Climate and average weather in New Kingston

In New Kingston, the weather is muggy, hot, wet, and partly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near hot levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: mid November to mid May

Over the course of the year, the temperature in New Kingston typically varies from 22°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 21°C or above 31°C. August is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit New Kingston for warm-weather activities is from mid November to mid May.

Hottest
Aug
29°
Coldest
Jan
22°
Wettest
Oct
144 mm
Driest
Feb
21 mm
Rain / yr
812 mm
143 wet days
Daylight
10.9–13.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
99 m
18.0°N
Clearest
Feb
33% cloud

New Kingston is area of Kingston, Jamaica.

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

New Kingston 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 November to mid May.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in New Kingston stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is August, with an average high of 29°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 22°C and high of 26°C.

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

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2622
Feb2622
Mar2622
Apr2723
May2824
Jun2925
Jul2925
Aug2925
Sep2925
Oct2824
Nov2724
Dec2723

How hot and cold New Kingston 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, New Kingston feels like about 33°C (around August 18). About 97 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in August.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan26262222
Feb26262222
Mar26262222
Apr29272323
May31282424
Jun32292425
Jul33292525
Aug33292525
Sep33292525
Oct31282424
Nov30272424
Dec27272323

Average hourly temperature in New Kingston

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 August afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 22°C.

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

New Kingston 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
Jan26° / 22°267.5117.5
Feb26° / 22°21711.47.5
Mar26° / 22°337.911.97.3
Apr27° / 23°36912.46.9
May28° / 24°10214.512.85.8
Jun29° / 25°7211.513.15.4
Jul29° / 25°539.9135.5
Aug29° / 25°8213.812.64.9
Sep29° / 25°1241812.14.4
Oct28° / 24°1442111.64.5
Nov27° / 24°7913.211.26.0
Dec27° / 23°419.310.97.0

Chance of rain

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

New Kingston gets about 812 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.4 months, from around Aug 12 to Nov 22, peaking in October at about 69% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Mar 2.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 144 mm over about 21 wet days; February is the driest, with 21 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 5 · 69%Mar 2 · 23%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan248
Feb247
Mar268
Apr319
May4515
Jun4012
Jul3210
Aug4314
Sep6118
Oct6721
Nov4513
Dec309

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, New Kingston collects about 812 mm of rain across 143 wet days — roughly 68 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 144 mm, while February is the driest at just 21 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 46% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec262133361027253821241447941
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan268
Feb217
Mar338
Apr369
May10215
Jun7212
Jul5310
Aug8214
Sep12418
Oct14421
Nov7913
Dec419

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In New Kingston, 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 November 25 and lasts for 5.4 months, ending around May 8. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 92% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 9 and lasts for 6.6 months, ending around November 24. The cloudiest month is September, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 19 · 93%Oct 2 · 39%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan8713
Feb928
Mar919
Apr8416
May5545
Jun4753
Jul6238
Aug5545
Sep4654
Oct4654
Nov6337
Dec7822

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 June 10, brings about 13 h 06 min of light; the shortest, around January 1, only 10 h 54 min — a swing of roughly 2 h 12 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.06:465:47
Feb11.46:406:04
Mar11.96:216:13
Apr12.45:556:20
May12.85:386:29
Jun13.15:356:40
Jul13.05:436:42
Aug12.65:536:30
Sep12.15:586:04
Oct11.66:055:40
Nov11.26:185:27
Dec10.96:365:31

Sunny days

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

New Kingston averages about 14 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 6 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.2 months, from around Nov 27 to May 2. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 22 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is May, down near 10 sunny days — about 57% fewer than the February peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedbrightbrilliantFeb 723 daysMay 306 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan21Bright
Feb21Bright
Mar21Bright
Apr18Bright
May10Mixed
Jun8Mixed
Jul14Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep8Mixed
Oct8Mixed
Nov12Mixed
Dec18Bright

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.

New Kingston 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 94% of the time. Even in March, 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressivemuggyhumid
Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan0671230
Feb1681120
Mar0673200
Apr0146520
May0010900
Jun001963
Jul001954
Aug000937
Sep0009010
Oct002944
Nov0116830
Dec1435610

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 New Kingston is typically light breeze, near 12 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 3.5 months, from around May 6 to Aug 20. The windiest month is June, averaging about 15 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Aug 21 to Dec 26, with October the calmest month at about 10 km/h.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezeJun 23 · 15 km/hOct 19 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan12light breeze
Feb12light breeze
Mar12calm
Apr12calm
May13light breeze
Jun15light breeze
Jul14light breeze
Aug12light breeze
Sep11calm
Oct10calm
Nov10calm
Dec12calm

Hazard calendar for New Kingston

In seasonPeak

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

New Kingston sits in the Atlantic hurricane belt; the season peaks August–October.

