DR Congo · -4.44, 15.27
Today's peak is very high. Skin damage happens fast: roughly 18 min before burning at the worst hour. Avoid direct sun entirely inside the danger window below.
Kinshasa sits at 4.4° S, in the southern hemisphere. Today's UV peaks at 9.2: the "very high" band, which uvlevel.net treats as serious danger for unprotected skin at the worst hour.
Kinshasa sits close to the equator, so the sun stays high for most of the year: UV barely dips at any point, and there's no sharply defined "season" the way there is further from the equator.
Kinshasa sits about 439 m above sea level. Thinner air scatters and absorbs less UV on the way down, so uvlevel.net adds roughly 4% to the modelled index here: uv = max(weather, CAMS) × (1 + 0.08 × metres/1000). That correction is already folded into every number on this page.
| Local time | UV index | Risk |
|---|---|---|
| 00:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 01:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 02:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 03:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 04:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 05:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 06:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 07:00 | 0.5 | No danger |
| 08:00 | 2.3 | No danger |
| 09:00 | 4.6 | Caution |
| 10:00 | 6.8 | Danger |
| 11:00 | 8.4 | Serious danger |
| 12:00 | 9.2 | Serious danger |
| 13:00 | 6.4 | Danger |
| 14:00 | 7 | Danger |
| 15:00 | 6.4 | Danger |
| 16:00 | 3.8 | Caution |
| 17:00 | 1.4 | No danger |
| 18:00 | 0.2 | No danger |
| 19:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 20:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 21:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 22:00 | 0 | No danger |
| 23:00 | 0 | No danger |
| Skin type | Time to burn |
|---|---|
| I · always burns, never tans | 15 min |
| II · burns easily | 18 min |
| III · burns sometimes | 25 min |
| IV · rarely burns | 33 min |
| V · brown skin | 44 min |
| VI · deeply pigmented | 1 h 13 min |
Yes. UV in Kinshasa is forecast to reach 3 or higher from 08:19 to 16:19 local time today, peaking at 9.2.
UV is highest in Kinshasa at around 12:00 local time today, reaching 9.2.
At today's peak of 9.2, fair skin (Fitzpatrick type II) with no sunscreen burns in about 18 min. Darker skin types take longer. See the table above for every type.
Kinshasa sits close to the equator, so the sun stays high for most of the year: UV barely dips at any point, and there's no sharply defined "season" the way there is further from the equator.
Forecasts and elevation from Open-Meteo. The second UV opinion contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) information; neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for how it is used here.
uvlevel.net gives general sun-safety guidance, not medical advice. Photosensitising medication, skin conditions, infants and a history of skin cancer all call for stricter limits than shown here.