Climate averages 1991–2020
Kota Kinabalu weather
in August.
A hot, wet month: the warmest and the 8th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
August is a hot month in Kota Kinabalu: daytime highs average 29.4°C and nights cool to about 24.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the warmest month of the year.
Expect about 178 mm of rain on roughly 18 days, which makes August a wet month (the 8th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 19 min on an average August day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Putatan (6 km away). In August its highs average 29.5°C, about as warm as Kota Kinabalu, with 178 mm of rain.
Among the 72 cities listed in Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu ranks joint 49th of 72 for the warmest August highs and joint 34th of 72 for the driest August (rainfall, lowest first). The mean August high of those 72 cities is 29.8°C; Kota Kinabalu is 0.4°C cooler than that mean.
From August to September, average highs fall by 0.3°C to 29.1°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 178 mm to 173 mm.
The annual picture
August 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
Kota Kinabalu climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 28.1°C23.6°C | 23.6°C | 153 | 18.5 | 11.812 h |
| February | 28.3°C23.5°C | 23.5°C | 99 | 14.3 | 11.912 h |
| March | 28.8°C23.9°C | 23.9°C | 93 | 15.9 | 12.112 h |
| April | 29.2°C24.5°C | 24.5°C | 110 | 19.4 | 12.212 h |
| May | 29.3°C24.8°C | 24.8°C | 163 | 21.8 | 12.412 h |
| June | 29.3°C24.5°C | 24.5°C | 187 | 18.5 | 12.512 h |
| July | 29.2°C24.2°C | 24.2°C | 166 | 18.3 | 12.412 h |
| August, selected | 29.4°C24.3°C | 24.3°C | 178 | 17.9 | 12.312 h |
| September | 29.1°C24.2°C | 24.2°C | 173 | 19.8 | 12.212 h |
| October | 28.3°C24.0°C | 24.0°C | 264 | 26.1 | 12.012 h |
| November | 28.2°C23.9°C | 23.9°C | 229 | 26.2 | 11.912 h |
| December | 28.2°C23.9°C | 23.9°C | 212 | 24.8 | 11.812 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
August in nearby cities
- Putatan in AugustMalaysia · 6 kmHigh 29.5°C · Low 24.1°C · 178 mm rain
- Keningau in AugustMalaysia · 72 kmHigh 30.0°C · Low 21.7°C · 124 mm rain
- Labuan in AugustMalaysia · 120 kmHigh 29.6°C · Low 25.4°C · 140 mm rain
- Bandar Seri Begawan in AugustBrunei · 174 kmHigh 30.2°C · Low 24.6°C · 182 mm rain
- Sandakan in AugustMalaysia · 227 kmHigh 30.2°C · Low 24.5°C · 225 mm rain
- Lahad Datu in AugustMalaysia · 271 kmHigh 29.4°C · Low 24.3°C · 154 mm rain
- Marudi in AugustMalaysia · 278 kmHigh 30.9°C · Low 23.5°C · 221 mm rain
- Tawau in AugustMalaysia · 279 kmHigh 28.9°C · Low 24.2°C · 186 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 Kota Kinabalu) is explained once on the Kota Kinabalu year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.
Putatan lies in the same rainfall cell, so its rainfall figures are identical to these; temperatures differ because they come from smaller 0.1° cells.