Tawau, Malaysia climate

Af Tropical rainforest

Tawau has a remarkably steady tropical climate (Tropical rainforest, Köppen Af). The hottest month is May with an average daily high near 33°C, while the coldest is January averaging around 24°C at night. Around 3225 mm of precipitation falls each year, peaking in January (458 mm) and easing off in May (144 mm).

☀️ All year

Hot

Daytime highs near 33°C most of the year.

About 109 days a year above 32 °C

🌙 Nights

Stays warm

Even the coolest nights stay near 24°C.

🌧️ Rain

Very wet

About 3225 mm of rain a year.

Wettest in January

⛅ Sky & trend

Often cloudy

Cloudy skies much of the year.

+0.3 °C vs 50 years ago

Temperature & precipitation

Daily high–low temperature range with the monthly average, plus monthly precipitation · 1991–2020 normals · hover a month for the exact figures

Clear vs cloudy days

Share of days each month that are clear, partly cloudy or cloudy · 1991–2020 · hover a month for the day counts

Tawau climate normals (1991–2020)

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg high (°C)	30	30	31	32	33	33	32	33	32	32	31	30
Avg temp (°C)	27	27	27	28	29	28	28	28	28	28	27	27
Avg low (°C)	24	24	24	25	25	24	24	24	24	24	24	24
Precipitation (mm)	458	306	209	157	144	183	221	249	246	297	326	429

Jan – Jun	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Avg high (°C)	30	30	31	32	33	33
Avg temp (°C)	27	27	27	28	29	28
Avg low (°C)	24	24	24	25	25	24
Precipitation (mm)	458	306	209	157	144	183

Jul – Dec	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg high (°C)	32	33	32	32	31	30
Avg temp (°C)	28	28	28	28	27	27
Avg low (°C)	24	24	24	24	24	24
Precipitation (mm)	221	249	246	297	326	429

How often — frequency of weather events

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days with measurable rain (days)	19	12	11	9	9	11	12	12	13	17	20	22
Days with high ≥ 32°C (days)	0.6	0.2	3	10	17	16	15	17	15	9	4	2

Jan – Jun	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Days with measurable rain (days)	19	12	11	9	9	11
Days with high ≥ 32°C (days)	0.6	0.2	3	10	17	16

Jul – Dec	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Days with measurable rain (days)	12	12	13	17	20	22
Days with high ≥ 32°C (days)	15	17	15	9	4	2

Sky & atmosphere

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cloud cover (%)	74	67	59	54	62	69	73	70	73	74	71	74
Clear days (≤ 30% cloud)	2	3	5	7	4	3	2	2	2	2	2	2
Partly cloudy days (30–70%)	9	11	14	14	15	11	11	11	10	10	11	10
Cloudy days (≥ 70%)	19	14	12	9	13	16	18	18	19	20	18	19
Relative humidity (%)	87	85	84	82	84	85	85	85	84	85	86	87
Wind speed (mph)	5.2	5.2	4.5	3.8	3.4	3.3	3.4	3.5	3.2	3.4	3.8	4.5

Jan – Jun	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Cloud cover (%)	74	67	59	54	62	69
Clear days (≤ 30% cloud)	2	3	5	7	4	3
Partly cloudy days (30–70%)	9	11	14	14	15	11
Cloudy days (≥ 70%)	19	14	12	9	13	16
Relative humidity (%)	87	85	84	82	84	85
Wind speed (mph)	5.2	5.2	4.5	3.8	3.4	3.3

Jul – Dec	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cloud cover (%)	73	70	73	74	71	74
Clear days (≤ 30% cloud)	2	2	2	2	2	2
Partly cloudy days (30–70%)	11	11	10	10	11	10
Cloudy days (≥ 70%)	18	18	19	20	18	19
Relative humidity (%)	85	85	84	85	86	87
Wind speed (mph)	3.4	3.5	3.2	3.4	3.8	4.5

Methodology & sources

Temperature & precipitation — 1991–2020 normals computed from 24 years of daily observations at Sandakan, a weather station, about 185 km from the city centre. The underlying daily records come from NOAA's global station network.

Cloud, humidity, wind & sunshine — modelled estimates from NASA POWER, NASA's satellite-and-reanalysis climatology. This is the standard global source for atmospheric variables, which are not measured at most weather stations.

How we build these numbers →