Climate and average weather in Male

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

Best: early January to early April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Male typically varies from 26°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 25°C or above 30°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while December is the coldest.

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

Hottest
Apr
29°
Coldest
Dec
26°
Wettest
May
227 mm
Driest
Feb
36 mm
Rain / yr
1700 mm
194 wet days
Daylight
11.8–12.2 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
8 m
4.2°N
Clearest
Mar
44% cloud

Male is capital of the Maldives.

Air quality
Good
PM10 20 µg/m³ · 2011
Density
17,878/km²
people per km²
Founded
~500 CE

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

Male 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 early April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Male stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 29°C and low of 27°C; the coolest is December, with an average low of 26°C and high of 27°C.

Days typically run about 2°C warmer than nights year-round.

24°26°28°30°32°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2726
Feb2827
Mar2827
Apr2927
May2927
Jun2827
Jul2827
Aug2826
Sep2826
Oct2826
Nov2726
Dec2726

How hot and cold Male 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, Male feels like about 35°C (around May 9). About 113 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in May.

24°26°28°30°32°34°36°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan30272626
Feb30282627
Mar32282727
Apr34292727
May34292727
Jun33282727
Jul32282627
Aug31282626
Sep31282626
Oct31282626
Nov30272626
Dec30272626

Average hourly temperature in Male

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 April afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in December, near 26°C.

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

Male 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
Jan27° / 26°7910.211.86.5
Feb28° / 27°366.511.96.9
Mar28° / 27°488.3126.3
Apr29° / 27°11015.912.14.9
May29° / 27°22723.912.23.8
Jun28° / 27°12517.612.24.5
Jul28° / 27°14017.612.24.6
Aug28° / 26°14115.812.15.2
Sep28° / 26°17618.7124.9
Oct28° / 26°19220.811.94.8
Nov27° / 26°22120.811.84.7
Dec27° / 26°20518.211.85.2

Chance of rain

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

Male gets about 1700 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 3.3 months, from around Apr 15 to Jul 23, peaking in May at about 79% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 25.

May is the wettest month by volume, with 227 mm over about 24 wet days; February is the driest, with 36 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMay 20 · 79%Feb 25 · 22%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3410
Feb247
Mar278
Apr5316
May7524
Jun6018
Jul5618
Aug5116
Sep6219
Oct6721
Nov6921
Dec5818

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Male collects about 1700 mm of rain across 194 wet days — roughly 142 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. May is the wettest month with 227 mm, while February is the driest at just 36 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 38% of the year’s total.

050100150200250JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec793648110227125140141176192221205
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan7910
Feb367
Mar488
Apr11016
May22724
Jun12518
Jul14018
Aug14116
Sep17619
Oct19221
Nov22121
Dec20518

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Male, 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 3 and lasts for 5.0 months, ending around May 4. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 70% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 5 and lasts for 7.0 months, ending around December 2. The cloudiest month is July, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 83% 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 17 · 72%Jul 21 · 16%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudierclearer
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5842
Feb6535
Mar7030
Apr5644
May3070
Jun2179
Jul1783
Aug2080
Sep2872
Oct3664
Nov3862
Dec4654

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, Male 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)
Jan11.86:226:09
Feb11.96:256:16
Mar12.06:166:15
Apr12.16:036:09
May12.25:576:08
Jun12.25:596:13
Jul12.26:056:18
Aug12.16:066:14
Sep12.06:006:01
Oct11.95:545:48
Nov11.85:575:45
Dec11.86:095:55

Sunny days

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

Male averages about 8 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 2 and 17 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.7 months, from around Dec 9 to Apr 29. The sunniest month is March, with roughly 16 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is July, down near 3 sunny days — about 84% fewer than the March peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyergloomymixedbrightMar 1717 daysJul 192 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb13Mixed
Mar16Bright
Apr12Mixed
May5Gloomy
Jun3Gloomy
Jul3Gloomy
Aug3Gloomy
Sep4Gloomy
Oct7Gloomy
Nov7Gloomy
Dec9Mixed

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.

