Climate and average weather in Lawas

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

Best: mid May to late October

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Lawas typically varies from 20°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 19°C or above 30°C. May is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

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

Hottest
May
29°
Coldest
Jan
20°
Wettest
Nov
396 mm
Driest
Jul
284 mm
Rain / yr
4137 mm
314 wet days
Daylight
11.7–12.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
10 m
4.9°N
Clearest
Mar
82% cloud

Lawas is place in Sarawak, Malaysia.

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

Lawas 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 May to late October.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Lawas stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is May, with an average high of 29°C and low of 21°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 20°C and high of 28°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.

15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2820
Feb2820
Mar2821
Apr2921
May2921
Jun2920
Jul2820
Aug2920
Sep2820
Oct2820
Nov2820
Dec2820

Average hourly temperature in Lawas

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 May afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 20°C.

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

Lawas 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
Jan28° / 20°3572711.73.7
Feb28° / 20°30324.411.83.7
Mar28° / 21°35827.2123.4
Apr29° / 21°38928.412.13.1
May29° / 21°3712712.23.3
Jun29° / 20°31323.512.33.7
Jul28° / 20°28422.512.33.9
Aug29° / 20°29322.912.23.8
Sep28° / 20°32025123.5
Oct28° / 20°36128.511.93.3
Nov28° / 20°39629.211.83.1
Dec28° / 20°39428.811.73.4

Chance of rain

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

Lawas gets about 4137 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 3.7 months, from around Sep 29 to Jan 20, peaking in November at about 97% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 31.

November is the wettest month by volume, with 396 mm over about 29 wet days; July is the driest, with 284 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 13 · 97%Jul 31 · 66%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan8827
Feb8724
Mar8827
Apr9428
May8727
Jun7924
Jul7223
Aug7423
Sep8425
Oct9229
Nov9729
Dec9329

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Lawas collects about 4137 mm of rain across 314 wet days — roughly 345 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. November is the wettest month with 396 mm, while July is the driest at just 284 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 28% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec357303358389371313284293320361396394
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan35727
Feb30324
Mar35827
Apr38928
May37127
Jun31324
Jul28423
Aug29323
Sep32025
Oct36129
Nov39629
Dec39429

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Lawas, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around January 28 and lasts for 3.1 months, ending around May 1. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 14% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around August 24 and lasts for 5.2 months, ending around January 27. The cloudiest month is October, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 96% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecMar 18 · 16%Oct 20 · 3%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan892
Feb1189
Mar1486
Apr1288
May991
Jun1090
Jul1189
Aug1090
Sep793
Oct496
Nov595
Dec694

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, Lawas barely changes through the year: days stay near 12 h 18 min of light in every season.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.76:356:20
Feb11.86:386:28
Mar12.06:296:27
Apr12.16:156:22
May12.26:086:21
Jun12.36:106:27
Jul12.36:166:32
Aug12.26:186:27
Sep12.06:126:13
Oct11.96:076:00
Nov11.86:105:57
Dec11.76:236:06

Sunny days

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

Lawas gets about 1 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 0 and 2 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

05JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomyMar 182 daysOct 200 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan1Gloomy
Feb1Gloomy
Mar2Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May1Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

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.

Lawas 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 99% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecoppressivemuggy
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan14652
Feb15148
Mar04060
Apr01882
May01882
Jun03961
Jul05941
Aug06138
Sep05545
Oct04753
Nov03169
Dec03367

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 Lawas is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmAug 6 · 4 km/hApr 19 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Hazard calendar for Lawas

In seasonPeak

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

Lawas sits in the Pacific typhoon belt; the season peaks July–October.

Pacific typhoon
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Lawas

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid October, Lawas 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. In Lawas it holds close to 4.1 all year, so any month is about as good as another for general outdoor tourist activities.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDectravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitation

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
Jan3.7fair
Feb3.7fair
Mar3.4poor
Apr3.1poor
May3.3poor
Jun3.7fair
Jul3.9fair
Aug3.8fair
Sep3.5poor
Oct3.4poor
Nov3.1poor
Dec3.4poor

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 Lawas for hot-weather activities run from late January to late March and again from early May to early October, with a peak score in the first week of August.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 1 · 5.0

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 Lawas, 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.

Lawas 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 May, Lawas sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 21°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 27 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Lawas

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 30 km away) is warmest in June at about 30°C and coldest in February near 28°C.

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

26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan28Tropical
Feb28Warm
Mar28Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May30Tropical
Jun30Tropical
Jul30Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct30Tropical
Nov30Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Lawas 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 Lawas peaks around April 11 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 13 at about 12 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeApr 11UV 15Dec 13UV 12
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May14Extreme
Jun13Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov12Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Lawas

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 February 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)
Jan86
Feb8.56.5
Mar8.56.5
Apr8.56.5
May8.56.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86
Nov86
Dec86

Air quality in Lawas 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 Lawas is worst in September — around 15 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.8× the cleanest month (December, 9 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 1515 µg/m³Dec 139 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan10Good
Feb10Good
Mar11Good
Apr11Good
May11Good
Jun11Good
Jul12Good
Aug12Moderate
Sep15Moderate
Oct12Good
Nov9Good
Dec9Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Lawas 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. Lawas banks about 5,219 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

02,0004,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan434
Feb394
Mar446
Apr440
May458
Jun433
Jul442
Aug445
Sep427
Oct438
Nov425
Dec438

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.

Lawas receives about 5.1 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.4 and 5.5 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseAug 115.5 kWhDec 214.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.6Bright
Feb5.0Bright
Mar5.4Bright
Apr5.4Bright
May5.2Bright
Jun5.1Bright
Jul5.3Bright
Aug5.5Bright
Sep5.4Bright
Oct5.0Bright
Nov4.7Bright
Dec4.5Bright

Where is Lawas?

Lawas sits at 4.9°N, 115.4°E, 10 m above sea level, in Malaysia. The nearest listed city is Sipitang, 29 km away.

Topography around Lawas

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Lawas has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 139 m around an average of 23 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,156 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,031 m.

The land around Lawas is covered by trees (79%) within 3 km, trees (75%) within 16 km, and trees (71%) and water (24%) within 80 km.

3 km
139 m
16 km
1,156 m
80 km
2,031 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfaceswatermangroves
Nearby: Sipitang 29 km · Bangar 41 km · Muara 42 km · Serasa 43 km · Mentiri 45 km · Limbang 46 km · Labuan 50 km · Bandar Labuan 50 km

Malaysia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type C / G / M
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 32% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$13,125
2025
Happiness
6.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
95%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
0.7
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
22.5
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 581
Religion
Muslim 64%Buddhist 19%Christian 9%Hindu 6%

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 Lawas (4.8604°, 115.409°, elevation 10 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).