Climate and average weather in Upper Gilgil

In Upper Gilgil, 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 April.

Best: mid December to early April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Upper Gilgil typically varies from 10°C to 25°C, and is rarely below 7°C or above 28°C. March is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Upper Gilgil for warm-weather activities is from mid December to early April.

Hottest
Mar
25°
Coldest
Jul
11°
Wettest
Apr
330 mm
Driest
Feb
46 mm
Rain / yr
2184 mm
175 wet days
Daylight
12.0–12.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
2,710 m
0.2°S
Clearest
Feb
59% cloud

Upper Gilgil is A town in Nakuru County, Kenya..

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

Upper Gilgil 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 December to early April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Upper Gilgil stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is March, with an average high of 25°C and low of 11°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 11°C and high of 20°C.

Days typically run about 11°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 15°C) in February.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2310
Feb2510
Mar2511
Apr2312
May2212
Jun2112
Jul2011
Aug2011
Sep2110
Oct2211
Nov2111
Dec2211

Average hourly temperature in Upper Gilgil

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 25°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 11°C.

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

Upper Gilgil 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
Jan23° / 10°666.8127.3
Feb25° / 10°464.8127.5
Mar25° / 11°1459.2126.9
Apr23° / 12°33018.3125.3
May22° / 12°27316.9125.5
Jun21° / 12°13216.4125.3
Jul20° / 11°12919.6124.7
Aug20° / 11°15520.3124.7
Sep21° / 10°15314.1125.8
Oct22° / 11°31317.1125.3
Nov21° / 11°31520.3124.8
Dec22° / 11°12911.3126.3

Chance of rain

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

Upper Gilgil gets about 2184 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 1.5 months, from around Apr 3 to May 19, peaking in April at about 72% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 2.

April is the wettest month by volume, with 330 mm over about 18 wet days; February is the driest, with 46 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 29 · 72%Feb 2 · 18%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan227
Feb195
Mar299
Apr6118
May5517
Jun5416
Jul6320
Aug6620
Sep4814
Oct5617
Nov6520
Dec3711

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Upper Gilgil collects about 2184 mm of rain across 175 wet days — roughly 182 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. April is the wettest month with 330 mm, while February is the driest at just 46 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 44% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec6646145330273132129155153313315129
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan667
Feb465
Mar1459
Apr33018
May27317
Jun13216
Jul12920
Aug15520
Sep15314
Oct31317
Nov31520
Dec12911

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Upper Gilgil, 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 6 and lasts for 3.7 months, ending around March 28. The clearest month is February, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 51% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 7 and lasts for 2.0 months, ending around December 5. The cloudiest month is November, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 78% 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 26 · 52%Nov 10 · 18%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4753
Feb5149
Mar4357
Apr2674
May3763
Jun3169
Jul2476
Aug2674
Sep4060
Oct2872
Nov2278
Dec4060

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, Upper Gilgil 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)
Jan12.06:446:45
Feb12.06:496:50
Mar12.06:456:45
Apr12.06:356:35
May12.06:316:31
Jun12.06:366:35
Jul12.06:416:40
Aug12.06:396:39
Sep12.06:296:29
Oct12.06:206:20
Nov12.06:206:20
Dec12.06:316:31

Sunny days

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

Upper Gilgil averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 1 and 7 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 3.7 months, from around Dec 7 to Mar 30. The sunniest month is March, with roughly 5 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is November, down near 1 sunny days — about 82% fewer than the March peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedMar 17 daysNov 11 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan5Gloomy
Feb6Gloomy
Mar5Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May3Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep2Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov1Gloomy
Dec4Gloomy

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 Upper Gilgil, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in May, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 0% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccomfortabledry
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)
Jan937
Feb964
Mar919
Apr7030
May7327
Jun8812
Jul982
Aug982
Sep973
Oct8911
Nov8416
Dec919

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 Upper Gilgil is steady company: average speeds sit near 6 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 6 · 7 km/hNov 1 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb7calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May6calm
Jun6calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec6calm

Best time to visit Upper Gilgil

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late March, Upper Gilgil 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 time of year to visit Upper Gilgil for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid December to late March, with a peak score in the last week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 31 · 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
Jan7.3good
Feb7.5good
Mar6.9good
Apr5.3fair
May5.4fair
Jun5.3fair
Jul4.8fair
Aug4.7fair
Sep5.7good
Oct5.3fair
Nov4.8fair
Dec6.3good

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 Upper Gilgil for hot-weather activities is from early January to late March, with a peak score in the last week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 26 · 6.8

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 Upper Gilgil, 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.

Upper Gilgil 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 March, Upper Gilgil sees daytime highs around 25°C and nights near 11°C. Pack sun protection. Worth having: light clothes and rain gear. About 9 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Upper Gilgil 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 Upper Gilgil peaks around March 16 at about 17 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 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 17Jun 19UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan16Extreme
Feb16Extreme
Mar17Extreme
Apr16Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct15Extreme
Nov14Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Upper Gilgil

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)
Jan8.57
Feb8.57
Mar8.57
Apr8.56.5
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep8.56.5
Oct86.5
Nov86.5
Dec86.5

Air quality in Upper Gilgil 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 Upper Gilgil is worst in June — around 38 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), and holds fairly steady the rest of the year.

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModeratePoorModerateJun 2338 µg/m³Jan 1227 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan27Moderate
Feb29Moderate
Mar32Moderate
Apr28Moderate
May31Moderate
Jun38Poor
Jul37Poor
Aug32Moderate
Sep30Moderate
Oct28Moderate
Nov28Moderate
Dec27Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Upper Gilgil 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. Upper Gilgil banks about 2,370 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around March.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan205
Feb205
Mar245
Apr227
May218
Jun184
Jul164
Aug165
Sep176
Oct196
Nov189
Dec195

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.

Upper Gilgil receives about 5.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 4.9 and 7.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 4.0 months, from around Dec 16 to Apr 15. The brightest month is February, averaging about 7.0 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is July, down near 5.0 kWh/m² — roughly 29% less than the February peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseFeb 287.1 kWhJul 244.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.5Intense
Feb7.1Intense
Mar6.8Intense
Apr5.9Bright
May5.7Bright
Jun5.3Bright
Jul4.9Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep6.2Intense
Oct6.1Intense
Nov5.5Bright
Dec5.9Bright

Where is Upper Gilgil?

Upper Gilgil sits at 0.2°S, 36.3°E, 2,710 m above sea level, in Kenya. The nearest listed city is Ol Kalou, 14 km away.

Topography around Upper Gilgil

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Upper Gilgil has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 295 m around an average of 2,664 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 985 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 3,006 m.

The land around Upper Gilgil is covered by trees (36%), shrubs (22%) and cropland (22%) within 3 km, cropland (42%) and trees (29%) within 16 km, and grassland (30%), trees (25%) and cropland (25%) within 80 km.

3 km
295 m
16 km
985 m
80 km
3,006 m
treesshrubsgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Ol Kalou 14 km · Nakuru 25 km · Nyahururu 30 km · Mairo Inya 30 km · Gilgil 33 km · Njoro 39 km · Rongai 46 km · Elburgon 52 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 Upper Gilgil (-0.2121°, 36.2725°, elevation 2,710 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).