Climate averages 1991–2020
Kota Kinabalu weather
in December.
A hot, very wet month: the joint 10th warmest and the 10th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a hot month in Kota Kinabalu: daytime highs average 28.2°C and nights cool to about 23.9°C. By daytime temperature it is the joint 10th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 212 mm of rain on roughly 25 days, which makes December a very wet month (the 10th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 11 h 47 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Putatan (6 km away). In December its highs average 28.3°C, about as warm as Kota Kinabalu, with 212 mm of rain.
Among the 72 cities listed in Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu ranks joint 59th of 72 for the warmest December highs and joint 11th of 72 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 72 cities is 28.5°C; Kota Kinabalu is 0.3°C cooler than that mean.
From December to January, average highs fall by 0.1°C to 28.1°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 212 mm to 153 mm.
The annual picture
December 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 | 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, selected | 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
December in nearby cities
- Putatan in DecemberMalaysia · 6 kmHigh 28.3°C · Low 23.6°C · 212 mm rain
- Keningau in DecemberMalaysia · 72 kmHigh 28.7°C · Low 21.5°C · 162 mm rain
- Labuan in DecemberMalaysia · 120 kmHigh 28.5°C · Low 24.8°C · 187 mm rain
- Bandar Seri Begawan in DecemberBrunei · 174 kmHigh 28.9°C · Low 24.0°C · 222 mm rain
- Sandakan in DecemberMalaysia · 227 kmHigh 28.5°C · Low 24.0°C · 289 mm rain
- Lahad Datu in DecemberMalaysia · 271 kmHigh 28.6°C · Low 23.8°C · 164 mm rain
- Marudi in DecemberMalaysia · 278 kmHigh 29.8°C · Low 23.1°C · 312 mm rain
- Tawau in DecemberMalaysia · 279 kmHigh 28.9°C · Low 24.2°C · 190 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.