Climate averages 1991–2020
Sandakan weather
in January.
A warm, very wet month: the coolest and the 11th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a warm month in Sandakan: daytime highs average 27.8°C and nights cool to about 23.8°C. By daytime temperature it is the coolest month of the year.
Expect about 287 mm of rain on roughly 28 days, which makes January a very wet month (the 11th 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 Lahad Datu (94 km away). In January its highs average 28.2°C, about as warm as Sandakan, with 160 mm of rain.
Among the 72 cities listed in Malaysia, Sandakan ranks 66th of 72 for the warmest January highs and 68th of 72 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 72 cities is 28.9°C; Sandakan is 1.0°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs rise by 0.3°C to 28.1°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 287 mm to 217 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
Sandakan climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 27.8°C23.8°C | 23.8°C | 287 | 27.8 | 11.812 h |
| February | 28.1°C23.8°C | 23.8°C | 217 | 23.8 | 11.912 h |
| March | 29.0°C24.1°C | 24.1°C | 197 | 23.5 | 12.112 h |
| April | 30.0°C24.6°C | 24.6°C | 169 | 21.9 | 12.212 h |
| May | 30.3°C24.9°C | 24.9°C | 237 | 26.9 | 12.412 h |
| June | 30.1°C24.6°C | 24.6°C | 244 | 26.3 | 12.512 h |
| July | 30.0°C24.4°C | 24.4°C | 222 | 26.0 | 12.412 h |
| August | 30.2°C24.5°C | 24.5°C | 225 | 26.6 | 12.312 h |
| September | 30.1°C24.4°C | 24.4°C | 243 | 26.8 | 12.212 h |
| October | 29.5°C24.2°C | 24.2°C | 282 | 29.0 | 12.012 h |
| November | 28.9°C24.1°C | 24.1°C | 278 | 28.5 | 11.912 h |
| December | 28.5°C24.0°C | 24.0°C | 289 | 29.5 | 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
- Lahad Datu in JanuaryMalaysia · 94 kmHigh 28.2°C · Low 23.5°C · 160 mm rain
- Tawau in JanuaryMalaysia · 179 kmHigh 28.9°C · Low 24.1°C · 156 mm rain
- Keningau in JanuaryMalaysia · 224 kmHigh 28.7°C · Low 21.3°C · 158 mm rain
- Kota Kinabalu in JanuaryMalaysia · 227 kmHigh 28.1°C · Low 23.6°C · 153 mm rain
- Putatan in JanuaryMalaysia · 228 kmHigh 28.2°C · Low 23.3°C · 153 mm rain
- Tarakan in JanuaryIndonesia · 287 kmHigh 27.5°C · Low 24.6°C · 263 mm rain
- Jolo in JanuaryPhilippines · 320 kmHigh 27.4°C · Low 25.6°C · 89 mm rain
- Labuan in JanuaryMalaysia · 324 kmHigh 28.4°C · Low 24.7°C · 131 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 Sandakan) is explained once on the Sandakan year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.