Climate and average weather in West Island

In West Island, the weather is muggy, warm, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around March.

Best: late July to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in West Island typically varies from 25°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 24°C or above 28°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while September is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit West Island for warm-weather activities are from early January to late January and late July to late December.

Hottest
Mar
28°
Coldest
Sep
25°
Wettest
Mar
201 mm
Driest
Oct
48 mm
Rain / yr
1446 mm
172 wet days
Daylight
11.3–12.7 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
12 m
12.2°S
Clearest
Aug
53% cloud

West Island weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late July to late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in West Island, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

Temperatures in West Island stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 28°C and low of 26°C; the coolest is September, with an average low of 25°C and high of 26°C.

Days typically run about 1°C warmer than nights year-round.

18°20°22°24°26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2726
Feb2726
Mar2826
Apr2826
May2726
Jun2726
Jul2625
Aug2625
Sep2625
Oct2625
Nov2625
Dec2726

Average hourly temperature in West Island

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on March afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in September, near 25°C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

West Island weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan27° / 26°11413.312.66.0
Feb27° / 26°17715.612.45.4
Mar28° / 26°20120.612.14.9
Apr28° / 26°19620.211.74.9
May27° / 26°13218.711.45.3
Jun27° / 26°13317.311.35.4
Jul26° / 25°12017.611.45.6
Aug26° / 25°6214.111.66.2
Sep26° / 25°588.711.96.9
Oct26° / 25°48712.37.2
Nov26° / 25°948.212.66.9
Dec27° / 26°11210.512.76.5

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

West Island gets about 1446 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.7 months, from around Jan 22 to Aug 14, peaking in March at about 68% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Oct 16.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 201 mm over about 21 wet days; October is the driest, with 48 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 21 · 68%Oct 16 · 22%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4413
Feb5616
Mar6621
Apr6620
May6019
Jun5917
Jul5618
Aug4514
Sep299
Oct237
Nov278
Dec3311

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, West Island collects about 1446 mm of rain across 172 wet days — roughly 120 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 201 mm, while October is the driest at just 48 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 40% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec11417720119613213312062584894112
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan11413
Feb17716
Mar20121
Apr19620
May13219
Jun13317
Jul12018
Aug6214
Sep589
Oct487
Nov948
Dec11211

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In West Island, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows moderate seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around July 15 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around November 26. The clearest month is October, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 61% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around January 22 and lasts for 3.6 months, ending around May 10. The cloudiest month is March, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 54% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 4 · 63%Mar 23 · 43%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5743
Feb4951
Mar4654
Apr4951
May5446
Jun5545
Jul5743
Aug6139
Sep5842
Oct6139
Nov5545
Dec5545

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around January 1, brings about 12 h 42 min of light; the shortest, around May 30, only 11 h 18 min — a swing of roughly 1 h 24 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.65:536:31
Feb12.46:056:29
Mar12.16:106:15
Apr11.76:115:55
May11.46:165:42
Jun11.36:245:42
Jul11.46:285:49
Aug11.66:195:55
Sep11.95:595:55
Oct12.35:395:56
Nov12.65:316:05
Dec12.75:386:20

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

West Island averages about 10 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 8 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 1.3 months, from around Dec 16 to Jan 24. The sunniest month is January, with roughly 11 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is November, down near 8 sunny days — about 27% fewer than the January peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyergloomymixedJan 912 daysNov 198 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan11Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar9Mixed
Apr10Mixed
May11Mixed
Jun10Mixed
Jul11Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep10Mixed
Oct10Mixed
Nov8Gloomy
Dec10Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

West Island is humid all year round — on a typical day the air feels at least humid, and there is no real dry season to wait for.

The stickiest month is January, when it feels muggy, oppressive or miserable about 100% of the time. Even in January, the mildest month, the air is dry or comfortable only 0% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggy
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan017758
Feb097120
Mar036532
Apr025543
May046531
Jun098210
Jul121771
Aug237600
Sep351450
Oct243541
Nov133652
Dec127685

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Across the year, average wind speed in West Island is typically breezy, near 26 km/h, and varies a lot with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 7.0 months, from around May 2 to Dec 1. The windiest month is July, averaging about 32 km/h (windy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Dec 2 to May 1, with February the calmest month at about 19 km/h.

05101520253035JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezywindyJul 12 · 32 km/hFeb 7 · 19 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan20breezy
Feb19light breeze
Mar20breezy
Apr24breezy
May27breezy
Jun29windy
Jul32windy
Aug32windy
Sep31windy
Oct29windy
Nov28breezy
Dec24breezy

Best time to visit West Island

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in West Island throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late December, West Island is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit West Island for general outdoor tourist activities is from late July to late January, with a peak score in the first week of October.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 6 · 7.2

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan6.0good
Feb5.4fair
Mar4.9fair
Apr4.9fair
May5.3fair
Jun5.4fair
Jul5.6good
Aug6.2good
Sep6.9good
Oct7.2good
Nov6.9good
Dec6.6good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit West Island for hot-weather activities is from late July to early March, with a peak score in the third week of October.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationOct 17 · 6.9

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for West Island, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

West Island packs about the same all year — highs hold near 28°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear, sun protection and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, West Island sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 26°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection and a windbreaker. About 21 days see rain.

Sea temperature near West Island

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea offshore is warmest in March at about 29°C and coldest in September near 27°C.

The water stays above 20°C all year — warm enough for a swim any month.

26°28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan28Tropical
Feb28Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr29Tropical
May28Tropical
Jun28Warm
Jul27Warm
Aug27Warm
Sep27Warm
Oct27Warm
Nov27Warm
Dec27Warm

UV index (midday) in West Island by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in West Island peaks around January 24 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 at about 9 (very high).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeJan 24UV 15Jun 19UV 9
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr12Extreme
May10Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul10Very high
Aug11Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in West Island

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan8.57
Feb8.57
Mar8.56.5
Apr7.56
May7.55
Jun74.5
Jul74.5
Aug7.55
Sep86
Oct8.56.5
Nov8.56.5
Dec8.56.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

West Island is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. West Island banks about 5,873 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan508
Feb467
Mar521
Apr506
May516
Jun487
Jul488
Aug477
Sep457
Oct477
Nov473
Dec496

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

West Island receives about 5.6 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.2 and 6.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.6 months, from around Sep 5 to Mar 25. The brightest month is January, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.3 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the January peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseJan 136.5 kWhJun 284.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.5Intense
Feb6.2Intense
Mar5.8Bright
Apr5.2Bright
May4.7Bright
Jun4.3Bright
Jul4.4Bright
Aug5.2Bright
Sep5.9Bright
Oct6.4Intense
Nov6.5Intense
Dec6.4Intense

Where is West Island?

West Island sits at 12.2°S, 96.8°E, 12 m above sea level, in Cocos Islands. The nearest listed city is Flying Fish Cove, 985 km away.

Topography around West Island

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of West Island.

Within 3 km, the terrain around West Island has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 18 m around an average of 1 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 18 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 15 m.

3 km
18 m
16 km
18 m
80 km
15 m
Nearby: Flying Fish Cove 985 km · Bengkulu 1,105 km · Pagar Alam 1,148 km · Curup 1,152 km · Labuan 1,179 km · Lubuklinggau 1,189 km · Lahat 1,189 km · Bandar Lampung 1,191 km

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for West Island (-12.1568°, 96.8225°, elevation 12 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).