Kenya
Weather locations in Kenya
Choose a location in Kenya to view its available forecast products.
Kenya illustrated weather map
10 mapped locations
Only locations with a verified coordinate are marked. The complete location list is below.
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Climate of Kenya
Country climate guideKenya straddles the equator but has three main climate zones rather than one, because highlands cut across the country and the Indian Ocean monsoon wraps around the coast. The lowlands from the coast to Lake Turkana are hot and semi-arid; the central highlands around Nairobi and the Rift Valley wall are cool and often misty; and north-eastern Kenya is genuine desert. Elevation, not latitude, decides most of the weather.
Main climate types
Kenya's zones follow a neat pattern from the wetter Somali and Indian Ocean side towards the drier north-west. The coast has a tropical semi-arid to savanna climate with two rainy seasons; the central highlands have an equatorial highland climate with bimodal rainfall; the Rift Valley and the Lake Turkana basin are hot semi-arid or desert. Rainfall rises sharply with altitude, and the western slopes of Mount Kenya, the Aberdares and the country above Kericho can take over 2,000 mm a year, while the driest parts near Turkana receive under 300 mm.
Temperatures
Mean monthly temperatures in Nairobi, at nearly 1,800 metres, stay around 19 or 20 °C for most of the year, with cool nights near 13 °C. Mombasa averages about 26 °C in both January and July, but the humidity makes the two months feel very different. In the lowlands around Garissa and the southern Rift, maximums exceed 35 °C for months at a time in the hot season.
Rainfall
Kenya has a bimodal rainfall calendar: the long rains fall from roughly March to May, when the sun has moved south over the equator, and the short rains come from October to December. The northern and eastern lowlands get little or none of the long rains. The country is prone to both drought and flooding, and several of the worst famine years of the twentieth century followed failed long rains.
When to go
The dry seasons give the best wildlife viewing: a long dry season from June to October and a shorter one from January to February, when game concentrates around water. The long rains make some roads difficult but bring the landscape to life and the best birdwatching. Snow and ice lie on the summit of Mount Kenya and on Mount Elgon, which is why equatorial peaks carry glaciers.