January 31° · ☂ 12 ★ February32° · ☂ 8 ★ March32° · ☂ 8 April 33° · ☂ 12 May 33° · ☂ 14 June 33° · ☂ 14 July 33° · ☂ 15 August 32° · ☂ 16 September 32° · ☂ 15 October 32° · ☂ 19 November 32° · ☂ 17 December 32° · ☂ 15 Kota Kinabalu in January:very hot, rain on many days Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia · Records from 2006 to 2025. Not a forecast.
Mean high 31° Hottest day 33.9° (2019)
Mean low 24° Coldest night 21° (2014)
Rain days 12 days 0-22 by year
Rainfall 235mm Daylight 11.8 → 11.9 h
Kota Kinabalu's 12 months i Best: February and March
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Trip types Beach Finewarm sea and frequent rain Sightseeing on foot Poorhot, frequent rain and muggy
Humidity 85% 31 muggy days
Clear days 1 day 22 overcast days
Mean wind 9 km/h Rarely windy
Sea temperature 28.7° 28.4-29.2° by year (last 6)
Sunrise / sunset (15th) 06:30 / 18:19 Daylight 11.8 → 11.9 h
Kota Kinabalu in January The northeast monsoon is at full strength, so rain comes and goes and the sea can turn rough on some days. Rainy days are clearly more frequent than in February, so treat island tours and sunset cruises as weather-dependent.
Days averaged 31°C and nights 24°C. Midday was for air conditioning, a cold drink or a long lunch out of the sun. With 12 rain days on average, a wet day was rarely more than a few days away. January was bone dry in 1 of 20 years, yet 2025 brought 22 rain days.
With 29 days above 30°C on average, most of the month felt like high summer. Wet days did not mess around: about 19 mm each, the kind of rain that drives you into a doorway.
Typhoons i 1 of the last 20 years had a tropical storm pass within 300 km this month.
Sonamu (2013), 281 km away tropical storm 1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 1 12
Date by date i Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Week
January 1 Friday 1 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 2 Saturday 2 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 31° 24° 1-2 rain on 53% of days 32° 24°
January 3 Sunday 3 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 32° 24° January 4 Monday 4 rain in 8 of 20 yrs 8/20 32° 24° January 5 Tuesday 5 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 6 Wednesday 6 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 32° 24° January 7 Thursday 7 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 8 Friday 8 rain in 8 of 20 yrs 8/20 32° 24° January 9 Saturday 9 rain in 4 of 20 yrs 4/20 32° 24° 3-9 rain on 44% of days 32° 24°
January 10 Sunday 10 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 11 Monday 11 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 12 Tuesday 12 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 24° January 13 Wednesday 13 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 31° 24° January 14 Thursday 14 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 31° 24° January 15 Friday 15 rain in 12 of 20 yrs 12/20 31° 23° January 16 Saturday 16 rain in 5 of 20 yrs 5/20 31° 23° 10-16 rain on 48% of days 31° 24°
January 17 Sunday 17 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 18 Monday 18 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 19 Tuesday 19 rain in 7 of 20 yrs 7/20 31° 23° January 20 Wednesday 20 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 24° January 21 Thursday 21 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 23° January 22 Friday 22 rain in 5 of 20 yrs 5/20 31° 23° January 23 Saturday 23 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° 17-23 rain on 34% of days 31° 23°
January 24 Sunday 24 rain in 8 of 20 yrs 8/20 31° 23° January 25 Monday 25 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 23° January 26 Tuesday 26 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 27 Wednesday 27 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 28 Thursday 28 rain in 7 of 20 yrs 7/20 31° 23° January 29 Friday 29 rain in 3 of 20 yrs 3/20 31° 23° January 30 Saturday 30 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° 24-30 rain on 32% of days 31° 23°
January 31 Sunday 31 rain in 5 of 20 yrs 5/20 31° 23°
January 31 rain on 25% of days 31° 23°
1-2 rain on 53% of days 32° 24° 3-9 rain on 44% of days 32° 24° 10-16 rain on 48% of days 31° 24° 17-23 rain on 34% of days 31° 23° 24-30 rain on 32% of days 31° 23° January 31 rain on 25% of days 31° 23°
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Week
January 1 Saturday 1 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 1 rain on 50% of days 32° 24°
January 2 Sunday 2 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 31° 24° January 3 Monday 3 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 32° 24° January 4 Tuesday 4 rain in 8 of 20 yrs 8/20 32° 24° January 5 Wednesday 5 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 6 Thursday 6 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 32° 24° January 7 Friday 7 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 8 Saturday 8 rain in 8 of 20 yrs 8/20 32° 24° 2-8 rain on 49% of days 32° 24°
