and lasts for 6.7 months, ending around November 2. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 90% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 3 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around April 13. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 93% 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 18 · 91%Jan 9 · 7%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan793
Feb1288
Mar2872
Apr5842
May8119
Jun8911
Jul8911
Aug9010
Sep8515
Oct7030
Nov3961
Dec1387

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 42 min of light; the shortest, around May 27, only 11 h 18 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.75:586:38
Feb12.46:116:35
Mar12.16:166:21
Apr11.76:176:00
May11.46:225:47
Jun11.36:315:47
Jul11.36:345:54
Aug11.66:256:00
Sep11.96:056:01
Oct12.35:456:02
Nov12.65:366:11
Dec12.75:436:27

Sunny days

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

Chingola averages about 12 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 24 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.1 months, from around Apr 21 to Oct 24. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 24 sunny days (brilliant).

The greyest month is January, down near 1 sunny days — about 98% fewer than the July peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 1624 daysJan 250 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar3Gloomy
Apr10Mixed
May18Bright
Jun22Bright
Jul24Brilliant
Aug24Brilliant
Sep21Bright
Oct15Mixed
Nov6Gloomy
Dec2Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.2 months, from around November 9 to April 16. 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 April 17 to November 8, and May 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMay 30 · 100%Jan 19 · 0%muggydrycomfortablehumidhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan006336
Feb016039
Mar176528
Apr2135395
May791730
Jun99100
Jul100000
Aug100000
Sep97300
Oct771490
Nov21204910
Dec136432

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 Chingola is typically calm, near 9 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Apr 8 to Nov 3. The windiest month is September, averaging about 12 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Nov 4 to Apr 7, with December the calmest month at about 7 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeSep 14 · 12 km/hDec 19 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb6calm
Mar7calm
Apr10calm
May10calm
Jun11calm
Jul11calm
Aug12calm
Sep12light breeze
Oct11calm
Nov8calm
Dec7calm

Hazard calendar for Chingola

In seasonPeak

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

Chingola's monsoon runs November–March, 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 Chingola

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late August, Chingola 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 Chingola for general outdoor tourist activities is from late April to early September, with a peak score in the third week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 21 · 9.4

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
Feb4.0fair
Mar4.8fair
Apr7.1good
May8.5ideal
Jun9.3ideal
Jul9.3ideal
Aug8.5ideal
Sep6.5good
Oct5.2fair
Nov4.5fair
Dec3.9fair

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 Chingola for hot-weather activities is from late April to late October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 1 · 9.2

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 Chingola, 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.

For a warm-season trip around October (highs near 31°C), the essentials are light clothes and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 25°C), pack light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In October, Chingola sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 20°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 3 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Chingola 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 Chingola peaks around January 20 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 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 highExtremeJan 20UV 16Jun 20UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan16Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Chingola

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 January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 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)
Jan97
Feb8.57
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May75
Jun74.5
Jul75
Aug7.55.5
Sep7.55.5
Oct86
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Chingola 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 Chingola is worst in August — around 72 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 4.8× the cleanest month (May, 15 µg/m³).

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

020406080JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateUnhealthyPoorModerateAug 1669 µg/m³May 915 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan16Moderate
Feb18Moderate
Mar17Moderate
Apr15Moderate
May15Moderate
Jun25Moderate
Jul56Unhealthy
Aug72Unhealthy
Sep51Poor
Oct35Moderate
Nov21Moderate
Dec16Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Chingola 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. Chingola banks about 4,246 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around October.

01,0002,0003,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan371
Feb337
Mar370
Apr338
May317
Jun251
Jul251
Aug328
Sep410
Oct475
Nov420
Dec379

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.

Chingola receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.0 and 7.0 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Aug 2 to Nov 30. The brightest month is September, averaging about 6.9 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is January, down near 5.0 kWh/m² — roughly 27% less than the September peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 297.0 kWhJan 185.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.0Bright
Feb5.1Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr5.4Bright
May5.5Bright
Jun5.3Bright
Jul5.4Bright
Aug6.1Intense
Sep6.9Intense
Oct6.9Intense
Nov6.2Intense
Dec5.2Bright

Where is Chingola?

Chingola sits at 12.5°S, 27.9°E, 1,363 m above sea level, in Zambia. The nearest listed city is Chililabombwe, 19 km away.

LuanshyaNdola

Topography around Chingola

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Chingola has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 363 m around an average of 1,336 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 379 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 465 m.

The land around Chingola is covered by artificial surfaces (54%) within 3 km, trees (43%) and grassland (25%) within 16 km, and trees (64%) and grassland (22%) within 80 km.

3 km
363 m
16 km
379 m
80 km
465 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Chililabombwe 19 km · Chambishi 22 km · Mufulira 39 km · Kalulushi 42 km · Kitwe 47 km · Mokambo 52 km · Luanshya 89 km · Ndola 95 km

Zambia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type C / D / G
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 30% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$1,318
2025
Happiness
4.1 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
5.2
per 100k, 2015
Road deaths
20.5
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 573
Religion
Protestant 75%Roman Catholic 20%other 3%none 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 Chingola (-12.529°, 27.8838°, elevation 1,363 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).