Climate and average weather in General Santos

In General Santos, 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 June.

Best: early January to late April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in General Santos typically varies from 22°C to 31°C, and is rarely below 21°C or above 33°C. April is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit General Santos for warm-weather activities are from early January to late April and mid July to late September.

Hottest
Apr
31°
Coldest
Jul
22°
Wettest
Jun
322 mm
Driest
Feb
150 mm
Rain / yr
2726 mm
278 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
22 m
6.1°N
Clearest
Apr
67% cloud

General Santos is City in the Philippines.

Density
1,465/km²
people per km²
Founded
1947

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

General Santos 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 April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in General Santos stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is April, with an average high of 31°C and low of 23°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 22°C and high of 29°C.

Days typically run about 7°C warmer than nights year-round.

20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2922
Feb3022
Mar3122
Apr3123
May3023
Jun2923
Jul2922
Aug2922
Sep2922
Oct3022
Nov3022
Dec3022

How hot and cold General Santos 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, General Santos feels like about 35°C (around May 5). About 344 days a year carry some heat stress, peaking in May.

20°25°30°35°40°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Feels-like high (°C)Air high (°C)Feels-like low (°C)Air low (°C)
Jan33292222
Feb33302222
Mar34312222
Apr35312323
May35302323
Jun33292323
Jul32292222
Aug32292222
Sep33292222
Oct33302222
Nov34302222
Dec33302222

Average hourly temperature in General Santos

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 31°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 22°C.

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

General Santos 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° / 22°19819.211.74.0
Feb30° / 22°15014.811.84.1
Mar31° / 22°16317.7123.9
Apr31° / 23°1942012.13.4
May30° / 23°2972712.32.9
Jun29° / 23°32227.512.33.0
Jul29° / 22°24827.212.33.2
Aug29° / 22°22526.212.23.4
Sep29° / 22°19624.5123.3
Oct30° / 22°27025.811.93.1
Nov30° / 22°25625.211.73.2
Dec30° / 22°20822.511.73.6

Chance of rain

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

General Santos gets about 2726 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 7.2 months, from around Apr 30 to Dec 4, peaking in June at about 92% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 25.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 322 mm over about 28 wet days; February is the driest, with 150 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetJun 20 · 92%Feb 25 · 52%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan6219
Feb5415
Mar5618
Apr6820
May8627
Jun9128
Jul8827
Aug8526
Sep8225
Oct8326
Nov8325
Dec7223

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, General Santos collects about 2726 mm of rain across 278 wet days — roughly 227 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 322 mm, while February is the driest at just 150 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 33% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec198150163194297322248225196270256208
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan19819
Feb15015
Mar16318
Apr19420
May29727
Jun32228
Jul24827
Aug22526
Sep19625
Oct27026
Nov25625
Dec20823

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In General Santos, 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 26 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around May 7. The clearest month is April, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 36% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around May 8 and lasts for 6.5 months, ending around November 22. The cloudiest month is June, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 91% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 6 · 41%Jun 24 · 6%mostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan2476
Feb2971
Mar3664
Apr3664
May1981
Jun991
Jul991
Aug1288
Sep1486
Oct1486
Nov1981
Dec2179

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. The longest day, around June 14, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around December 13, only 11 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 0 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan11.75:585:39
Feb11.86:005:48
Mar12.05:505:48
Apr12.15:365:44
May12.35:275:44
Jun12.35:295:50
Jul12.35:355:55
Aug12.25:375:49
Sep12.05:335:35
Oct11.95:285:20
Nov11.75:335:16
Dec11.75:465:25

Sunny days

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

General Santos averages about 3 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 7 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around Nov 24 to May 6. The sunniest month is April, with roughly 6 sunny days (gloomy).

The greyest month is June, down near 1 sunny days — about 89% fewer than the April peak.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecsunniergreyersunniergloomymixedApr 47 daysJun 260 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan3Gloomy
Feb4Gloomy
Mar6Gloomy
Apr6Gloomy
May2Gloomy
Jun1Gloomy
Jul1Gloomy
Aug1Gloomy
Sep1Gloomy
Oct1Gloomy
Nov2Gloomy
Dec3Gloomy

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.