Male 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
Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan9846
Feb10819
Mar47621
Apr04357
May01387
Jun03169
Jul06634
Aug07921
Sep08020
Oct07822
Nov18811
Dec5879

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 Male is typically light breeze, near 18 km/h, and varies a lot with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 2.8 months, from around May 4 to Jul 28. The windiest month is May, averaging about 20 km/h (breezy).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Feb 16 to May 3, with April the calmest month at about 13 km/h.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmerwindiercalmercalmlight breezebreezywindyMay 31 · 22 km/hApr 2 · 12 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan20light breeze
Feb18light breeze
Mar13light breeze
Apr13light breeze
May20breezy
Jun21breezy
Jul18light breeze
Aug17light breeze
Sep19light breeze
Oct19light breeze
Nov15light breeze
Dec17light breeze

Hazard calendar for Male

In seasonPeak

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

Male sits in the North Indian Ocean cyclone zone; the season peaks May and October–November.

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

Best time to visit Male

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid January, Male 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 time of year to visit Male for general outdoor tourist activities is from late December to early April, with a peak score in the last week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 22 · 7.0

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
Jan6.5good
Feb6.9good
Mar6.3good
Apr4.9fair
May3.9fair
Jun4.4fair
Jul4.6fair
Aug5.1fair
Sep4.9fair
Oct4.7fair
Nov4.7fair
Dec5.3fair

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 Male for hot-weather activities is from late December to mid April, with a peak score in the last week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 27 · 7.5

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 Male, 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.

Male 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 April, Male sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 27°C. Pack light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 16 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Male

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 14 km away) is warmest in April at about 30°C and coldest in January 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
Jun29Tropical
Jul29Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep29Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec28Tropical

UV index (midday) in Male 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 Male peaks around September 19 at about 14 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near January 13 at about 10 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeSep 19UV 14Jan 13UV 10
UV index (midday)Level
Jan10Very high
Feb14Extreme
Mar13Extreme
Apr13Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun11Extreme
Jul11Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep14Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Male

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 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 6 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)
Jan7.55
Feb86
Mar86
Apr86
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul86
Aug86
Sep86.5
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55.5

Air quality in Male 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 Male is worst in January — around 16 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 1.7× the cleanest month (November, 10 µg/m³).

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

01020JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodJan 2216 µg/m³Nov 1310 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan16Moderate
Feb16Moderate
Mar14Moderate
Apr12Good
May15Moderate
Jun12Moderate
Jul11Good
Aug11Good
Sep12Good
Oct10Good
Nov10Good
Dec11Good
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Male 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. Male banks about 6,265 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

02,0004,0006,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan520
Feb478
Mar546
Apr536
May548
Jun526
Jul535
Aug531
Sep508
Oct521
Nov500
Dec515

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.

Male receives about 5.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 5.0 and 6.6 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 3.7 months, from around Jan 12 to May 3. The brightest month is March, averaging about 6.6 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is November, down near 5.2 kWh/m² — roughly 21% less than the March peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerdimmoderatebrightintenseMar 206.6 kWhNov 285.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan5.8Bright
Feb6.4Intense
Mar6.6Intense
Apr6.1Intense
May5.3Bright
Jun5.4Bright
Jul5.4Bright
Aug5.7Bright
Sep5.7Bright
Oct5.6Bright
Nov5.1Bright
Dec5.2Bright

Where is Male?

Male sits at 4.2°N, 73.5°E, 8 m above sea level, in Maldives. The nearest listed city is Kulhudhuffushi, 276 km away.

What Male looks like

Topography around Male

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Male has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 13 m around an average of 0 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 13 m; within 80 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 12 m.

The land around Male is covered by water (89%) within 3 km, water (99%) within 16 km, and water (100%) within 80 km.

3 km
13 m
16 km
13 m
80 km
12 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Kulhudhuffushi 276 km · Fuvahmulah 498 km · Alappuzha 668 km · Kochi 709 km · Ambalangoda 760 km · Bentota 761 km · Beruwala 761 km · Thaikattussery 761 km

Maldives travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type D / G / J / K / L
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 51% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$14,615
2025
Happiness
5.2 / 10
World Happiness, 2020
Homicide rate
0.6
per 100k, 2019
Road deaths
1.6
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank

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 Male (4.1752°, 73.5092°, elevation 8 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).