WeatherJourney.com

Kuala Lumpur weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends

Close to the equator in a valley sheltered by hill ranges, Kuala Lumpur runs a full tropical rainforest schedule: heat and downpours every month, with the Klang Valley ranking among Earth's most thunderstorm-prone spots. Kuala Lumpur weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, records and how the climate has changed since 1940.

Today vs average

+0.5°Chigh near average

32° / 26°Today
31° / 23°Average
see today in detail →

How it's changed

+2.3°Caverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–49340days above 30°C a year now (2016–2025) · 126 in the 1940sdays above 30°C · 126 in the 1940s+2.3°C vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →
Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 172 mmhigh 31°low 22°February, rain 160 mmhigh 32°low 23°March, rain 240 mmhigh 32°low 23°April, rain 273 mmhigh 32°low 24°May, rain 235 mmhigh 32°low 24°June, rain 160 mmhigh 31°low 23°July, rain 167 mmhigh 31°low 23°August, rain 199 mmhigh 31°low 23°September, rain 238 mmhigh 31°low 23°October, rain 287 mmhigh 31°low 23°November, rain 321 mmhigh 31°low 23°December, rain 249 mmhigh 30°low 23°wettest month November, 321 mm · 2,701 mm a yearsee month by month →

Right now

What it's doing today vs the historical average for this date.
Overcast

Right now

28.1°

35°feels like
87%humidity
26°dew point
2 km/hfrom N
UV index0.0
sunrise06:57sunset18:59day length12h 03m
TodayOvercast32°26°
MonPartly cloudy33°26°
TueOvercast33°26°
WedOvercast34°27°
ThuOvercast34°26°
FriOvercast32°26°
SatOvercast33°26°

On this date: October 18

Today (forecast)
32° / 26°
Average for October 18
31° / 23°

High near average · +0.5°C

  • Record high: 34.3° · 2017
  • Record low: 21.3° · 1941
  • One year ago: 32° / 24°

Every October 18 in history, coldest to hottest

▲ Daily highs▼ Daily lows

Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 18 on record (n = 87). Outlined dots are today's forecast.

Area we sample

Each city's history comes from one ERA5 grid cell, about 28 km across, shown by the dashed box. Near mountains or coasts, conditions can vary across the cell.

Location & data

Historical weather for Kuala Lumpur is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 3.14°N, 101.69°E, with daily records since 1940.

Coordinates
3.14°N, 101.69°E
Time zone
Asia/Kuala Lumpur
Period
1940–2026
Data source
ERA5 (ECMWF)

Last 30 days

31 of the last 31 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +2.0°C.

Each bar is one day, from morning low to afternoon high. Warm-colored bars are days whose mean ran above average; cool bars ran below. The dot inside the bar is the daily mean. The shaded band is the typical 10–90% range expected for that date. Average = the day's mean temperature averaged across every year of record (1940–2026) for that calendar date.

This date over the years

One dot per year, showing the mean temperature on this calendar date. Dots are warmer or cooler than the long-term average (dashed line); the shaded band is the typical 10–90% range, and the highlighted dot is today's forecast. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Weather by month

Average temperatures and rainfall for each month: a typical year, from the full record.

Climate overview

Kuala Lumpur sits near the Equator in the Klang Valley, protected to the east by the Titiwangsa Range and to the west from strong open-ocean winds by Sumatra. Its tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) means temperatures are uniformly hot year-round and rain falls in every month, though the northeast monsoon from October to March brings the most sustained heavy rainfall. The Klang Valley is one of the most thunderstorm-prone areas on Earth, with intense convective storms a frequent occurrence.

Heavy downpours frequently trigger flash flooding in the urban core, a recurring challenge as the city has expanded rapidly. During the drier months, the region is regularly affected by a haze produced by forest and peatland fires burning across Sumatra and Borneo; prevailing winds carry the smoke into the Klang Valley, at times severely reducing air quality and visibility for weeks.

The warmest month is May, with typical afternoon highs of 31.7°C and nights around 23.8°C. The coolest month is December, when afternoons reach about 30.4°C and overnight lows sit around 22.8°C.

The yearly total for Kuala Lumpur comes to about 2,701 mm; monthly amounts range from 160 mm in June up to 321 mm in November.

The record here starts in 1940, and since then the annual mean in Kuala Lumpur has climbed 2.3°C from the first ten years to the last ten. Days above 30°C have grown noticeably more frequent, from around 125 a year in the first decade to about 340 in the last.

Sources:en.wikipedia.orgbritannica.commet.gov.my

Climate graph (climograph)

May is the warmest month, December the coolest: a yearly swing of 1°C. Wettest month: November (~321 mm). Whole year averages ~2,701 mm of rain.

Bars = average monthly rainfall (right axis). Lines = average daily high and low (left axis). Average = each month's value averaged across every year of record (1940–2026).