January 9 Sunday 9 rain in 4 of 20 yrs 4/20 32° 24° January 10 Monday 10 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 11 Tuesday 11 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 32° 24° January 12 Wednesday 12 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 24° January 13 Thursday 13 rain in 10 of 20 yrs 10/20 31° 24° January 14 Friday 14 rain in 11 of 20 yrs 11/20 31° 24° January 15 Saturday 15 rain in 12 of 20 yrs 12/20 31° 23° 9-15 rain on 47% of days 31° 24°
January 16 Sunday 16 rain in 5 of 20 yrs 5/20 31° 23° January 17 Monday 17 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 18 Tuesday 18 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 19 Wednesday 19 rain in 7 of 20 yrs 7/20 31° 23° January 20 Thursday 20 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 24° January 21 Friday 21 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 23° January 22 Saturday 22 rain in 5 of 20 yrs 5/20 31° 23° 16-22 rain on 34% of days 31° 23°
January 23 Sunday 23 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 24 Monday 24 rain in 8 of 20 yrs 8/20 31° 23° January 25 Tuesday 25 rain in 9 of 20 yrs 9/20 31° 23° January 26 Wednesday 26 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 27 Thursday 27 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 28 Friday 28 rain in 7 of 20 yrs 7/20 31° 23° January 29 Saturday 29 rain in 3 of 20 yrs 3/20 31° 23° 23-29 rain on 32% of days 31° 23°
January 30 Sunday 30 rain in 6 of 20 yrs 6/20 31° 23° January 31 Monday 31 rain in 5 of 20 yrs 5/20 31° 23°
30-31 rain on 28% of days 31° 23°
January 1 rain on 50% of days 32° 24° 2-8 rain on 49% of days 32° 24° 9-15 rain on 47% of days 31° 24° 16-22 rain on 34% of days 31° 23° 23-29 rain on 32% of days 31° 23° 30-31 rain on 28% of days 31° 23°
Tap another date to change
2006 none
2007 none
2008 none
2009 6mm
2010 34mm
2011 29mm
2012 10mm
2013 2mm
2014 3mm
2015 16mm
2016 none
2017 none
2018 8mm
2019 15mm
2020 none
2021 4mm
2022 none
2023 2mm
2024 9mm
2025 none
Holidays in January (2027) January 1 New Year's DayJanuary 18 Birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. 1 Local public holiday or break (busier, pricier)1 US holidays (flights fill up)
Your trip dates, the past 20 years Trip dates January 1 (Fri) 2 (Sat) 3 (Sun) 4 (Mon) 5 (Tue) 6 (Wed) 7 (Thu) 8 (Fri) 9 (Sat) 10 (Sun) 11 (Mon) 12 (Tue) 13 (Wed) 14 (Thu) 15 (Fri) 16 (Sat) 17 (Sun) 18 (Mon) 19 (Tue) 20 (Wed) 21 (Thu) 22 (Fri) 23 (Sat) 24 (Sun) 25 (Mon) 26 (Tue) 27 (Wed) 28 (Thu) 29 (Fri) 30 (Sat) 31 (Sun) ~ January 1 (Fri) 2 (Sat) 3 (Sun) 4 (Mon) 5 (Tue) 6 (Wed) 7 (Thu) 8 (Fri) 9 (Sat) 10 (Sun) 11 (Mon) 12 (Tue) 13 (Wed) 14 (Thu) 15 (Fri) 16 (Sat) 17 (Sun) 18 (Mon) 19 (Tue) 20 (Wed) 21 (Thu) 22 (Fri) 23 (Sat) 24 (Sun) 25 (Mon) 26 (Tue) 27 (Wed) 28 (Thu) 29 (Fri) 30 (Sat) 31 (Sun) 1-7 8-14 15-21 22-end Whole month
You can also click two dates on the axis. Hover a cell to see that day's rain. By year Driest trips first
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Trip rain days Month rain days Tap a date to start, tap another to end. Each cell is that date in one year. '06 '07 '08 '09 '10 '11 '12 '13 '14 '15 '16 '17 '18 '19 '20 '21 '22 '23 '24 '25
of 20 10 Sun Pick January 10
10 11 Mon Pick January 11
10 13 Wed Pick January 13
10 14 Thu Pick January 14
11 15 Fri Pick January 15
12 Dates outside your trip are dimmed.
One row per year, one cell per day. 2016 had 0 rain days, 2025 had 22.
Kota Kinabalu through the year Month High Low Rain days Rainfall Sea January 31° 24° 12 days 235mm 29° February Good 32° 24° 8 days 107mm 28° March Good 32° 24° 8 days 155mm 28° April 33° 25° 12 days 161mm 30° May 33° 25° 14 days 288mm 31° June 33° 24° 14 days 296mm 30° July 33° 24° 15 days 316mm 30° August 32° 24° 16 days 345mm 30° September 32° 24° 15 days 406mm 30° October 32° 24° 19 days 464mm 30° November 32° 24° 17 days 321mm 30° December 32° 24° 15 days 330mm 30°
What to pack At 31°C by day and 24°C at night with humid air, sweat hardly dried. Quick-dry fabrics beat heavy cotton, and a spare top saved the evening.
Rainy days were mixed in often enough that shoes you cannot get wet are a bad bet.
Common questions Does it rain a lot in Kota Kinabalu in January? Over the past 20 years January averaged 12 rain days (1 mm or more) out of 31. Individual years ran from 0 in the driest to 22 in the wettest.
What should I wear in Kota Kinabalu in January? Days averaged 31°C and nights 24°C. Pack an umbrella, sandals that can get wet, T-shirts, sunscreen plus a hat, a swimsuit, and insect repellent.
Can you swim in Kota Kinabalu in January? Sea surface temperature averaged 28.7°C in January, warm enough to stay in for a long swim. Year to year it ranged 28.4-29.2°C. Check local flags for waves and jellyfish on the day.
Is January a good time to visit Kota Kinabalu? On warmth and rain days alone, Kota Kinabalu's easiest months were February and March. January ranked 3 of 12, close to the top.
Is Kota Kinabalu humid in January? Mean relative humidity was 85%, with about 31 muggy days (dew point of 20°C or more) in the month.
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