Climate averages 1991–2020
Kinshasa weather
in January.
A hot, wet month: the 10th warmest and the 9th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a hot month in Kinshasa: daytime highs average 29.4°C and nights cool to about 22.5°C. By daytime temperature it is the 10th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 116 mm of rain on roughly 21 days, which makes January a wet month (the 9th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 20 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Brazzaville (8 km away). In January its highs average 29.3°C, about as warm as Kinshasa, with 116 mm of rain.
Among the 60 cities listed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa ranks 24th of 60 for the warmest January highs and joint 20th of 60 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 60 cities is 28.8°C; Kinshasa is 0.6°C warmer than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 0.6°C to 30.0°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 116 mm to 103 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Kinshasa climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 29.4°C22.5°C | 22.5°C | 116 | 20.9 | 12.312 h |
| February | 30.0°C22.8°C | 22.8°C | 103 | 15.8 | 12.212 h |
| March | 30.3°C23.0°C | 23.0°C | 109 | 17.9 | 12.112 h |
| April | 29.9°C23.0°C | 23.0°C | 140 | 21.2 | 12.012 h |
| May | 29.7°C22.6°C | 22.6°C | 73 | 14.5 | 11.912 h |
| June | 29.7°C20.7°C | 20.7°C | 4.0 | 1.2 | 11.912 h |
| July | 29.9°C19.8°C | 19.8°C | 0.6 | 0.2 | 11.912 h |
| August | 30.2°C20.4°C | 20.4°C | 4.7 | 1.0 | 12.012 h |
| September | 31.2°C21.7°C | 21.7°C | 16 | 5.0 | 12.112 h |
| October | 30.4°C22.5°C | 22.5°C | 112 | 18.7 | 12.212 h |
| November | 29.0°C22.3°C | 22.3°C | 183 | 25.0 | 12.312 h |
| December | 28.9°C22.4°C | 22.4°C | 156 | 24.9 | 12.412 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Brazzaville in JanuaryRepublic of the Congo · 8 kmHigh 29.3°C · Low 22.5°C · 116 mm rain
- Masina in JanuaryDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 11 kmHigh 29.5°C · Low 22.6°C · 118 mm rain
- Inkisi in JanuaryDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 94 kmHigh 28.8°C · Low 21.4°C · 134 mm rain
- Mbanza-Ngungu in JanuaryDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 115 kmHigh 27.3°C · Low 19.9°C · 154 mm rain
- Kimpese in JanuaryDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 168 kmHigh 29.7°C · Low 22.1°C · 141 mm rain
- Nkayi in JanuaryRepublic of the Congo · 225 kmHigh 30.2°C · Low 22.6°C · 135 mm rain
- Mbanza Kongo in JanuaryAngola · 246 kmHigh 28.3°C · Low 20.7°C · 154 mm rain
- Bandundu Province in JanuaryDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 255 kmHigh 30.2°C · Low 23.0°C · 131 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Kinshasa) is explained once on the Kinshasa year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Brazzaville lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures come from the same 0.1° cell and differ only by the elevation adjustment.