Winter Weather in Musanze Rwanda

Daily high temperatures are around 74°F, rarely falling below 70°F or exceeding 78°F. The highest daily average high temperature is 75°F on August 17.

Daily low temperatures are around 59°F, rarely falling below 55°F or exceeding 62°F.

For reference, on August 14, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Musanze typically range from 59°F to 75°F, while on October 15, the coldest day of the year, they range from 58°F to 73°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter 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.

Filandia, Colombia (7,288 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Musanze (view comparison).

© OpenStreetMap contributors

Compare Musanze to another city:

CompareMap

The winter in Musanze experiences rapidly decreasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy decreasing from 71% to 58%. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 50% on July 27.

The clearest day of the winter is July 27, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 50% of the time.

For reference, on April 17, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 88%, while on July 27, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 50%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Musanze, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is rapidly increasing, starting the season at 26% and ending it at 32%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 69% on April 25, and its lowest chance is 7% on July 4.

Rainfall

To 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 winter in Musanze is gradually increasing, starting the season at 2.3 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.8 inches or falls below 0.4 inches, and ending the season at 2.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.3 inches or falls below 0.6 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 0.6 inches on July 4.

Over the course of the winter in Musanze, the length of the day is essentially constant. The shortest day of the winter is June 18, with 12 hours, 2 minutes of daylight and the longest day is August 31, with 12 hours, 5 minutes of daylight.

The earliest sunrise of the winter in Musanze is 5:58 AM on June 1 and the latest sunrise is 8 minutes later at 6:06 AM on July 23.

The earliest sunset is 6:00 PM on June 1 and the latest sunset is 9 minutes later at 6:09 PM on July 26.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Musanze during 2024.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:53 AM and sets 12 hours, 13 minutes later, at 6:06 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 6:02 AM and sets 12 hours, 2 minutes later, at 6:04 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.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the winter 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.

We 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 Musanze is essentially constant during the winter, remaining around 0% throughout.

For reference, on January 11, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 2% of the time, while on July 26, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 0% of the time.

This 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 Musanze is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.2 miles per hour of 5.1 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on July 3, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.3 miles per hour, while on March 26, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 4.0 miles per hour.

The highest daily average wind speed during the winter is 5.3 miles per hour on July 3.

The wind direction in Musanze during the winter is predominantly out of the south from June 1 to August 25 and the east from August 25 to August 31.

Definitions 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 Musanze 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 Musanze are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 4,235°F, from 5,249°F to 1,013°F, over the course of the season.

This 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 Musanze is essentially constant during the winter, remaining within 0.3 kWh of 5.7 kWh throughout.

The highest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 6.0 kWh on July 19.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Musanze are -1.500 deg latitude, 29.635 deg longitude, and 6,066 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Musanze contains very significant variations in elevation, with a maximum elevation change of 961 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 6,073 feet. Within 10 miles contains very significant variations in elevation (8,648 feet). Within 50 miles also contains extreme variations in elevation (11,680 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Musanze is covered by cropland (79%) and grassland (12%), within 10 miles by cropland (70%) and trees (11%), and within 50 miles by cropland (61%) and trees (13%).