Climate and average weather in Malindi

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

Best: early June to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Malindi typically varies from 23°C to 32°C, and is rarely below 22°C or above 33°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Mar
32°
Coldest
Jul
23°
Wettest
May
152 mm
Driest
Feb
7 mm
Rain / yr
641 mm
147 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
7 m
3.2°S
Clearest
Sep
36% cloud

Malindi is city in Kenya.

Founded
1350

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

Malindi 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 June to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Malindi stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 32°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 23°C and high of 27°C.

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

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan3125
Feb3125
Mar3225
Apr3126
May2925
Jun2824
Jul2723
Aug2723
Sep2823
Oct2924
Nov3025
Dec3125

How hot and cold Malindi 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, Malindi feels like about 38°C (around March 25). About 214 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in March.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan35312525
Feb36312525
Mar37322525
Apr36312526
May32292525
Jun30282424
Jul29272323
Aug29272323
Sep30282323
Oct32292424
Nov34302525
Dec35312525

Average hourly temperature in Malindi

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 March afternoons, near 32°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 23°C.

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

Malindi 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
Jan31° / 25°142.612.25.5
Feb31° / 25°71.512.15.4
Mar32° / 25°359.9124.3
Apr31° / 26°962211.93.4
May29° / 25°15221.211.94.3
Jun28° / 24°6114.811.85.6
Jul27° / 23°4412.511.86.1
Aug27° / 23°3412.211.96.4
Sep28° / 23°3010.9126.4
Oct29° / 24°6512.612.15.5
Nov30° / 25°6014.912.14.6
Dec31° / 25°4411.412.24.7

Chance of rain

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

Malindi gets about 641 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 4.8 months, from around Mar 22 to Aug 13, peaking in April at about 76% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 6.

May is the wettest month by volume, with 152 mm over about 21 wet days; February is the driest, with 7 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 24 · 76%Feb 6 · 5%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan93
Feb72
Mar3210
Apr7222
May6821
Jun4915
Jul4213
Aug3912
Sep3611
Oct4113
Nov4915
Dec3611

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Malindi collects about 641 mm of rain across 147 wet days — roughly 53 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. May is the wettest month with 152 mm, while February is the driest at just 7 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 49% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec147359615261443430656044
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan143
Feb72
Mar3510
Apr9622
May15221
Jun6115
Jul4413
Aug3412
Sep3011
Oct6513
Nov6015
Dec4411

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Malindi, 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 August 15 and lasts for 7.5 months, ending around March 31. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 84% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around April 1 and lasts for 4.5 months, ending around August 14. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 43% 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 11 · 84%May 1 · 54%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan7129
Feb7228
Mar7327
Apr6238
May5941
Jun5743
Jul5842
Aug7129
Sep8416
Oct7723
Nov7129
Dec7426

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, Malindi 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)
Jan12.26:246:34
Feb12.16:316:37
Mar12.06:296:30
Apr11.96:226:18
May11.96:206:11
Jun11.86:256:14
Jul11.86:306:20
Aug11.96:276:20
Sep12.06:146:13
Oct12.16:026:07
Nov12.16:006:09
Dec12.26:106:21

Sunny days

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

Malindi averages about 15 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 21 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 2.6 months, from around Aug 14 to Oct 31. The sunniest month is September, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is June, down near 11 sunny days — about 45% fewer than the September peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantSep 1621 daysJun 1810 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan16Bright
Feb13Mixed
Mar16Bright
Apr12Mixed
May12Mixed
Jun11Mixed
Jul11Mixed
Aug15Bright
Sep20Bright
Oct18Bright
Nov14Mixed
Dec16Bright

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.

