Climate averages 1991–2020
Lusaka weather
in January.
A warm, very wet month: the 5th warmest and the wettest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a warm month in Lusaka: daytime highs average 25.1°C and nights cool to about 17.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 240 mm of rain on roughly 26 days, which makes January a very wet month (the wettest month of the year). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 56 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Chunga (10 km away). In January its highs average 25.5°C, about as warm as Lusaka, with 223 mm of rain.
Among the 24 cities listed in Zambia, Lusaka ranks joint 18th of 24 for the warmest January highs and joint 9th of 24 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 24 cities is 25.5°C; Lusaka is 0.4°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs fall by 0.1°C to 25.0°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 240 mm to 188 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
Lusaka climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 25.1°C17.9°C | 17.9°C | 240 | 25.5 | 12.913 h |
| February | 25.0°C17.8°C | 17.8°C | 188 | 22.0 | 12.613 h |
| March | 25.0°C17.5°C | 17.5°C | 129 | 18.9 | 12.212 h |
| April | 24.6°C15.8°C | 15.8°C | 27 | 5.4 | 11.812 h |
| May | 23.9°C13.7°C | 13.7°C | 3.1 | 0.9 | 11.411 h |
| June | 22.0°C11.6°C | 11.6°C | 0.9 | 0.1 | 11.211 h |
| July | 21.7°C11.0°C | 11.0°C | 0.7 | 0.1 | 11.311 h |
| August | 25.0°C13.3°C | 13.3°C | 0.4 | 0.1 | 11.612 h |
| September | 28.7°C16.8°C | 16.8°C | 2.1 | 0.4 | 12.012 h |
| October | 30.5°C19.2°C | 19.2°C | 15 | 3.3 | 12.412 h |
| November | 28.9°C19.4°C | 19.4°C | 98 | 14.3 | 12.813 h |
| December | 25.9°C18.2°C | 18.2°C | 228 | 24.5 | 13.013 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
- Chunga in JanuaryZambia · 10 kmHigh 25.5°C · Low 18.2°C · 223 mm rain
- Namalombwe in JanuaryZambia · 11 kmHigh 25.3°C · Low 18.1°C · 240 mm rain
- Madido in JanuaryZambia · 11 kmHigh 25.3°C · Low 18.2°C · 223 mm rain
- Kafue in JanuaryZambia · 42 kmHigh 26.5°C · Low 19.3°C · 239 mm rain
- Mazabuka in JanuaryZambia · 76 kmHigh 26.6°C · Low 19.0°C · 201 mm rain
- Kabwe in JanuaryZambia · 108 kmHigh 25.5°C · Low 18.2°C · 239 mm rain
- Kapiri Mposhi in JanuaryZambia · 165 kmHigh 25.2°C · Low 17.8°C · 253 mm rain
- Choma in JanuaryZambia · 209 kmHigh 24.8°C · Low 17.5°C · 222 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 Lusaka) is explained once on the Lusaka year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Namalombwe lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.