Monthly wind

Average daily peak wind at 10 m, by month.

Monthly solar energy

Average daily incoming solar energy in megajoules per square metre: the record's own proxy for how sunny the month is.

Kuala Lumpur month by month: what to expect

Typical conditions for each month, averaged across the full record (since 1940). Daylight is the time from sunrise to sunset. Record high/low are the most extreme values in the ERA5 dataset (modelled since 1940), so they can differ from official weather-station readings.

MonthAvg highAvg lowRainDaylightRecord highRecord low
January30.8°22.4°172 mm11.8 h36.2° (2005)18.2° (1943)
February31.7°22.6°160 mm11.9 h37.4° (2020)18.5° (1977)
March31.9°23.1°240 mm12.0 h37.8° (2016)19.1° (1946)
April31.8°23.6°273 mm12.1 h36.5° (1998)20.7° (1943)
May31.7°23.8°235 mm12.1 h36.4° (1963)20.5° (1943)
June31.4°23.4°160 mm12.2 h35.6° (2025)18.5° (1940)
July31.1°23.0°167 mm12.2 h34.8° (2014)19.6° (1982)
August31.0°23.0°199 mm12.1 h34.6° (2020)19.7° (1956)
September30.9°23.0°238 mm12.0 h35.2° (2019)20.3° (1959)
October30.9°23.1°287 mm11.9 h35.5° (2017)20.8° (1961)
November30.6°23.1°321 mm11.9 h34.5° (2023)20.0° (1948)
December30.4°22.8°249 mm11.8 h34.2° (1979)18.9° (1943)

How it's changed

Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.

Climate stripes

Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +2.3°C.

Each vertical stripe is one year. Color encodes how much that year's annual mean differed from the long-term average. Average = each year's annual mean compared to the average of all years (1940–2026). cooler ← → warmer

Annual mean temperature

Long-term trend: +0.28°C per decade.

One point per year, showing the temperature averaged across the whole year. The dashed line is the least-squares long-term trend. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Seasonal warming

Dec–Feb is warming fastest: +0.29°C per decade.

Each faint line is one three-month period's average per year; the bold dashed line is its long-term trend. Different parts of the year often warm at different rates. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Hot days vs frost days

Days ≥ 30°C per year: 125.9 early in the record → 339.7 recently. Frost days: 0 → 0.

Thin lines are raw yearly counts; thick lines are the smoothed trend that removes year-to-year noise. The hot-day threshold is auto-picked per city so the line actually moves. Average = a centered 5-year rolling average to smooth weather noise.

Yearly hot & cold extremes

All-time high in 2016, all-time low in 1943: 37.8°C / 18.2°C.

One point per year: the single hottest and coldest day recorded that year.

Annual rainfall

~2,701 mm/year on average. Last decade: +10% vs that average. Long-term trend: +90 mm per decade.

One bar per year of total rainfall. Dashed line is the long-term average. Average = the average annual rainfall across every year of record (1940–2026).

Day-by-day grid

Each tiny square is one calendar day across the full record, about 30,000 days per city. Use the mode switch above the chart: Anomaly colors each day by how far it ran from the historical average for that date (red = warmer, blue = cooler), Daily mean temp shows the absolute mean temperature for the day (useful to see seasons and heatwaves), and Precipitation shows daily rainfall (useful to spot wet/dry seasons and droughts). Average = the long-term average for that calendar date (1940–2026).

Frequently asked questions about Kuala Lumpur

Which is the warmest month in Kuala Lumpur?
On long-term average, the warmest month in Kuala Lumpur is May (mean daily temperature of about 27.1°C) and the coolest is December (about 25.9°C).
How does today's temperature in Kuala Lumpur compare to the historical average?
On October 18, 2026, Kuala Lumpur is forecast to reach a high of 31.6°C and a low of 25.7°C. The long-term average for this date (the full record since 1940) is a high of 31.1°C and a low of 23.1°C, so today's high is 0.5°C warmer than that average.
How much has Kuala Lumpur warmed since 1940?
Comparing the first decade of the record (1940–1949) with the most recent (2016–2025), the annual mean temperature in Kuala Lumpur is about 2.3°C warmer.
How much does it rain in Kuala Lumpur?
Kuala Lumpur receives about 2,701 mm of precipitation per year on long-term average, with November typically the wettest month.
What is the average temperature in Kuala Lumpur?
Over the full record (since 1940), the annual mean temperature in Kuala Lumpur is about 26.5°C. The warmest month is May and the coolest is December.
What are the average temperatures in Kuala Lumpur by month?
Average daily highs and lows for each month in Kuala Lumpur (°C, full record since 1940): January 31°/22°, February 32°/23°, March 32°/23°, April 32°/24°, May 32°/24°, June 31°/23°, July 31°/23°, August 31°/23°, September 31°/23°, October 31°/23°, November 31°/23°, December 30°/23°.

Weather in nearby cities