Summer Weather in Kitwe ZambiaDaily high temperatures decrease by 5°F, from 84°F to 79°F, rarely falling below 75°F or exceeding 91°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 78°F on January 27. Daily low temperatures are around 64°F, rarely falling below 61°F or exceeding 67°F. For reference, on October 12, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Kitwe typically range from 65°F to 94°F, while on July 2, the coldest day of the year, they range from 48°F to 77°F. The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average summer temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day. Huazulco, Mexico (8,910 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Kitwe (view comparison). CloudsThe summer in Kitwe experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 82% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 87% on January 10. The clearest day of the summer is February 28, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 23% of the time. For reference, on January 10, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 87%, while on June 25, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 90%. PrecipitationA wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Kitwe, the chance of a wet day over the course of the summer is increasing, starting the season at 63% and ending it at 69%. For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 80% on January 17, and its lowest chance is -0% on July 2. RainfallTo show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day. The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the summer in Kitwe is increasing, starting the season at 6.7 inches, when it rarely exceeds 10.7 inches or falls below 3.2 inches, and ending the season at 7.2 inches, when it rarely exceeds 12.0 inches or falls below 3.1 inches. The highest average 31-day accumulation is 9.8 inches on January 26. SunOver the course of the summer in Kitwe, the length of the day is gradually decreasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day decreases by 28 minutes, implying an average daily decrease of 19 seconds, and weekly decrease of 2 minutes, 14 seconds. The shortest day of the summer is February 28, with 12 hours, 21 minutes of daylight and the longest day is December 22, with 12 hours, 53 minutes of daylight. The earliest sunrise of the summer in Kitwe is 5:31 AM on December 1 and the latest sunrise is 37 minutes later at 6:09 AM on February 28. The earliest sunset is 6:21 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 20 minutes later at 6:40 PM on January 22. Daylight saving time is not observed in Kitwe during 2024. For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:38 AM and sets 12 hours, 53 minutes later, at 6:31 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:27 AM and sets 11 hours, 22 minutes later, at 5:50 PM. The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation. MoonThe figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the summer of 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon. HumidityWe base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night. The chance that a given day will be muggy in Kitwe is very rapidly increasing during the summer, rising from 22% to 46% over the course of the season. For reference, on February 29, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 46% of the time, while on May 27, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time. WindThis section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages. The average hourly wind speed in Kitwe is decreasing during the summer, decreasing from 6.9 miles per hour to 5.8 miles per hour over the course of the season. For reference, on September 26, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 11.4 miles per hour, while on February 19, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.7 miles per hour. The lowest daily average wind speed during the summer is 5.7 miles per hour on February 20. The hourly average wind direction in Kitwe throughout the summer is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 64% on December 1. Growing SeasonDefinitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere). Temperatures in Kitwe are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year. Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F. The average accumulated growing degree days in Kitwe are very rapidly increasing during the summer, increasing by 1,850°F, from 3,244°F to 5,094°F, over the course of the season. Solar EnergyThis section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation. The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Kitwe is essentially constant during the summer, remaining within 0.3 kWh of 5.5 kWh throughout. The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the summer is 5.1 kWh on January 18. TopographyFor the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Kitwe are -12.802 deg latitude, 28.213 deg longitude, and 4,016 ft elevation. The topography within 2 miles of Kitwe contains only modest variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 249 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 4,036 feet. Within 10 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (610 feet). Within 50 miles contains significant variations in elevation (1,893 feet). The area within 2 miles of Kitwe is covered by artificial surfaces (98%), within 10 miles by trees (31%) and grassland (23%), and within 50 miles by trees (66%) and shrubs (23%). Data SourcesThis report illustrates the typical weather in Kitwe, based on a statistical analysis of historical hourly weather reports and model reconstructions from January 1, 1980 to December 31, 2016. Kitwe is further than 200 kilometers from the nearest reliable weather station, so the weather-related data on this page were taken entirely from NASA's MERRA-2 satellite-era reanalysis . This reanalysis combines a variety of wide-area measurements in a state-of-the-art global meteorological model to reconstruct the hourly history of weather throughout the world on a 50-kilometer grid. The temperature and dew point estimates are corrected for the difference between the reference elevation of the MERRA-2 grid cell and the elevation of Kitwe, according to the International Standard Atmosphere . All data relating to the Sun's position (e.g., sunrise and sunset) are computed using astronomical formulas from the book, Astronomical Algorithms 2nd Edition , by Jean Meeus. Land Use data comes from the Global Land Cover SHARE database , published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Elevation data comes from the Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) , published by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Names, locations, and time zones of places and some airports come from the GeoNames Geographical Database . Time zones for airports and weather stations are provided by AskGeo.com . Maps are © OpenStreetMap contributors. DisclaimerThe information on this site is provided as is, without any assurances as to its accuracy or suitability for any purpose. Weather data is prone to errors, outages, and other defects. We assume no responsibility for any decisions made on the basis of the content presented on this site. We draw particular cautious attention to our reliance on the MERRA-2 model-based reconstructions for a number of important data series. While having the tremendous advantages of temporal and spatial completeness, these reconstructions: (1) are based on computer models that may have model-based errors, (2) are coarsely sampled on a 50 km grid and are therefore unable to reconstruct the local variations of many microclimates, and (3) have particular difficulty with the weather in some coastal areas, especially small islands. We further caution that our travel scores are only as good as the data that underpin them, that weather conditions at any given location and time are unpredictable and variable, and that the definition of the scores reflects a particular set of preferences that may not agree with those of any particular reader. Please review our full terms contained on our Terms of Service page. |