Malindi 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
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan00918
Feb008911
Mar006139
Apr005842
May02899
Jun030700
Jul167320
Aug074260
Sep050500
Oct017812
Nov018316
Dec008020

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 Malindi is typically light breeze, near 17 km/h, and varies a lot with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.7 months, from around Apr 17 to Oct 8. The windiest month is July, averaging about 22 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Oct 9 to Apr 16, with November the calmest month at about 11 km/h.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezywindyJul 7 · 23 km/hNov 27 · 10 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan14light breeze
Feb13light breeze
Mar12light breeze
Apr16light breeze
May20breezy
Jun22breezy
Jul22breezy
Aug20breezy
Sep19light breeze
Oct15light breeze
Nov11calm
Dec12calm

Hazard calendar for Malindi

In seasonPeak

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

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

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

Best time to visit Malindi

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid June, Malindi 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 Malindi for general outdoor tourist activities run from early January to mid February and again from early June to late October, with a peak score in the last week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 31 · 6.6

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
Jan5.5fair
Feb5.3fair
Mar4.3fair
Apr3.5poor
May4.3fair
Jun5.6good
Jul6.1good
Aug6.4good
Sep6.4good
Oct5.5fair
Nov4.6fair
Dec4.7fair

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 Malindi for hot-weather activities run from mid August to late October and again from mid December to late March, with a peak score in the last week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 31 · 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 Malindi, 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.

Malindi packs about the same all year — highs hold near 32°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear, sun protection and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In March, Malindi sees daytime highs around 32°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 10 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Malindi

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

The sea offshore is warmest in April at about 29°C and coldest in August near 25°C.

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

24°26°28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecrefreshingwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan27Warm
Feb27Warm
Mar29Tropical
Apr29Tropical
May28Warm
Jun27Warm
Jul26Warm
Aug25Warm
Sep26Warm
Oct27Warm
Nov28Warm
Dec28Tropical

UV index (midday) in Malindi 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 Malindi peaks around March 19 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 10 (very high).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highExtremeMar 19UV 15Jun 18UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May11Extreme
Jun9Very high
Jul10Extreme
Aug11Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Malindi

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 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)
Jan8.56.5
Feb86.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May7.55.5
Jun75
Jul7.55
Aug7.55.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Malindi 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 Malindi is worst in January — around 16 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.8× the cleanest month (October, 9 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodModerateGoodModerateJan 1716 µg/m³Oct 209 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan16Moderate
Feb15Moderate
Mar13Moderate
Apr10Good
May11Good
Jun13Moderate
Jul14Moderate
Aug11Good
Sep10Good
Oct9Good
Nov9Good
Dec14Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Malindi 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. Malindi banks about 6,150 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan550
Feb501
Mar575
Apr543
May521
Jun476
Jul469
Aug468
Sep468
Oct508
Nov517
Dec553

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.

Malindi receives about 5.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.9 and 6.6 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 7.4 months, from around Aug 27 to Apr 9. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.6 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is May, down near 4.9 kWh/m² — roughly 25% less than the February peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 236.6 kWhMay 144.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.3Intense
Feb6.6Intense
Mar6.4Intense
Apr5.7Bright
May4.9Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.1Bright
Aug5.6Bright
Sep6.2Intense
Oct6.2Intense
Nov6.1Intense
Dec6.1Intense

Where is Malindi?

Malindi sits at 3.2°S, 40.1°E, 7 m above sea level, in Kenya. The nearest listed city is Watamu, 18 km away.

MtwapaMariakaniJomvuMazerasMombasaMatuga

Topography around Malindi

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Malindi has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 33 m around an average of 12 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 152 m; within 80 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 518 m.

The land around Malindi is covered by water (29%), artificial surfaces (26%) and trees (22%) within 3 km, water (46%) and grassland (22%) within 16 km, and water (39%), shrubs (29%) and trees (22%) within 80 km.

3 km
33 m
16 km
152 m
80 km
518 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetlandmangroves
Nearby: Watamu 18 km · Kilifi 55 km · Mtwapa 90 km · Mariakani 101 km · Jomvu 102 km · Mazeras 104 km · Mombasa 106 km · Matuga 122 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 Malindi (-3.218°, 40.1169°, elevation 7 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. 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).