Sandakan climate

Name: Sandakan
Address: MY

Sandakan is warmest in May, with average highs of 30 °C, and coldest in January, when nights average 24 °C. December is the wettest month (302 mm) and April the driest (175 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Sandakan averages 2,967 mm of rain and 364 days above 25 °C.

Malaysia · population 439,050 · 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 May 30 °C
Coldest month January 24 °C
Driest month April 175 mm
Wettest month December 302 mm
Least cloud April 68 % cloud
Hottest on record July 37 °C
Coldest on record February 21 °C
Warmest sea May 30 °C

What to expectSandakan through the year

Sandakan changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 28 and 30 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 364 days a year reach 25 °C, 108 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 37 °C, in July.

Rain is spread fairly evenly through the year, from 175 mm in April to 302 mm in December. There is no dry season to aim for.

The sea off Sandakan is warmest in May at 30 °C and coldest in January at 28 °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	27.8 °C	299 mm	83 %
February	28.0 °C	225 mm	78 %
March	28.9 °C	203 mm	71 %
April	29.9 °C	175 mm	68 %
May	30.2 °C	242 mm	77 %
June	30.1 °C	244 mm	82 %
July	30.0 °C	221 mm	83 %
August	30.2 °C	230 mm	81 %
September	30.1 °C	249 mm	83 %
October	29.5 °C	288 mm	85 %
November	28.9 °C	289 mm	84 %
December	28.4 °C	302 mm	85 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	27.8 °C	23.8 °C	25.6 °C	31.1 °C	22.1 °C	30	0
February	28.0 °C	23.9 °C	25.8 °C	30.9 °C	20.8 °C	28	0
March	28.9 °C	24.2 °C	26.4 °C	32.7 °C	21.0 °C	31	3
April	29.9 °C	24.6 °C	27.0 °C	33.1 °C	22.9 °C	30	11
May	30.2 °C	24.9 °C	27.1 °C	32.7 °C	23.5 °C	31	19
June	30.1 °C	24.7 °C	26.9 °C	35.1 °C	23.0 °C	30	16
July	30.0 °C	24.5 °C	26.7 °C	37.0 °C	23.0 °C	31	14
August	30.2 °C	24.5 °C	26.8 °C	33.1 °C	22.5 °C	31	18
September	30.1 °C	24.4 °C	26.7 °C	32.4 °C	23.0 °C	30	16
October	29.5 °C	24.3 °C	26.4 °C	32.2 °C	22.6 °C	31	8
November	28.9 °C	24.1 °C	26.2 °C	31.7 °C	22.6 °C	30	2
December	28.4 °C	24.0 °C	25.9 °C	33.1 °C	22.6 °C	31	1

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	299 mm	27	12 h/day	83 %	87 %	13 km/h	28.1 °C
February	225 mm	24	12 h/day	78 %	86 %	14 km/h	28.2 °C
March	203 mm	23	12 h/day	71 %	84 %	13 km/h	28.8 °C
April	175 mm	23	12 h/day	68 %	84 %	12 km/h	29.7 °C
May	242 mm	28	12 h/day	77 %	85 %	9.7 km/h	29.9 °C
June	244 mm	25	12 h/day	82 %	86 %	9.3 km/h	29.8 °C
July	221 mm	26	12 h/day	83 %	85 %	9.6 km/h	29.6 °C
August	230 mm	26	12 h/day	81 %	85 %	9.9 km/h	29.8 °C
September	249 mm	27	12 h/day	83 %	86 %	9.2 km/h	29.9 °C
October	288 mm	29	12 h/day	85 %	87 %	9.4 km/h	29.6 °C
November	289 mm	29	12 h/day	84 %	88 %	10 km/h	29.3 °C
December	302 mm	29	12 h/day	85 %	88 %	11 km/h	28.8 °C

How Sandakan 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
Sandakan	30 °C	24 °C	2,967 mm	364
Tawau · Malaysia	30 °C	24 °C	2,271 mm	365
Kota Kinabalu · Malaysia	29 °C	23 °C	2,615 mm	364
Tarakan · Indonesia	29 °C	25 °C	3,063 mm	365
Bandar Seri Begawan · Brunei	30 °C	24 °C	2,363 mm	365
Puerto Princesa · Philippines	30 °C	24 °C	2,139 mm	365
Zamboanga · Philippines	29 °C	25 °C	2,030 mm	365

Where Sandakan ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Warmest sea temperatures in Asia in September	20th of 50	30 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Asia in October	26th of 50	30 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in Asia year-round	28th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in the world year-round	29th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in the world in September	31st of 50	30 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in the world in October	36th of 50	30 °C

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

QuestionsCommon questions about Sandakan’s climate

When is the best time to visit Sandakan?

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

How hot does Sandakan get?

In May, the warmest month, daily highs average 30 °C. About 108 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 37 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 24 °C in January, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Sandakan?

December, averaging 302 mm over 29 days with rain. The driest month is April with 175 mm. The year as a whole averages 2,967 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 Sandakan 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
Data point: 5.840°, 118.118° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
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.