Climate and average weather in Tatau

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

Best: early January to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Tatau typically varies from 24°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 23°C or above 33°C. May is the hottest month of the year, while January is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Tatau for warm-weather activities is from early January to late December.

Hottest
May
31°
Coldest
Jan
24°
Wettest
Dec
365 mm
Driest
Jul
189 mm
Rain / yr
2984 mm
304 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
22 m
2.9°N
Clearest
Jun
79% cloud

Tatau is human settlement in Malaysia.

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

Tatau 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 December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Tatau stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is May, with an average high of 31°C and low of 25°C; the coolest is January, with an average low of 24°C and high of 29°C.

Days typically run about 6°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2924
Feb2924
Mar3024
Apr3125
May3125
Jun3125
Jul3124
Aug3124
Sep3124
Oct3024
Nov3024
Dec3024

How hot and cold Tatau 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, Tatau feels like about 39°C (around May 11). Nearly every day a year carries some heat stress, peaking in May.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdangerous heat
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan34292424
Feb34292424
Mar36302424
Apr38312425
May39312525
Jun38312525
Jul38312424
Aug37312424
Sep37312424
Oct36302424
Nov36302424
Dec35302424

Average hourly temperature in Tatau

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in January, near 24°C.

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

Tatau 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
Jan29° / 24°31627.311.93.0
Feb29° / 24°22423.211.93.2
Mar30° / 24°19924.9123.1
Apr31° / 25°22926.712.12.7
May31° / 25°22124.812.12.8
Jun31° / 25°20121.812.23.1
Jul31° / 24°18921.612.23.2
Aug31° / 24°21423.112.13.1
Sep31° / 24°23524.8122.9
Oct30° / 24°28828.311.92.7
Nov30° / 24°30528.711.92.6
Dec30° / 24°3652911.82.7

Chance of rain

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

Tatau gets about 2984 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 4.4 months, from around Sep 23 to Feb 3, peaking in November at about 96% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 31.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 365 mm over about 29 wet days; July is the driest, with 189 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetNov 11 · 96%Jul 31 · 69%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan8827
Feb8223
Mar8125
Apr8827
May8025
Jun7222
Jul7022
Aug7523
Sep8325
Oct9128
Nov9629
Dec9329

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Tatau collects about 2984 mm of rain across 304 wet days — roughly 249 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 365 mm, while July is the driest at just 189 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 33% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec316224199229221201189214235288305365
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan31627
Feb22423
Mar19925
Apr22927
May22125
Jun20122
Jul18922
Aug21423
Sep23525
Oct28828
Nov30529
Dec36529

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around April 2 and lasts for 5.5 months, ending around September 14. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 21% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 15 and lasts for 5.8 months, ending around March 11. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 97% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 25 · 22%Dec 24 · 2%partly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan595
Feb694
Mar1189
Apr1387
May1684
Jun1981
Jul2179
Aug1585
Sep1189
Oct694
Nov496
Dec397

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, Tatau 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)
Jan11.96:426:33
Feb11.96:466:40
Mar12.06:396:38
Apr12.16:276:31
May12.16:216:29
Jun12.26:246:34
Jul12.26:306:39
Aug12.16:306:36
Sep12.06:226:23
Oct11.96:166:12
Nov11.96:186:10
Dec11.86:306:20

Sunny days

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

Tatau 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.

05JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomyMay 222 daysNov 10 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar1Gloomy
Apr1Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun2Gloomy
Jul2Gloomy
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.

Tatau 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmiserableoppressive
Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan5248
Feb5446
Mar3565
Apr991
May496
Jun1585
Jul2872
Aug3070
Sep3268
Oct3466
Nov2971
Dec3763

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

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeFeb 3 · 7 km/hMay 15 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan7calm
Feb7calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul6calm
Aug6calm
Sep6calm
Oct6calm
Nov6calm
Dec6calm

Hazard calendar for Tatau

In seasonPeak

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

Tatau 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 Tatau

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around late December, Tatau 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 Tatau it holds close to 3.2 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
Jan3.0poor
Feb3.2poor
Mar3.1poor
Apr2.7poor
May2.8poor
Jun3.1poor
Jul3.2poor
Aug3.1poor
Sep2.9poor
Oct2.7poor
Nov2.6poor
Dec2.7poor

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 Tatau for hot-weather activities is from early January to mid October, with a peak score in the last week of July.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJul 30 · 4.7

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 Tatau, 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.

Tatau packs about the same all year — highs hold near 31°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, Tatau sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 25°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 25 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Tatau

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 27 km away) is warmest in May 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
Feb28Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr30Tropical
May30Tropical
Jun30Tropical
Jul30Tropical
Aug30Tropical
Sep30Tropical
Oct30Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in Tatau 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 Tatau peaks around March 18 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near July 14 at about 11 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 18UV 15Jul 14UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb15Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr15Extreme
May14Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct14Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Tatau

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 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
Mar86.5
Apr8.56.5
May86.5
Jun86
Jul7.55.5
Aug86
Sep86
Oct86.5
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Tatau 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 Tatau is worst in September — around 18 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 2.5× the cleanest month (November, 7 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateGoodSep 1418 µg/m³Nov 237 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb11Good
Mar11Good
Apr11Good
May10Good
Jun10Good
Jul12Good
Aug14Moderate
Sep18Moderate
Oct11Good
Nov7Good
Dec7Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Tatau 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. Tatau banks about 6,301 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around May.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan514
Feb467
Mar531
Apr527
May553
Jun530
Jul545
Aug544
Sep520
Oct533
Nov513
Dec524

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.

Tatau receives about 5.0 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.3 and 5.4 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightMar 255.4 kWhDec 244.3 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.5Bright
Feb4.9Bright
Mar5.3Bright
Apr5.3Bright
May5.2Bright
Jun5.0Bright
Jul5.2Bright
Aug5.3Bright
Sep5.3Bright
Oct4.9Bright
Nov4.6Bright
Dec4.3Bright

Where is Tatau?

Tatau sits at 2.9°N, 112.8°E, 22 m above sea level, in Malaysia. The nearest listed city is Bintulu, 38 km away.

Topography around Tatau

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Tatau has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 79 m around an average of 24 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 612 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,068 m.

The land around Tatau is covered by trees (85%) within 3 km, trees (96%) within 16 km, and trees (77%) and water (22%) within 80 km.

3 km
79 m
16 km
612 m
80 km
1,068 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Bintulu 38 km · Sebauh 53 km · Selangau 71 km · Mukah 84 km · Dalat 88 km · Kapit 99 km · Belaga 106 km · Kanowit 117 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 Tatau (2.8833°, 112.85°, elevation 22 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).