Climate and average weather in Baubau

In Baubau, the weather is oppressive, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around December.

Best: late June to early October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Baubau typically varies from 24°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 23°C or above 31°C. November is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Baubau for warm-weather activities is from late June to early October.

Hottest
Nov
29°
Coldest
Jul
25°
Wettest
Dec
287 mm
Driest
Aug
18 mm
Rain / yr
1879 mm
218 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
15 m
5.5°S
Clearest
Aug
48% cloud

Baubau is city in Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia.

Density
527/km²
people per km²
Founded
2001

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Baubau 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 June to early October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Baubau stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 29°C and low of 26°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 25°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 4°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2926
Feb2926
Mar2926
Apr2926
May2926
Jun2825
Jul2825
Aug2824
Sep2924
Oct2925
Nov2926
Dec2926

How hot and cold Baubau really feels

Feels-like highFeels-like lowactual air temp

The felt-temperature range through the year — heat index on the day's high (summer humidity), wind chill on the night's low (winter wind). The dashed lines are the plain thermometer; the gap is how much hotter or colder it really feels.

On the hottest afternoons, once humidity is folded in, Baubau feels like about 36°C (around November 21). About 261 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in November.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan35292626
Feb35292526
Mar35292526
Apr35292626
May34292526
Jun32282525
Jul31282425
Aug31282424
Sep32292424
Oct34292525
Nov35292626
Dec35292626

Average hourly temperature in Baubau

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 November afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 25°C.

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

Baubau 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
Jan29° / 26°27728.312.33.1
Feb29° / 26°26326.312.23.0
Mar29° / 26°25727.3123.2
Apr29° / 26°2272511.93.5
May29° / 26°14319.311.84.4
Jun28° / 25°10715.311.75.2
Jul28° / 25°589.911.76.4
Aug28° / 24°184.211.86.9
Sep29° / 24°244.1126.5
Oct29° / 25°679.812.15.4
Nov29° / 26°15119.912.24.0
Dec29° / 26°28728.612.33.0

Chance of rain

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

Baubau gets about 1879 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 6.1 months, from around Nov 12 to May 15, peaking in February at about 95% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 3.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 287 mm over about 29 wet days; August is the driest, with 18 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 22 · 95%Sep 3 · 12%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9228
Feb9326
Mar8927
Apr8325
May6219
Jun5215
Jul3110
Aug144
Sep154
Oct3210
Nov6620
Dec9229

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Baubau collects about 1879 mm of rain across 218 wet days — roughly 157 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 287 mm, while August is the driest at just 18 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec27726325722714310758182467151287
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan27728
Feb26326
Mar25727
Apr22725
May14319
Jun10715
Jul5810
Aug184
Sep244
Oct6710
Nov15120
Dec28729

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Baubau, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around May 9 and lasts for 6.4 months, ending around November 18. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 66% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 19 and lasts for 5.6 months, ending around May 8. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 93% 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 27 · 69%Jan 28 · 5%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan793
Feb991
Mar1882
Apr2377
May3961
Jun4357
Jul5347
Aug6634
Sep6535
Oct5644
Nov3862
Dec1288

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, Baubau barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 18 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.35:506:07
Feb12.25:596:10
Mar12.05:586:00
Apr11.95:535:46
May11.85:535:38
Jun11.75:595:40
Jul11.76:045:47
Aug11.85:595:48
Sep12.05:455:43
Oct12.15:315:38
Nov12.25:275:42
Dec12.35:365:55

Sunny days

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

Baubau averages about 6 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 14 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Jun 9 to Nov 18. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 13 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is January, down near 1 sunny days — about 95% fewer than the August peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightAug 2814 daysJan 290 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr3Gloomy
May6Gloomy
Jun7Gloomy
Jul9Mixed
Aug13Mixed
Sep12Mixed
Oct11Mixed
Nov6Gloomy
Dec1Gloomy

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.

Baubau 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
Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan01189
Feb01486
Mar01981
Apr01981
May04456
Jun27522
Jul12854
Aug32661
Sep20736
Oct36631
Nov02674
Dec0694

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 Baubau is typically calm, near 10 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 4.8 months, from around May 16 to Oct 8. The windiest month is August, averaging about 13 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 9 to May 15, with April the calmest month at about 8 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeAug 14 · 14 km/hApr 5 · 7 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb9calm
Mar8calm
Apr8calm
May10calm
Jun12calm
Jul13light breeze
Aug13light breeze
Sep12calm
Oct9calm
Nov8calm
Dec9calm

Hazard calendar for Baubau

In seasonPeak

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

Baubau sits in the South Indian Ocean cyclone belt; the season peaks January–March.

Baubau's rainy season runs November–May, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit Baubau

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late September, Baubau 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 Baubau for general outdoor tourist activities is from late June to early October, with a peak score in the first week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 5 · 7.1

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
Jan3.1poor
Feb3.0poor
Mar3.2poor
Apr3.5poor
May4.4fair
Jun5.2fair
Jul6.4good
Aug6.9good
Sep6.5good
Oct5.4fair
Nov4.0fair
Dec3.0poor

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 Baubau for hot-weather activities is from mid July to late October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 5 · 8.1

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 Baubau, 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.

Baubau packs about the same all year — highs hold near 29°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 November, Baubau sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 26°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 20 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Baubau

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 27 km away) is warmest in April at about 30°C and coldest in August near 27°C.

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

26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan30Tropical
Feb29Tropical
Mar30Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May29Tropical
Jun28Tropical
Jul28Warm
Aug27Warm
Sep28Warm
Oct29Tropical
Nov30Tropical
Dec30Tropical

UV index (midday) in Baubau 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 Baubau peaks around February 16 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 10 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeFeb 16UV 16Jul 10UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun10Extreme
Jul10Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Baubau

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 8.5 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)
Jan8.56.5
Feb8.57
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May86
Jun7.55
Jul7.55
Aug7.55.5
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86.5
Dec86
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Baubau 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. Baubau banks about 6,176 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around November.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan532
Feb480
Mar532
Apr516
May530
Jun497
Jul500
Aug500
Sep496
Oct533
Nov526
Dec535

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.

Baubau receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.4 and 6.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 3.8 months, from around Aug 8 to Dec 2. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.5 kWh/m² — roughly 30% less than the October peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 156.5 kWhJun 104.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.2Bright
Feb5.3Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May4.7Bright
Jun4.5Bright
Jul4.8Bright
Aug5.6Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.4Intense
Nov6.0Bright
Dec5.0Bright

Where is Baubau?

Baubau sits at 5.5°S, 122.6°E, 15 m above sea level, in Indonesia. The nearest listed city is Raha, 71 km away.

SengkangBungkuLewoleba

Topography around Baubau

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Baubau has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 207 m around an average of 39 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 653 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,526 m.

The land around Baubau is covered by water (44%), trees (31%) and artificial surfaces (24%) within 3 km, trees (57%) and water (36%) within 16 km, and water (65%) and trees (33%) within 80 km.

3 km
207 m
16 km
653 m
80 km
1,526 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswatermangroves
Nearby: Raha 71 km · Katobu 72 km · Kendari 165 km · Sinjai 263 km · Watampone 272 km · Sengkang 321 km · Bungku 332 km · Lewoleba 336 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 Baubau (-5.4633°, 122.6024°, elevation 15 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).