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Mombasa, Kenya's principal port, sits on an island and the surrounding mainland on the Indian Ocean coast in the southeast of the country, at approximately -4.04°S, 39.67°E. Its equatorial coastal position gives it a tropical wet-and-dry climate (Köppen Aw) — hot and humid year-round, cooled by ocean breezes — with two rainy seasons driven by the monsoon winds of the Indian Ocean.
There is no summer in the temperate sense: temperatures stay hot and steady, with daytime highs around 30–32°C and warm, humid nights near 23–25°C, tempered by sea breezes. The long rains fall from April to June, when heavy downpours are frequent and May is typically the wettest month; a shorter rainy season follows in November and December, driven by the shifting monsoon.
There is no true winter, but the drier, cooler stretch from June to September — during the southeast monsoon — brings slightly lower temperatures, breezier conditions and much less rain, with pleasant nights near 21–22°C. The hottest, most humid months come from January to March, between the two rainy seasons, before the long rains arrive.
Mombasa receives on the order of 1,000–1,200 mm of rain a year, delivered in two pulses — the long rains from April to June, with a strong May peak, and the short rains in November and December — while the June-to-September southeast monsoon is comparatively dry. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Mombasa's climate is governed by the Indian Ocean monsoons: the kaskazi from the northeast between November and March brings the hot, humid months, while the kusi from the southeast between June and September brings cooler, breezier, drier weather. These same winds carried the dhow trade along the Swahili coast for centuries.
To follow any single measurement in Mombasa more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.