Climate and average weather in Kendari

In Kendari, 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 March.

Best: early July to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Kendari typically varies from 23°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 22°C or above 32°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 Kendari for warm-weather activities is from early July to mid October.

Hottest
Nov
31°
Coldest
Jul
23°
Wettest
Mar
334 mm
Driest
Sep
82 mm
Rain / yr
2858 mm
279 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
2 m
4.0°S
Clearest
Sep
55% cloud

Kendari is city in Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia.

Density
1,182/km²
people per km²
Founded
1995

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

Kendari 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 early July to mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Kendari stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is November, with an average high of 31°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 23°C and high of 28°C.

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

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3025
Feb3025
Mar3025
Apr3025
May2924
Jun2824
Jul2823
Aug2823
Sep2923
Oct3024
Nov3125
Dec3025

How hot and cold Kendari 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, Kendari feels like about 37°C (around December 12). About 280 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in December.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan37302525
Feb36302525
Mar36302525
Apr35302525
May34292424
Jun32282424
Jul31282323
Aug31282323
Sep33292323
Oct35302424
Nov37312525
Dec37302525

Average hourly temperature in Kendari

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 23°C.

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

Kendari 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
Jan30° / 25°30929.612.22.6
Feb30° / 25°31227.212.12.6
Mar30° / 25°33430.1122.6
Apr30° / 25°32728.611.92.8
May29° / 24°31527.511.83.2
Jun28° / 24°27024.911.83.7
Jul28° / 23°18921.311.84.5
Aug28° / 23°9813.711.95.3
Sep29° / 23°8210.3125.2
Oct30° / 24°12114.312.14.3
Nov31° / 25°18922.212.23.2
Dec30° / 25°31129.512.22.5

Chance of rain

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

Kendari gets about 2858 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 7.5 months, from around Nov 17 to Jul 1, peaking in March at about 99% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 7.

March is the wettest month by volume, with 334 mm over about 30 wet days; September is the driest, with 82 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 2 · 99%Sep 7 · 34%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9530
Feb9727
Mar9730
Apr9529
May8928
Jun8325
Jul6821
Aug4514
Sep3610
Oct4614
Nov7422
Dec9530

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Kendari collects about 2858 mm of rain across 279 wet days — roughly 238 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. March is the wettest month with 334 mm, while September is the driest at just 82 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 34% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec3093123343273152701899882121189311
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan30930
Feb31227
Mar33430
Apr32729
May31528
Jun27025
Jul18921
Aug9814
Sep8210
Oct12114
Nov18922
Dec31130

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Kendari, 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 June 10 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around November 18. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 55% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 19 and lasts for 5.9 months, ending around May 17. The cloudiest month is January, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 95% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecSep 2 · 58%Dec 30 · 4%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan595
Feb694
Mar1090
Apr1585
May2377
Jun2971
Jul3961
Aug5149
Sep5545
Oct4753
Nov3070
Dec892

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

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.25:536:05
Feb12.16:016:08
Mar12.05:596:00
Apr11.95:535:48
May11.85:525:41
Jun11.85:575:43
Jul11.86:025:49
Aug11.95:585:50
Sep12.05:455:44
Oct12.15:325:38
Nov12.25:305:41
Dec12.25:395:53

Sunny days

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

Kendari averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 10 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.3 months, from around Jul 15 to Nov 21. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 9 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is March, down near 1 sunny days — about 94% fewer than the September peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedSep 510 daysMar 30 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul4Gloomy
Aug7Gloomy
Sep9Mixed
Oct8Gloomy
Nov4Gloomy
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.

Kendari 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 (%)
Jan02476
Feb02674
Mar03268
Apr03367
May05446
Jun18118
Jul8902
Aug25741
Sep21745
Oct96526
Nov14059
Dec02080

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

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeAug 9 · 7 km/hApr 13 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun6calm
Jul7calm
Aug7calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Best time to visit Kendari

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid July, Kendari is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

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 Kendari for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid July to mid October, with a peak score in the first week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 1 · 5.5

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
Jan2.6poor
Feb2.6poor
Mar2.6poor
Apr2.8poor
May3.2poor
Jun3.7fair
Jul4.5fair
Aug5.3fair
Sep5.2fair
Oct4.3fair
Nov3.2poor
Dec2.5poor

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 6 · 7.0

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 Kendari, 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.

Kendari packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°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, Kendari sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 22 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Kendari

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 17 km away) is warmest in January at about 30°C and coldest in August near 28°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
Feb30Tropical
Mar30Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May29Tropical
Jun28Tropical
Jul28Warm
Aug28Warm
Sep28Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov30Tropical
Dec30Tropical

UV index (midday) in Kendari 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 Kendari peaks around February 18 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 11 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeFeb 18UV 15Jul 11UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Kendari

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
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug7.56
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86.5
Dec86
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Kendari 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. Kendari banks about 6,158 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)
Jan542
Feb487
Mar535
Apr512
May518
Jun481
Jul484
Aug486
Sep492
Oct538
Nov535
Dec547

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.

Kendari receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.0 and 6.3 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.4 months, from around Aug 20 to Apr 2. The brightest month is October, averaging about 6.2 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 4.1 kWh/m² — roughly 34% less than the October peak.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseOct 206.3 kWhJun 144.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.4Bright
Feb5.5Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.0Bright
May4.4Bright
Jun4.0Bright
Jul4.4Bright
Aug5.1Bright
Sep5.9Bright
Oct6.2Intense
Nov5.9Bright
Dec5.3Bright

Where is Kendari?

Kendari sits at 4.0°S, 122.5°E, 2 m above sea level, in Indonesia. The nearest listed city is Katobu, 98 km away.

Topography around Kendari

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Kendari has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 106 m around an average of 17 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 471 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,180 m.

The land around Kendari is covered by artificial surfaces (47%) and trees (28%) within 3 km, trees (63%) within 16 km, and water (47%) and trees (44%) within 80 km.

3 km
106 m
16 km
471 m
80 km
1,180 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Katobu 98 km · Raha 98 km · Baubau 165 km · Bungku 170 km · Watampone 250 km · Sengkang 276 km · Palopo 280 km · Sinjai 281 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 Kendari (-3.9778°, 122.5151°, elevation 2 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).