Climate and average weather in Kansanshi

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

Best: late April to late August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kansanshi typically varies from 11°C to 30°C, and is rarely below 9°C or above 33°C. October is the hottest month of the year, while June is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Oct
30°
Coldest
Jun
12°
Wettest
Jan
323 mm
Driest
Jul
0 mm
Rain / yr
1440 mm
152 wet days
Daylight
11.3–12.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,429 m
12.1°S
Clearest
Jul
20% cloud

Kansanshi is city in Zambia.

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

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

Temperatures in Kansanshi stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is October, with an average high of 30°C and low of 18°C; the coolest is June, 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 14°C) in August.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2517
Feb2517
Mar2617
Apr2616
May2614
Jun2512
Jul2511
Aug2814
Sep3017
Oct3018
Nov2717
Dec2517

Average hourly temperature in Kansanshi

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 30°C, and coldest before dawn in June, near 12°C.

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

Kansanshi 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
Jan25° / 17°32329.312.63.6
Feb25° / 17°26525.512.43.8
Mar26° / 17°24525.812.14.2
Apr26° / 16°6310.411.76.6
May26° / 14°4111.58.4
Jun25° / 12°00.111.39.2
Jul25° / 11°0011.49.3
Aug28° / 14°0011.68.3
Sep30° / 17°41.311.96.2
Oct30° / 18°41712.35.1
Nov27° / 17°18722.612.64.3
Dec25° / 17°3082912.73.7

Chance of rain

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

Kansanshi gets about 1440 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 Oct 29 to Apr 12, peaking in January at about 95% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 18.

January is the wettest month by volume, with 323 mm over about 29 wet days; July is the driest, with 0 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJan 1 · 95%Jun 18 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9429
Feb9126
Mar8226
Apr3610
May31
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep51
Oct247
Nov7323
Dec9429

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kansanshi collects about 1440 mm of rain across 152 wet days — roughly 120 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 323 mm, while July is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 62% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec32326524563400441187308
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan32329
Feb26526
Mar24526
Apr6310
May41
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep41
Oct417
Nov18723
Dec30829

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Kansanshi, 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 15 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around October 19. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 90% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 20 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around April 14. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 95% 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 17 · 90%Jan 25 · 4%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan595
Feb892
Mar2080
Apr5149
May7822
Jun8812
Jul9010
Aug8614
Sep7624
Oct5347
Nov2476
Dec892

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 31, 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)
Jan12.66:046:43
Feb12.46:176:41
Mar12.16:216:26
Apr11.76:236:06
May11.56:275:54
Jun11.36:365:53
Jul11.46:396:00
Aug11.66:316:06
Sep11.96:116:07
Oct12.35:516:08
Nov12.65:436:17
Dec12.75:496:32

Sunny days

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

Kansanshi averages about 10 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.7 months, from around Apr 24 to Oct 12. The sunniest month is June, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is January, down near 0 sunny days — about 99% fewer than the June peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJun 1723 daysJan 230 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr7Gloomy
May16Bright
Jun22Bright
Jul23Bright
Aug21Bright
Sep16Bright
Oct10Mixed
Nov3Gloomy
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 Kansanshi, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around November 3 to April 16. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 99% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 17 to November 2, 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 24 · 1%muggyhumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan01917
Feb028810
Mar16849
Apr2133442
May821430
Jun99100
Jul100000
Aug100000
Sep95410
Oct6519160
Nov1018702
Dec03944

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

The windier part of the year lasts 6.6 months, from around Apr 9 to Oct 27. The windiest month is September, averaging about 11 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 28 to Apr 8, with December the calmest month at about 6 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeSep 2 · 11 km/hDec 8 · 6 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb6calm
Mar7calm
Apr9calm
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul11calm
Aug11calm
Sep11calm
Oct9calm
Nov7calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Kansanshi

In seasonPeak

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

Kansanshi'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 Kansanshi

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 5 · 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
Jan3.6fair
Feb3.8fair
Mar4.3fair
Apr6.6good
May8.4ideal
Jun9.2ideal
Jul9.3ideal
Aug8.2ideal
Sep6.2good
Oct5.1fair
Nov4.3fair
Dec3.7fair

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 Kansanshi for hot-weather activities is from late April to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 28 · 9.1

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 Kansanshi, 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.

Kansanshi packs about the same all year — highs hold near 30°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In October, Kansanshi sees daytime highs around 30°C and nights near 18°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. About 7 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Kansanshi 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 Kansanshi peaks around January 19 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 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 19UV 16Jun 19UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan16Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug10Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Kansanshi

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 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)
Jan8.57
Feb8.57
Mar8.56.5
Apr86
May75
Jun74.5
Jul74.5
Aug7.55
Sep7.56
Oct8.56.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Kansanshi 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 Kansanshi is worst in August — around 87 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 9.6× the cleanest month (April, 9 µg/m³).

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

0306090JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateUnhealthyPoorModerateGoodAug 1584 µg/m³Apr 129 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan11Good
Feb11Good
Mar10Good
Apr9Good
May11Good
Jun29Moderate
Jul67Unhealthy
Aug87Unhealthy
Sep53Poor
Oct32Moderate
Nov13Moderate
Dec9Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Kansanshi 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. Kansanshi banks about 3,999 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)
Jan338
Feb309
Mar342
Apr318
May311
Jun249
Jul251
Aug330
Sep402
Oct441
Nov368
Dec340

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.

Kansanshi receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.0 and 6.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Jul 24 to Nov 22. The brightest month is September, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is January, down near 5.0 kWh/m² — roughly 26% less than the September peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 266.8 kWhJan 115.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.0Bright
Feb5.1Bright
Mar5.2Bright
Apr5.4Bright
May5.5Bright
Jun5.4Bright
Jul5.6Bright
Aug6.2Intense
Sep6.8Intense
Oct6.7Intense
Nov5.9Bright
Dec5.1Bright

Where is Kansanshi?

Kansanshi sits at 12.1°S, 26.4°E, 1,429 m above sea level, in Zambia. The nearest listed city is Solwezi, 9.0 km away.

KipushiChisasaLubumbashiLikasiKamboveChililabombwe

Topography around Kansanshi

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kansanshi has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 229 m around an average of 1,417 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 415 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 508 m.

The land around Kansanshi is covered by bare terrain (58%) and trees (25%) within 3 km, grassland (39%) and trees (27%) within 16 km, and trees (78%) within 80 km.

3 km
229 m
16 km
415 m
80 km
508 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Solwezi 9.0 km · Manyama 67 km · Kipushi 97 km · Chisasa 101 km · Lubumbashi 124 km · Likasi 128 km · Kambove 137 km · Chililabombwe 155 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 Kansanshi (-12.0951°, 26.4273°, elevation 1,429 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).