Climate averages 1991–2020
Nairobi weather
in May.
A warm, wet month: the joint 8th warmest and the 11th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a warm month in Nairobi: daytime highs average 23.2°C and nights cool to about 14.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the joint 8th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 92 mm of rain on roughly 16 days, which makes May a wet month (the 11th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 04 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Karuri (Kiambu County), Kenya (14 km away). In May its highs average 21.4°C, 1.8°C cooler than Nairobi, with 92 mm of rain.
Among the 37 cities listed in Kenya, Nairobi ranks joint 26th of 37 for the warmest May highs and joint 13th of 37 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 37 cities is 25.2°C; Nairobi is 2.0°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs fall by 1.0°C to 22.2°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 92 mm to 42 mm.
The annual picture
May in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Nairobi climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 25.6°C14.4°C | 14.4°C | 35 | 6.3 | 12.212 h |
| February | 26.8°C14.9°C | 14.9°C | 30 | 4.6 | 12.212 h |
| March | 26.5°C15.6°C | 15.6°C | 57 | 10.3 | 12.112 h |
| April | 24.4°C15.8°C | 15.8°C | 114 | 19.4 | 12.112 h |
| May, selected | 23.2°C14.9°C | 14.9°C | 92 | 16.0 | 12.112 h |
| June | 22.2°C13.6°C | 13.6°C | 42 | 7.9 | 12.012 h |
| July | 21.7°C12.4°C | 12.4°C | 13 | 3.2 | 12.112 h |
| August | 22.3°C12.6°C | 12.6°C | 21 | 3.9 | 12.112 h |
| September | 24.2°C13.2°C | 13.2°C | 16 | 3.3 | 12.112 h |
| October | 25.0°C14.5°C | 14.5°C | 40 | 9.3 | 12.112 h |
| November | 23.2°C14.8°C | 14.8°C | 83 | 17.6 | 12.212 h |
| December | 24.0°C14.4°C | 14.4°C | 47 | 10.2 | 12.212 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
May in nearby cities
- Karuri (Kiambu County), Kenya in MayKenya · 14 kmHigh 21.4°C · Low 13.4°C · 92 mm rain
- Ongata Rongai in MayKenya · 14 kmHigh 22.8°C · Low 14.7°C · 82 mm rain
- Kikuyu in MayKenya · 18 kmHigh 21.0°C · Low 13.1°C · 92 mm rain
- Ngong in MayKenya · 18 kmHigh 22.2°C · Low 13.9°C · 92 mm rain
- Mlolongo in MayKenya · 19 kmHigh 23.3°C · Low 15.2°C · 80 mm rain
- Ruiru in MayKenya · 22 kmHigh 23.2°C · Low 14.8°C · 74 mm rain
- Kitengela in MayKenya · 27 kmHigh 23.4°C · Low 15.5°C · 80 mm rain
- Limuru in MayKenya · 27 kmHigh 19.6°C · Low 11.7°C · 132 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Nairobi) is explained once on the Nairobi year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Kikuyu, Karuri (Kiambu County), Kenya and Ngong lie in the same rainfall cell, so their rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.