New Kingston's rainy season runs August–November, when most of the year's rain falls.

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

Best time to visit New Kingston

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late November, New Kingston 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 New Kingston for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid November to mid May, with a peak score in the first week of March.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMar 1 · 7.6

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
Jan7.4good
Feb7.5ideal
Mar7.3good
Apr6.9good
May5.8good
Jun5.4fair
Jul5.5good
Aug5.0fair
Sep4.4fair
Oct4.6fair
Nov6.0good
Dec7.0good

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 New Kingston for hot-weather activities is from early November to mid September, with a peak score in the first week of March.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationMar 2 · 7.3

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 New Kingston, 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.

New Kingston 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 August, New Kingston sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 14 days see rain.

Sea temperature near New Kingston

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 18 km away) is warmest in September at about 29°C and coldest in February 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
Jan27Warm
Feb27Warm
Mar27Warm
Apr28Warm
May28Tropical
Jun28Tropical
Jul29Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep29Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec28Tropical

UV index (midday) in New Kingston 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 New Kingston peaks around April 19 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 16 at about 7 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecVery highExtremeVery highApr 19UV 12Dec 16UV 7
UV index (midday)Level
Jan8Very high
Feb10Extreme
Mar12Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep12Extreme
Oct11Extreme
Nov8Very high
Dec7Very high

Average hourly UV index in New Kingston

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 April the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 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)
Jan6.54
Feb75
Mar86
Apr86
May8.56.5
Jun8.56.5
Jul8.56
Aug86
Sep86
Oct75
Nov6.53.5
Dec63

Air quality in New Kingston 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 New Kingston is worst in June — around 32 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 4.2× the cleanest month (December, 8 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodJun 2332 µg/m³Dec 198 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb10Good
Mar10Good
Apr12Good
May19Moderate
Jun32Moderate
Jul31Moderate
Aug25Moderate
Sep17Moderate
Oct14Moderate
Nov9Good
Dec8Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

New Kingston 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. New Kingston banks about 5,689 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around August.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan436
Feb392
Mar442
Apr452
May490
Jun494
Jul526
Aug530
Sep504
Oct501
Nov465
Dec456

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.

New Kingston receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.5 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.7 months, from around Mar 1 to Sep 20. The brightest month is July, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is December, down near 4.5 kWh/m² — roughly 33% less than the July peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmerbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseJul 216.7 kWhDec 164.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.7Bright
Feb5.4Bright
Mar6.1Intense
Apr6.7Intense
May6.4Intense
Jun6.5Intense
Jul6.7Intense
Aug6.5Intense
Sep5.9Bright
Oct5.1Bright
Nov4.6Bright
Dec4.5Bright

Where is New Kingston?

New Kingston sits at 18.0°N, 76.8°W, 99 m above sea level, in Jamaica. The nearest listed city is Kingston, 2.0 km away.

Spanish TownLinsteadOld HarbourPort Antonio

What New Kingston looks like

aerial view of city buildings under blue sky and white clouds during daytime
Photos by Caidrro and Marc Babin on Unsplash
green mountain during daytime

Topography around New Kingston

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around New Kingston has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 345 m around an average of 99 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,748 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,229 m.

The land around New Kingston is covered by artificial surfaces (76%) within 3 km, trees (54%) and water (27%) within 16 km, and water (61%) and trees (33%) within 80 km.

3 km
345 m
16 km
1,748 m
80 km
2,229 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswatermangroves
Nearby: Kingston 2.0 km · Half Way Tree 2.0 km · Port Royal 10 km · Portmore 12 km · Spanish Town 19 km · Linstead 30 km · Old Harbour 35 km · Port Antonio 40 km

Jamaica travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B
110 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 60% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$8,003
2025
Happiness
6.3 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
49.4
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
15.1
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
Religion
Protestant 65%none 21%other 7%Roman Catholic 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 New Kingston (18.0075°, -76.7832°, elevation 99 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).