Ndola, the commercial heart of Zambia's Copperbelt, sits on a plateau in the north of the country near the Congolese border at around 1,270 metres above sea level, at approximately -12.97°S, 28.64°E. Its altitude tempers the tropical latitude to give a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cwa) — warm, rainy summers and mild, dry winters.

The wet season, from November to April — the austral summer — is warm and rainy, with highs around 27–29°C, kept mild by the plateau altitude. Heavy afternoon and evening thunderstorms bring nearly all of the year's rain, with December to February the wettest months, greening the surrounding miombo woodland.

The dry season, from May to August — the austral winter — is mild, dry and sunny, with highs around 24–26°C and cool nights that can drop to 7–9°C in June and July. Rain is entirely absent, skies are clear, and this bright, mild stretch is comfortably the best time of year, before the heat builds in October.

Ndola receives on the order of 1,200–1,300 mm of rain a year — more than Lusaka to the south — overwhelmingly in the wet season from November to April, while it practically never rains from May to September. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Ndola lies in Zambia's northern Copperbelt, wetter than the drier south, where the heavy summer rains sustain the miombo woodland and feed the rivers of the Congo basin just across the border. As elsewhere on the plateau, October is the hottest month, when the bush waits parched for the rains to break.

To follow any single measurement in Ndola more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.