General Santos 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
Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)Miserable (%)
Jan012862
Feb116830
Mar113851
Apr068410
May006832
Jun007921
Jul00946
Aug00946
Sep00955
Oct00946
Nov00946
Dec02926

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 General Santos is steady company: average speeds sit near 5 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 10 · 7 km/hJun 1 · 5 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan6calm
Feb6calm
Mar6calm
Apr5calm
May5calm
Jun5calm
Jul5calm
Aug6calm
Sep5calm
Oct5calm
Nov5calm
Dec5calm

Hazard calendar for General Santos

In seasonPeak

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

General Santos 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 General Santos

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid April, General Santos 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 General Santos for general outdoor tourist activities run from late July to late September and again from late November to late April, with a peak score in the last week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 29 · 4.1

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
Jan4.0fair
Feb4.1fair
Mar3.9fair
Apr3.4poor
May2.9poor
Jun3.0poor
Jul3.2poor
Aug3.4poor
Sep3.3poor
Oct3.1poor
Nov3.2poor
Dec3.6fair

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

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 24 · 5.7

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 General Santos, 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.

General Santos 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 April, General Santos sees daytime highs around 31°C and nights near 23°C. Pack light clothes and rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 20 days see rain.

Sea temperature near General Santos

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 29°C and coldest in January near 29°C.

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

28°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwarmtropicalcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan29Tropical
Feb29Tropical
Mar29Tropical
Apr29Tropical
May29Tropical
Jun29Tropical
Jul29Tropical
Aug29Tropical
Sep29Tropical
Oct29Tropical
Nov29Tropical
Dec29Tropical

UV index (midday) in General Santos 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 General Santos peaks around March 18 at about 15 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near December 13 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 15Dec 13UV 11
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb14Extreme
Mar15Extreme
Apr14Extreme
May13Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug13Extreme
Sep13Extreme
Oct13Extreme
Nov11Extreme
Dec10Extreme

Average hourly UV index in General Santos

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 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)
Jan7.56
Feb86
Mar8.56.5
Apr86.5
May86.5
Jun86
Jul86
Aug86.5
Sep86
Oct86
Nov7.55.5
Dec7.55
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

General Santos 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. General Santos banks about 5,835 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)
Jan486
Feb445
Mar507
Apr501
May512
Jun478
Jul481
Aug481
Sep472
Oct495
Nov481
Dec494

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.

General Santos receives about 5.2 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.6 and 6.0 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

01234567JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightintenseApr 46.0 kWhJun 224.6 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.9Bright
Feb5.4Bright
Mar5.9Bright
Apr5.9Bright
May5.2Bright
Jun4.7Bright
Jul4.9Bright
Aug5.2Bright
Sep5.4Bright
Oct5.2Bright
Nov4.9Bright
Dec4.7Bright

Where is General Santos?

General Santos sits at 6.1°N, 125.2°E, 22 m above sea level, in Philippines. The nearest listed city is Alabel, 13 km away.

Topography around General Santos

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around General Santos has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 56 m around an average of 17 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 702 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,255 m.

The land around General Santos is covered by artificial surfaces (43%), trees (27%) and water (26%) within 3 km, trees (46%) and water (25%) within 16 km, and trees (50%) and water (39%) within 80 km.

3 km
56 m
16 km
702 m
80 km
2,255 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Alabel 13 km · Polomolok 17 km · Malapatan 21 km · Maluñgun 22 km · Glan 32 km · Tupi 35 km · Lambayong 47 km · Lake Sebu 52 km

Philippines travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 2
Exercise Increased Caution
Power plugs
Type A / B / C
230 V · 60 Hz
Prices
≈ 33% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$4,171
2025
Happiness
6.2 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
48%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
4.3
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
12
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
Upper middle
World Bank
English
High
EF EPI 569
Religion
Roman Catholic 79%other 8%Muslim 6%other Christian 4%

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 General Santos (6.1128°, 125.1717°, 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).