Climate and average weather in Kawambwa

In Kawambwa, 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 December.

Best: late April to mid August

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kawambwa typically varies from 15°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 13°C or above 34°C. September is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Sep
31°
Coldest
Jan
18°
Wettest
Dec
367 mm
Driest
Jul
0 mm
Rain / yr
1771 mm
172 wet days
Daylight
11.4–12.6 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,342 m
9.8°S
Clearest
Jul
26% cloud

Kawambwa is human settlement.

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

Kawambwa 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 mid August.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Kawambwa stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is September, with an average high of 31°C and low of 19°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 18°C and high of 26°C.

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

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2618
Feb2618
Mar2618
Apr2718
May2817
Jun2816
Jul2815
Aug3017
Sep3119
Oct3020
Nov2718
Dec2618

Average hourly temperature in Kawambwa

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 18°C.

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

Kawambwa 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°32229.312.53.6
Feb26° / 18°26625.512.33.7
Mar26° / 18°31128.812.13.7
Apr27° / 18°12214.911.85.6
May28° / 17°10211.67.3
Jun28° / 16°0011.48.4
Jul28° / 15°0011.58.4
Aug30° / 17°10.211.76.6
Sep31° / 19°142.911.95.0
Oct30° / 20°9113.312.24.3
Nov27° / 18°26725.412.43.9
Dec26° / 18°36729.612.63.6

Chance of rain

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

Kawambwa gets about 1771 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 5.9 months, from around Oct 20 to Apr 16, peaking in December at about 96% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 12.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 367 mm over about 30 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 wetDec 18 · 96%Jun 12 · 0%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9429
Feb9226
Mar9129
Apr5115
May72
Jun00
Jul00
Aug10
Sep113
Oct4313
Nov8325
Dec9530

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kawambwa collects about 1771 mm of rain across 172 wet days — roughly 148 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 367 mm, while July is the driest at just 0 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 56% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec32226631112210011491267367
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan32229
Feb26626
Mar31129
Apr12215
May102
Jun00
Jul00
Aug10
Sep143
Oct9113
Nov26725
Dec36730

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Kawambwa, 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 17 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around October 8. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 83% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 9 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around April 16. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 96% 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 14 · 85%Jan 18 · 4%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan496
Feb793
Mar1486
Apr4159
May7129
Jun8020
Jul8317
Aug7723
Sep6139
Oct3763
Nov1981
Dec694

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 8, 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)
Jan12.55:586:28
Feb12.36:096:28
Mar12.16:116:15
Apr11.86:105:57
May11.66:135:47
Jun11.46:215:47
Jul11.56:255:54
Aug11.76:185:58
Sep11.96:005:56
Oct12.25:425:55
Nov12.45:356:03
Dec12.65:436:17

Sunny days

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

Kawambwa averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 21 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.0 months, from around Apr 23 to Sep 22. The sunniest month is July, with roughly 20 sunny days (bright).

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

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantJul 921 daysJan 180 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr5Gloomy
May13Mixed
Jun18Bright
Jul21Bright
Aug17Bright
Sep9Mixed
Oct4Gloomy
Nov2Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

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

The more humid part of the year lasts 6.2 months, from around October 20 to April 25. 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 26 to October 19, and June 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 8 · 100%Jan 1 · 0%muggydrycomfortablehumidhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)
Jan002674
Feb002674
Mar013267
Apr5205124
May6027111
Jun98200
Jul100000
Aug99100
Sep84781
Oct36183313
Nov273852
Dec002674

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 Kawambwa is typically calm, near 8 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.8 months, from around Apr 14 to Oct 6. The windiest month is July, averaging about 11 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 7 to Apr 13, with December the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeJul 9 · 11 km/hDec 7 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr8calm
May10calm
Jun10calm
Jul11calm
Aug10calm
Sep9calm
Oct7calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for Kawambwa

In seasonPeak

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

Kawambwa'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 Kawambwa

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 6 · 8.6

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
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.7fair
Apr5.6good
May7.4good
Jun8.3ideal
Jul8.4ideal
Aug6.6good
Sep5.0fair
Oct4.3fair
Nov3.9fair
Dec3.6fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 4 · 9.0

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 Kawambwa, 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.

Kawambwa packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, sun protection and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In September, Kawambwa sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 19°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection.

UV index (midday) in Kawambwa 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 Kawambwa peaks around February 20 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near August 12 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 highExtremeFeb 20UV 16Aug 12UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb17Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun10Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug9Very high
Sep12Extreme
Oct12Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Kawambwa

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 February 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
Mar8.57
Apr86.5
May7.55.5
Jun75
Jul75
Aug74.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov86
Dec8.56.5

Air quality in Kawambwa 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 Kawambwa is worst in September — around 101 µg/m³ PM2.5 (unhealthy), about 14.9× the cleanest month (May, 7 µg/m³).

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

0306090120JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateUnhealthyModerateGoodSep 9101 µg/m³May 127 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan11Good
Feb12Good
Mar9Good
Apr8Good
May7Good
Jun10Good
Jul27Moderate
Aug101Unhealthy
Sep101Unhealthy
Oct38Poor
Nov15Moderate
Dec10Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Kawambwa 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. Kawambwa banks about 4,631 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around September.

01,0002,0003,0004,0005,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan363
Feb337
Mar375
Apr366
May393
Jun349
Jul355
Aug418
Sep460
Oct462
Nov387
Dec365

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.

Kawambwa receives about 5.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 5.0 and 6.4 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseSep 46.4 kWhDec 175.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.1Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar5.2Bright
Apr5.3Bright
May5.6Bright
Jun5.6Bright
Jul5.7Bright
Aug6.1Intense
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.1Intense
Nov5.5Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Kawambwa?

Kawambwa sits at 9.8°S, 29.1°E, 1,342 m above sea level, in Zambia. The nearest listed city is Mwansabombwe, 35 km away.

LuwinguMporokosoChiengiPwetoMansaKaputa

Topography around Kawambwa

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kawambwa has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 123 m around an average of 1,334 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 284 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 647 m.

The land around Kawambwa is covered by cropland (40%) within 3 km, trees (48%) and shrubs (28%) within 16 km, and trees (56%) within 80 km.

3 km
123 m
16 km
284 m
80 km
647 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Mwansabombwe 35 km · Nchelenge 62 km · Luwingu 107 km · Mporokoso 124 km · Chiengi 126 km · Pweto 149 km · Mansa 158 km · Kaputa 160 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 Kawambwa (-9.7915°, 29.0791°, elevation 1,342 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).