Mombasa climate

Name: Mombasa
Address: KE

Mombasa is warmest in February, with average highs of 32 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 22 °C. May is the wettest month (176 mm) and February the driest (20 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Mombasa averages 861 mm of rain and 361 days above 25 °C.

Kenya · population 1,208,333 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month February 32 °C
Coldest month August 22 °C
Driest month February 20 mm
Wettest month May 176 mm
Least cloud September 46 % cloud
Hottest on record February 36 °C
Coldest on record September 19 °C
Warmest sea April 29 °C

What to expectMombasa through the year

Mombasa has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 27 °C in August to 32 °C in February, a swing of 3.7 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 361 days a year reach 25 °C, 120 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C, in February.

Rain is strongly seasonal. May averages 176 mm against 20 mm in February — 8.8 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Mombasa is warmest in April at 29 °C and coldest in August at 25 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	30.9 °C	29 mm	56 %
February	31.6 °C	20 mm	55 %
March	31.4 °C	64 mm	57 %
April	29.6 °C	130 mm	65 %
May	27.8 °C	176 mm	63 %
June	26.9 °C	69 mm	57 %
July	26.3 °C	53 mm	57 %
August	26.6 °C	45 mm	52 %
September	27.6 °C	45 mm	46 %
October	28.5 °C	73 mm	54 %
November	29.4 °C	85 mm	57 %
December	30.4 °C	72 mm	52 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	30.9 °C	24.7 °C	27.2 °C	34.0 °C	22.4 °C	31	25
February	31.6 °C	24.7 °C	27.5 °C	36.2 °C	21.2 °C	28	26
March	31.4 °C	25.0 °C	27.8 °C	34.8 °C	22.8 °C	31	27
April	29.6 °C	24.6 °C	26.8 °C	33.8 °C	22.9 °C	30	11
May	27.8 °C	23.9 °C	25.6 °C	31.6 °C	21.7 °C	30	1
June	26.9 °C	23.2 °C	24.8 °C	29.4 °C	20.9 °C	29	0
July	26.3 °C	22.4 °C	24.1 °C	28.8 °C	20.3 °C	29	0
August	26.6 °C	22.2 °C	24.1 °C	29.0 °C	20.3 °C	30	0
September	27.6 °C	22.6 °C	24.7 °C	30.7 °C	18.5 °C	30	0
October	28.5 °C	23.2 °C	25.6 °C	32.0 °C	19.7 °C	31	2
November	29.4 °C	23.7 °C	26.3 °C	32.6 °C	21.0 °C	30	8
December	30.4 °C	24.4 °C	27.1 °C	33.7 °C	22.0 °C	31	20

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	29 mm	6	12 h/day	56 %	75 %	18 km/h	27.6 °C
February	20 mm	4	12 h/day	55 %	74 %	18 km/h	27.9 °C
March	64 mm	15	12 h/day	57 %	76 %	16 km/h	28.8 °C
April	130 mm	22	12 h/day	65 %	81 %	18 km/h	28.9 °C
May	176 mm	20	12 h/day	63 %	83 %	20 km/h	27.9 °C
June	69 mm	16	12 h/day	57 %	79 %	22 km/h	26.8 °C
July	53 mm	15	12 h/day	57 %	79 %	22 km/h	25.8 °C
August	45 mm	15	12 h/day	52 %	79 %	20 km/h	25.4 °C
September	45 mm	14	12 h/day	46 %	78 %	19 km/h	25.6 °C
October	73 mm	15	12 h/day	54 %	79 %	17 km/h	26.5 °C
November	85 mm	19	12 h/day	57 %	81 %	15 km/h	27.5 °C
December	72 mm	17	12 h/day	52 %	79 %	15 km/h	28.0 °C

How Mombasa compares

The same four figures for nearby destinations, so the numbers above have something to be read against. Summer high is the warmest month's average high; winter low is the coldest month's average low.

Destination	Summer high	Winter low	Rain per year	Days above 25 °C
Mombasa	32 °C	22 °C	861 mm	361
Jomvu · Kenya	33 °C	22 °C	857 mm	363
Matuga · Kenya	31 °C	22 °C	1,006 mm	341
Tanga · Tanzania	33 °C	21 °C	965 mm	363
Zanzibar · Tanzania	31 °C	22 °C	913 mm	364
Moshi · Tanzania	29 °C	16 °C	630 mm	232
Dar es Salaam · Tanzania	31 °C	22 °C	942 mm	364

Where Mombasa ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Best beach destinations in Africa in February	16thof 50	87/100
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in April	18thof 50	29 °C
Best beach destinations in Africa in January	21stof 50	87/100
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in March	23rdof 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in January	30thof 50	28 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Africa in February	32ndof 50	28 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Mombasa.

QuestionsCommon questions about Mombasa’s climate

When is the best time to visit Mombasa?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. July, August, September sit closest to 20 °C on average, February is the warmest month and February the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Mombasa get?

In February, the warmest month, daily highs average 32 °C. About 120 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 22 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Mombasa?

May, averaging 176 mm over 20 days with rain. The driest month is February with 20 mm. The year as a whole averages 861 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Mombasa rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.