Kinshasa month by month — at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
01 One thousand seven hundred and thirty-nine hours
Key moments at a glance
2 mm of rain, 155 hours of sun and humidity at its lowest: 74%.
5 mm in the whole month and the coolest: a mean high of 27.3 °C.
74% humidity, but sun already down to 138 hours and 49 mm return.
17 rain days: it rains more than every other day of the month.
That is the central fact of this climate and the one nobody expects. There is no bright month here: there is a narrow range between a little and very little, and the difference between the best and worst month is thirty-seven hours in total. All the serious variation is in the rain and the humidity.
In annual terms, 1,482 millimetres of rain fall over 115 days. And that distribution is anything but even: June to August total 16 millimetres across two rain days, while April on its own piles up 238 millimetres over 17.
02 August, no argument
The answer is August, and it is not close. It is the month with the least rain in the year — 2 millimetres — one of the two with the lowest humidity — 74%, against 83% in January, November and December — and, within the dry season, the one with the most sun: 155 hours against July's 133 and June's 144.
Nine points of humidity separate August from December. At a constant thirty degrees, those nine points are the whole difference between a bearable day and a sticky one.
July is the second choice and has an argument of its own: zero recorded rain days and the lowest temperatures of the year, with a mean high of 27.3 degrees and a mean low of 17.7. It is the only time this city feels cool. The absolute cold record, 10 degrees, is also recorded in July.
03 The March paradox
One detail in the table throws anyone looking at it for the first time. The two sunniest months of the year, March and May, with 164 hours each, sit inside the rainy season. March takes 221 millimetres over 14 days and is still the brightest month, tied with May.
It is not a contradiction: it is how tropical rain works. In the wet season the water comes in short, intense storms with long clear spells between them. In the dry season, by contrast, the sky can stay closed for days without releasing a drop. Less water does not mean more light.
Translated into a decision: if photography is your thing and you do not mind getting wet, May is a defensible option — 164 hours of sun and 142 millimetres, half of April's. For everything else, it is still August.
04 What it means on the ground
In a city-province of 9,965 square kilometres, of which only some 600 are built up, the month decides how far you can get. The earth tracks leading off the tarmac are passable in the dry season and stop being so in November, when 247 millimetres fall over 16 days.
And there is an effect worth anticipating, because it surprises anyone arriving with the idea of a bright tropics. With an average of 4.8 hours of sun a day and humidity that never drops below 74% in any month, a white closed sky is this city's default state. It is not bad weather: it is the weather.
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In one sentence: August first, July next, and September as third choice for its low humidity. Avoid April and November, the two months when it rains more than every other day, and do not come expecting light: in this city you have to go looking for it.
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