Climate and average weather in Maralal

In Maralal, the weather is warm, showery, and mostly clear and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around July.

Best: early January to late March

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Maralal typically varies from 13°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 12°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 Maralal for warm-weather activities are from early January to late March and late August to late October.

Hottest
Feb
26°
Coldest
Jul
14°
Wettest
Jul
125 mm
Driest
Feb
23 mm
Rain / yr
813 mm
125 wet days
Daylight
11.9–12.1 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,941 m
1.1°N
Clearest
Feb
46% cloud

Maralal is town in Samburu County, Kenya.

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

Maralal 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 January to late March.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Maralal stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 26°C and low of 14°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 14°C and high of 23°C.

Days typically run about 10°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)
Jan2513
Feb2614
Mar2615
Apr2515
May2515
Jun2414
Jul2314
Aug2314
Sep2414
Oct2414
Nov2314
Dec2413

Average hourly temperature in Maralal

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 26°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 14°C.

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

Maralal 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
Jan25° / 13°306.311.97.7
Feb26° / 14°234.3127.7
Mar26° / 15°529.2127.0
Apr25° / 15°9014.6126.1
May25° / 15°759.9127.0
Jun24° / 14°8610.612.16.8
Jul23° / 14°12514.212.16.0
Aug23° / 14°10813.1126.3
Sep24° / 14°465127.9
Oct24° / 14°479.4127.1
Nov23° / 14°8317.7125.6
Dec24° / 13°4810.511.97.0

Chance of rain

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

Maralal gets about 813 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 1.9 months, from around Oct 19 to Dec 14, peaking in November at about 60% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Sep 24.

July is the wettest month by volume, with 125 mm over about 14 wet days; February is the driest, with 23 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 10 · 60%Sep 24 · 12%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan206
Feb174
Mar299
Apr4815
May3410
Jun3411
Jul4514
Aug4313
Sep185
Oct319
Nov5718
Dec3411

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Maralal collects about 813 mm of rain across 125 wet days — roughly 68 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. July is the wettest month with 125 mm, while February is the driest at just 23 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 40% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec30235290758612510846478348
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan306
Feb234
Mar529
Apr9015
May7510
Jun8611
Jul12514
Aug10813
Sep465
Oct479
Nov8318
Dec4811

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Maralal, 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 30 and lasts for 1.8 months, ending around October 22. The clearest month is September, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 67% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around June 6 and lasts for 2.8 months, ending around August 29. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 67% 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 19 · 71%Jul 25 · 29%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan6535
Feb6733
Mar6238
Apr4951
May5743
Jun4555
Jul3367
Aug4357
Sep6733
Oct5941
Nov4852
Dec6436

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, Maralal barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 06 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.96:446:41
Feb12.06:496:47
Mar12.06:436:43
Apr12.06:336:34
May12.06:286:31
Jun12.16:326:35
Jul12.16:376:41
Aug12.06:366:38
Sep12.06:276:28
Oct12.06:196:18
Nov12.06:206:17
Dec11.96:316:27

Sunny days

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

Maralal averages about 10 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 3 and 15 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.8 months, from around Dec 10 to Apr 3. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 14 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is July, down near 4 sunny days — about 70% fewer than the February peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyergloomymixedbrightFeb 2515 daysJul 253 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan14Mixed
Feb13Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr8Gloomy
May11Mixed
Jun8Gloomy
Jul4Gloomy
Aug7Gloomy
Sep13Mixed
Oct10Mixed
Nov6Gloomy
Dec11Mixed

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 Maralal, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in May, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 12% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecOct 2 · 100%May 1 · 77%humidcomfortabledrycomfortablehumidcomfortable
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan65323
Feb71262
Mar51435
Apr216316
May325612
Jun51427
Jul54433
Aug58384
Sep78202
Oct57412
Nov19765
Dec41563

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 Maralal is typically calm, near 8 km/h, and varies moderately with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 6.9 months, from around Sep 23 to Apr 21. The windiest month is March, averaging about 10 km/h (calm).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Apr 22 to Sep 22, with July the calmest month at about 5 km/h.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezeMar 8 · 10 km/hJul 23 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr8calm
May7calm
Jun6calm
Jul5calm
Aug6calm
Sep7calm
Oct9calm
Nov9calm
Dec9calm

Best time to visit Maralal

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

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

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 21 · 8.2

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
Jan7.7ideal
Feb7.7ideal
Mar7.0good
Apr6.1good
May6.9good
Jun6.8good
Jul6.0good
Aug6.3good
Sep7.8ideal
Oct7.1good
Nov5.7good
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 times of year to visit Maralal for hot-weather activities run from early September to late October and again from mid December to early April, with a peak score in the third week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 21 · 7.2

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 Maralal, 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.

Maralal packs about the same all year — highs hold near 26°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, sun protection and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Maralal sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 14°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 4 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Maralal 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 Maralal peaks around March 16 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 16UV 16Jun 18UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan15Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar16Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug12Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov13Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Maralal

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
Feb8.56.5
Mar8.57
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86.5
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Maralal 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 Maralal is worst in July — around 22 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.0× the cleanest month (October, 11 µg/m³).

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

0102030JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodModerateJul 1322 µg/m³Oct 2011 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan12Moderate
Feb14Moderate
Mar12Moderate
Apr13Moderate
May15Moderate
Jun20Moderate
Jul22Moderate
Aug17Moderate
Sep14Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov12Moderate
Dec13Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Maralal 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. Maralal banks about 3,313 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)
Jan278
Feb272
Mar314
Apr299
May301
Jun267
Jul252
Aug254
Sep265
Oct288
Nov258
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.

Maralal receives about 5.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.9 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Dec 20 to Apr 20. The brightest month is February, averaging about 6.7 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 5.0 kWh/m² — roughly 25% less than the February peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 286.7 kWhJul 234.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.3Intense
Feb6.7Intense
Mar6.6Intense
Apr6.0Intense
May5.8Bright
Jun5.2Bright
Jul4.9Bright
Aug5.4Bright
Sep6.3Intense
Oct6.2Intense
Nov5.5Bright
Dec5.8Bright

Where is Maralal?

Maralal sits at 1.1°N, 36.7°E, 1,941 m above sea level, in Kenya. The nearest listed city is Mairo Inya, 123 km away.

Mairo InyaNyahururuKabarnetNanyukiIsioloItenUpper GilgilOl Kalou

Topography around Maralal

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Maralal has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 280 m around an average of 1,984 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,168 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,335 m.

The land around Maralal is covered by grassland (45%) and shrubs (35%) within 3 km, grassland (40%), shrubs (35%) and trees (21%) within 16 km, and shrubs (51%) and grassland (40%) within 80 km.

3 km
280 m
16 km
1,168 m
80 km
2,335 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrain
Nearby: Mairo Inya 123 km · Nyahururu 123 km · Kabarnet 126 km · Nanyuki 128 km · Isiolo 128 km · Iten 141 km · Upper Gilgil 153 km · Ol Kalou 156 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 Maralal (1.0967°, 36.6981°, elevation 1,941 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).