Climate averages 1991–2020
Kota Kinabalu weather
in January.
A hot, wet month: the coolest and the 4th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a hot month in Kota Kinabalu: daytime highs average 28.1°C and nights cool to about 23.6°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 153 mm of rain on roughly 19 days, which makes January a wet month (the 4th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 11 h 49 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Putatan (6 km away). In January its highs average 28.2°C, about as warm as Kota Kinabalu, with 153 mm of rain.
Among the 72 cities listed in Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu ranks joint 61st of 72 for the warmest January highs and joint 17th of 72 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 72 cities is 28.9°C; Kota Kinabalu is 0.8°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 0.3°C to 28.3°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 153 mm to 99 mm.
The annual picture
January 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, selected | 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 | 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
January in nearby cities
- Putatan in JanuaryMalaysia · 6 kmHigh 28.2°C · Low 23.3°C · 153 mm rain
- Keningau in JanuaryMalaysia · 72 kmHigh 28.7°C · Low 21.3°C · 158 mm rain
- Labuan in JanuaryMalaysia · 120 kmHigh 28.4°C · Low 24.7°C · 131 mm rain
- Bandar Seri Begawan in JanuaryBrunei · 174 kmHigh 28.7°C · Low 23.9°C · 162 mm rain
- Sandakan in JanuaryMalaysia · 227 kmHigh 27.8°C · Low 23.8°C · 287 mm rain
- Lahad Datu in JanuaryMalaysia · 271 kmHigh 28.2°C · Low 23.5°C · 160 mm rain
- Marudi in JanuaryMalaysia · 278 kmHigh 30.0°C · Low 22.9°C · 264 mm rain
- Tawau in JanuaryMalaysia · 279 kmHigh 28.9°C · Low 24.1°C · 156 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.