Climate averages 1991–2020
Kota Kinabalu weather
in May.
A hot, wet month: the joint 2nd warmest and the 5th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a hot month in Kota Kinabalu: daytime highs average 29.3°C and nights cool to about 24.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the joint 2nd warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 163 mm of rain on roughly 22 days, which makes May a wet month (the 5th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 23 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Putatan (6 km away). In May its highs average 29.5°C, about as warm as Kota Kinabalu, with 163 mm of rain.
Among the 72 cities listed in Malaysia, Kota Kinabalu ranks joint 68th of 72 for the warmest May highs and joint 10th of 72 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 72 cities is 30.1°C; Kota Kinabalu is 0.7°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs fall by 0.1°C to 29.3°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 163 mm to 187 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
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, selected | 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
May in nearby cities
- Putatan in MayMalaysia · 6 kmHigh 29.5°C · Low 24.5°C · 163 mm rain
- Keningau in MayMalaysia · 72 kmHigh 30.1°C · Low 22.1°C · 163 mm rain
- Labuan in MayMalaysia · 120 kmHigh 29.9°C · Low 25.8°C · 114 mm rain
- Bandar Seri Begawan in MayBrunei · 174 kmHigh 30.5°C · Low 24.9°C · 148 mm rain
- Sandakan in MayMalaysia · 227 kmHigh 30.3°C · Low 24.9°C · 237 mm rain
- Lahad Datu in MayMalaysia · 271 kmHigh 29.6°C · Low 24.4°C · 177 mm rain
- Marudi in MayMalaysia · 278 kmHigh 31.1°C · Low 23.9°C · 238 mm rain
- Tawau in MayMalaysia · 279 kmHigh 29.3°C · Low 24.5°C · 216 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.