Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, sits in a valley on the west coast of the Malay Peninsula, ringed by hills and just 3 degrees north of the equator at approximately 3.14°N, 101.69°E. It has a tropical rainforest climate (Köppen Af) — hot, humid and rainy year-round with almost no seasonal change — where every month is warm and wet, and the year is marked only by relatively wetter and drier spells rather than distinct seasons.

There is no summer or winter in the temperate sense: temperatures are remarkably constant, with daytime highs around 32–33°C and warm, humid nights near 23–24°C every month of the year. Humidity is consistently high, around 80%, so the heat feels heavy, intensified in the city centre by the urban heat-island effect. The typical daily rhythm is a hot, bright morning giving way to towering afternoon or evening thunderstorms.

Nor is there a true winter, but the least rainy, relatively more comfortable stretch comes around June to August, when downpours are a little less frequent, along with a secondary drier spell in January and February. Even these 'drier' months still see well over 100 mm of rain, so no month is genuinely dry; the difference is one of degree, not the presence or absence of rain.

Kuala Lumpur is very wet, receiving on the order of 2,400–2,600 mm of rain a year, with two rainfall peaks tied to the monsoons: the heaviest around October to December (November is typically the wettest month) and a secondary peak around April and May. The rain comes mostly as intense but short-lived afternoon and evening thunderstorms, which can cause flash flooding. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.

Because it sits almost on the equator, Kuala Lumpur has no dry season and only a blurred distinction between the northeast and southwest monsoons, so thunderstorms can erupt on almost any day of the year. The dramatic, near-daily late-day downpours are the defining feature of its weather, and in some years the smoke haze drifting over from agricultural fires on nearby Sumatra can blanket the city, especially around August and September.

To follow any single measurement in Kuala Lumpur 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.