Climate averages 1991–2020
Kinshasa weather
in May.
A hot, moderately wet month: the joint 8th warmest and the 5th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a hot month in Kinshasa: daytime highs average 29.7°C and nights cool to about 22.6°C. By daytime temperature it is the joint 8th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 73 mm of rain on roughly 15 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 5th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 11 h 55 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Brazzaville (8 km away). In May its highs average 29.6°C, about as warm as Kinshasa, with 73 mm of rain.
Among the 60 cities listed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kinshasa ranks joint 29th of 60 for the warmest May highs and 32nd of 60 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 60 cities is 29.2°C; Kinshasa is 0.5°C warmer than that mean.
From May to June, average highs stay level at 29.7°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 73 mm to 4.0 mm.
The annual picture
May 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 | 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, selected | 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
May in nearby cities
- Brazzaville in MayRepublic of the Congo · 8 kmHigh 29.6°C · Low 22.6°C · 73 mm rain
- Masina in MayDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 11 kmHigh 29.7°C · Low 22.6°C · 99 mm rain
- Inkisi in MayDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 94 kmHigh 29.0°C · Low 21.4°C · 82 mm rain
- Mbanza-Ngungu in MayDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 115 kmHigh 27.4°C · Low 19.8°C · 95 mm rain
- Kimpese in MayDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 168 kmHigh 29.5°C · Low 22.1°C · 69 mm rain
- Nkayi in MayRepublic of the Congo · 225 kmHigh 30.2°C · Low 22.8°C · 69 mm rain
- Mbanza Kongo in MayAngola · 246 kmHigh 28.2°C · Low 20.8°C · 90 mm rain
- Bandundu Province in MayDemocratic Republic of the Congo · 255 kmHigh 30.4°C · Low 23.3°C · 104 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.