Climate and average weather in Barus

In Barus, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around November.

Best: mid May to late September

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Barus typically varies from 23°C to 28°C, and is rarely below 22°C or above 30°C. May is the hottest month of the year, while November is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Barus for warm-weather activities is from mid May to late September.

Hottest
May
28°
Coldest
Nov
23°
Wettest
Nov
521 mm
Driest
Jun
164 mm
Rain / yr
3988 mm
297 wet days
Daylight
11.9–12.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
5 m
2.0°N
Clearest
Jun
80% cloud

Barus 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 mid May to late September.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Barus stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is May, with an average high of 28°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is November, with an average low of 23°C and high of 27°C.

Days typically run about 5°C warmer than nights year-round.

18°20°22°24°26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2823
Feb2823
Mar2823
Apr2823
May2823
Jun2823
Jul2823
Aug2723
Sep2723
Oct2723
Nov2723
Dec2723

Average hourly temperature in Barus

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 May afternoons, near 28°C, and coldest before dawn in November, near 23°C.

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

Barus 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
Jan28° / 23°34227.211.93.7
Feb28° / 23°31424.811.93.7
Mar28° / 23°36128.6123.4
Apr28° / 23°38227.6123.5
May28° / 23°26122.212.14.0
Jun28° / 23°16417.612.14.6
Jul28° / 23°19619.712.14.7
Aug27° / 23°28522.912.14.3
Sep27° / 23°30223.9124.0
Oct27° / 23°41926123.8
Nov27° / 23°52128.311.93.4
Dec27° / 23°43928.411.93.6

Chance of rain

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

Barus gets about 3988 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 Oct 13 to May 3, peaking in November at about 95% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jun 21.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 521 mm over about 28 wet days; June is the driest, with 164 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 18 · 95%Jun 21 · 55%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan8827
Feb8825
Mar9329
Apr9128
May7222
Jun5918
Jul6320
Aug7423
Sep7924
Oct8426
Nov9428
Dec9128

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Barus collects about 3988 mm of rain across 297 wet days — roughly 332 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 521 mm, while June is the driest at just 164 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 35% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec342314361382261164196285302419521439
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan34227
Feb31425
Mar36129
Apr38228
May26122
Jun16418
Jul19620
Aug28523
Sep30224
Oct41926
Nov52128
Dec43928

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Barus, 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 May 8 and lasts for 3.2 months, ending around August 12. The clearest month is June, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 17% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around August 13 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around December 30. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 98% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 20 · 19%Nov 19 · 1%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan1189
Feb1387
Mar1189
Apr595
May1189
Jun1783
Jul1585
Aug892
Sep496
Oct397
Nov298
Dec496

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. Close to the equator, Barus barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 06 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.96:396:33
Feb11.96:436:39
Mar12.06:366:36
Apr12.06:256:28
May12.16:206:25
Jun12.16:236:30
Jul12.16:296:35
Aug12.16:296:32
Sep12.06:206:21
Oct12.06:136:10
Nov11.96:146:09
Dec11.96:266:19

Sunny days

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

Barus gets about 1 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 0 and 2 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

05JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomyJun 242 daysApr 130 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr0Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

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.

Barus 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecoppressivemuggy
Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan991
Feb793
Mar595
Apr396
May792
Jun1783
Jul2476
Aug1981
Sep1585
Oct1783
Nov892
Dec892

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.

Wind in Barus is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmOct 18 · 5 km/hJan 10 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug5calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Barus

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Barus sits in the North Indian Ocean cyclone zone; the season peaks May and October–November.

Cyclone
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Barus

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid September, Barus 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 Barus for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid May to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of June.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 27 · 4.9

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
Jan3.7fair
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.4poor
Apr3.5poor
May4.0fair
Jun4.6fair
Jul4.7fair
Aug4.3fair
Sep4.0fair
Oct3.8fair
Nov3.4poor
Dec3.6fair

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 Barus for hot-weather activities is from early May to mid August, with a peak score in the third week of June.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJun 20 · 5.4

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 Barus, 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.

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

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In May, Barus sees daytime highs around 28°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 22 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Barus

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

The sea at the nearest coast (about 15 km away) is warmest in March at about 30°C and coldest in November near 29°C.

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

28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan29Tropical
Feb30Tropical
Mar30Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May30Tropical
Jun30Tropical
Jul30Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Barus 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 Barus peaks around February 20 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeFeb 20UV 14Jun 20UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar14Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Barus

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 February the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6.5 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)
Jan86
Feb86.5
Mar86.5
Apr86
May7.55.5
Jun7.55.5
Jul85.5
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Barus by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Barus is worst in February — around 17 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodFeb 2017 µg/m³Nov 2312 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan14Moderate
Feb17Moderate
Mar16Moderate
Apr14Moderate
May14Moderate
Jun15Moderate
Jul15Moderate
Aug15Moderate
Sep16Moderate
Oct17Moderate
Nov12Good
Dec12Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Barus 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. Barus banks about 5,523 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan467
Feb429
Mar479
Apr466
May488
Jun466
Jul467
Aug460
Sep444
Oct457
Nov440
Dec459

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.

Barus receives about 5.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.2 and 5.6 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 35.6 kWhNov 144.2 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.1Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar5.5Bright
Apr5.1Bright
May5.2Bright
Jun5.2Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep5.1Bright
Oct4.7Bright
Nov4.2Bright
Dec4.4Bright

Where is Barus?

Barus sits at 2.0°N, 98.4°E, 5 m above sea level, in Indonesia. The nearest listed city is Sibolga, 52 km away.

Topography around Barus

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Barus has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 37 m around an average of 5 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,089 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,119 m.

The land around Barus is covered by water (48%), trees (25%) and cropland (20%) within 3 km, trees (48%) and water (48%) within 16 km, and trees (46%) and water (46%) within 80 km.

3 km
37 m
16 km
1,089 m
80 km
2,119 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Sibolga 52 km · Tarutung 63 km · Pangururan 74 km · Singkil 74 km · Sidikalang 83 km · Subulussalam 92 km · Paropo 96 km · Tongging 100 km

Indonesia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type C / F
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 29% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$5,060
2025
Happiness
5.6 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
30%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.3
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
11.3
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
Low
EF EPI 471
Religion
Muslim 87%Protestant 8%Roman Catholic 3%Hindu 2%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Barus (2.0106°, 98.3982°, elevation 5 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. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). 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. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).