Climate and average weather in Karatina

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

Best: late June to mid October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Karatina typically varies from 13°C to 25°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 28°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Karatina for warm-weather activities are from early January to late March and late June to mid October.

Hottest
Feb
25°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Nov
259 mm
Driest
Jul
40 mm
Rain / yr
1605 mm
216 wet days
Daylight
12.0–12.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,766 m
0.5°S
Clearest
Feb
52% cloud

Karatina is town in Nyeri County, Kenya.

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

Karatina 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 mid October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Karatina stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 25°C and low of 13°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 13°C and high of 20°C.

Days typically run about 9°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 12°C) in February.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2413
Feb2513
Mar2514
Apr2316
May2215
Jun2114
Jul2013
Aug2113
Sep2314
Oct2315
Nov2215
Dec2314

Average hourly temperature in Karatina

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 February afternoons, near 25°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 13°C.

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

Karatina 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
Jan24° / 13°11815126.3
Feb25° / 13°9212.6126.3
Mar25° / 14°15119.1125.5
Apr23° / 16°25926.7124.1
May22° / 15°19323124.7
Jun21° / 14°6516.1125.3
Jul20° / 13°4012.2125.6
Aug21° / 13°4213125.7
Sep23° / 14°4210.6126.5
Oct23° / 15°15519.7125.3
Nov22° / 15°25926.7124.0
Dec23° / 14°19021.8125.1

Chance of rain

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

Karatina gets about 1605 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 2.3 months, from around Mar 17 to May 26, peaking in April at about 91% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 18.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 259 mm over about 27 wet days; July is the driest, with 40 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 22 · 91%Sep 18 · 34%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4815
Feb4713
Mar6119
Apr8827
May7423
Jun5316
Jul4012
Aug4213
Sep3711
Oct6320
Nov8727
Dec7022

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Karatina collects about 1605 mm of rain across 216 wet days — roughly 134 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 259 mm, while July is the driest at just 40 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec1189215125919365404242155259190
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan11815
Feb9213
Mar15119
Apr25927
May19323
Jun6516
Jul4012
Aug4213
Sep4211
Oct15520
Nov25927
Dec19022

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Karatina, 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 December 1 and lasts for 4.2 months, ending around April 8. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 63% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 9 and lasts for 5.1 months, ending around September 10. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 86% 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 27 · 65%Jul 23 · 12%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6139
Feb6337
Mar5842
Apr3367
May3367
Jun2080
Jul1486
Aug2179
Sep4159
Oct3862
Nov2971
Dec5347

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, Karatina barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 hours of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.06:406:42
Feb12.06:466:47
Mar12.06:416:41
Apr12.06:326:31
May12.06:286:27
Jun12.06:336:31
Jul12.06:386:36
Aug12.06:366:35
Sep12.06:266:26
Oct12.06:166:17
Nov12.06:166:17
Dec12.06:276:28

Sunny days

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

Karatina averages about 5 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 12 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.9 months, from around Dec 7 to Apr 3. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 1 sunny days — about 89% fewer than the February peak.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedFeb 2612 daysJul 271 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan11Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar10Mixed
Apr3Gloomy
May3Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug2Gloomy
Sep5Gloomy
Oct4Gloomy
Nov2Gloomy
Dec8Gloomy

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.

In Karatina, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 2.5 months, from around March 17 to May 30. The muggiest month is April, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 59% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 31 to October 21, and July is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 6 · 100%Apr 27 · 32%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan325711
Feb40528
Mar235522
Apr23959
May35345
Jun20737
Jul52480
Aug60400
Sep59410
Oct285715
Nov35839
Dec126622

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

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmSep 21 · 6 km/hDec 2 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan5calm
Feb5calm
Mar5calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Karatina

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early July, Karatina 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 times of year to visit Karatina for general outdoor tourist activities run from late June to mid October and again from late December to late March, with a peak score in the third week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 21 · 6.7

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
Jan6.3good
Feb6.2good
Mar5.5good
Apr4.2fair
May4.7fair
Jun5.3fair
Jul5.6good
Aug5.7good
Sep6.5good
Oct5.3fair
Nov4.1fair
Dec5.1fair

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best times of year to visit Karatina for hot-weather activities run from mid September to early October and again from late December to late March, with a peak score in the first week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 1 · 5.9

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 Karatina, 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.

Karatina packs about the same all year — highs hold near 25°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 February, Karatina sees daytime highs around 25°C and nights near 13°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 13 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Karatina 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 Karatina peaks around March 17 at about 16 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 17UV 16Jun 18UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar17Extreme
Apr16Extreme
May12Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Karatina

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 March 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
Mar8.57
Apr8.57
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86.5
Dec86.5

Air quality in Karatina 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 Karatina is worst in December — around 39 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 1.8× the cleanest month (September, 21 µg/m³).

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

0204060JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecPoorModeratePoorDec 1938 µg/m³Sep 1922 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan36Poor
Feb36Poor
Mar35Moderate
Apr33Moderate
May30Moderate
Jun33Moderate
Jul30Moderate
Aug24Moderate
Sep21Moderate
Oct23Moderate
Nov33Moderate
Dec39Poor
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Karatina 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. Karatina banks about 3,063 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan271
Feb263
Mar303
Apr281
May266
Jun221
Jul204
Aug216
Sep244
Oct275
Nov255
Dec264

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.

Karatina receives about 5.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.1 and 6.5 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Dec 10 to Apr 11. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.5 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 4.2 kWh/m² — roughly 35% less than the February peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 236.5 kWhJul 204.1 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.1Intense
Feb6.5Intense
Mar6.2Intense
Apr5.2Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun4.5Bright
Jul4.2Bright
Aug4.6Bright
Sep5.6Bright
Oct5.5Bright
Nov4.8Bright
Dec5.5Bright

Where is Karatina?

Karatina sits at 0.5°S, 37.1°E, 1,766 m above sea level, in Kenya. The nearest listed city is Kerugoya, 17 km away.

Topography around Karatina

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Karatina has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 221 m around an average of 1,747 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,095 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,459 m.

The land around Karatina is covered by trees (70%) within 3 km, trees (69%) and shrubs (23%) within 16 km, and trees (34%), shrubs (27%) and grassland (24%) within 80 km.

3 km
221 m
16 km
1,095 m
80 km
4,459 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Kerugoya 17 km · Nyeri 21 km · Tetu 24 km · Karuri 25 km · Murang’a 27 km · Wanguru 34 km · Embu 37 km · Kenol 50 km

Kenya travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type G
240 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 34% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$2,363
2025
Happiness
4.7 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
4.9
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
28.3
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Lower middle
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 593
Religion
Christian 86%Muslim 11%other 2%none 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 Karatina (-0.4841°, 37.1266°, elevation 1,766 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. 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).