The climate in Malaysia

Climate zone: tropics

High humidity and hot temperatures make the weather in Malaysia pleasant at times but also tropical humid. It is warm to hot all year round, inviting bathing at average water temperatures of 29 degrees. The warmest and rainiest part of the country is Putrajaya. The coldest is Kelantan. Due to less rain, the best time for traveling is in February. Most precipitation falls from October to December.

Temperature records of the last 63 years

The hottest temperature measured from 1960 to January 2023 was reported by the Kuala Lumpur Airport weather station. In October 2019, the record temperature of 39.0 °C was reported here. The hottest summer from July to September, based on all 16 weather stations in Malaysia , was recorded in 2019 with an average temperature of 27.9 °C. This average temperature will normally be measured every four to six hours, thus also including the nights. Normally, this value is 27.2 degrees Celsius. The average maximum daily temperature at that time was 32.5 °C.

The coldest day in these 63 years was reported by the Kota Bharu weather station. Here the temperature dropped to 12.8 °C in February 1999. Kota Bharu lies at an altitude of five meters above sea level. The coldest winter (January to March) was in 1976 with an average temperature of 25.5 °C. In Malaysia, it is usual to have about 1.3 degrees more at 26.8 °C for this three-month period.

The most precipitation fell in December 2014. With 58.7 mm per day, the Kuantan weather station recorded the highest monthly average of the last 63 years. Incidentally, the region with the most rainfall for the whole year is around Kuching. The driest region is near Sitiawan.

Long-term development of temperatures from 1992 - 2022

In contrast to single record values, long-term development cannot simply be brought about by all weather stations in the country. Both the number and the locations are constantly changing. An average value would give a distorted result. If several measuring stations in particularly cold mountain or coastal regions are added in one year, the average would decrease as a result of this alone. If a station fails during the summer or winter months, it does not provide any values and distorts the average again. The subsequent long-term development was therefore reduced to only 11 measuring points in order to have comparable data over as long a period as possible.

In the years 1992 to 2022, there were only these 11 weather stations in the whole country, which reported continuous temperature values. From these weather reports, we have created a long-term development that shows the monthly average temperatures. The hottest month in this entire period was May 1998 at 29.2 °C. January 1996 was the coldest month with an average temperature of 25.8 °C.

The average annual temperature was about 27.0 °C in the years after 1992 and about 27.5 °C in the last years before 2022. It has therefore increased only slightly by about 0.5 °C over the past 31 years. This trend only applies to the selected 11 weather stations in Malaysia. A considerably more comprehensive evaluation of global warming has been provided separately.

Data basis and methodology

The data from the individual measuring stations are based on the archives of the German Weather Service, individual values averaged and supplemented by own elements. In order to determine a representative national average, average values were first calculated for each part of the country, which were then summarized at the national level. Thus, if a disproportionate number of weather stations are located in a small area, their number does not affect the national average. There are 17 stations in Malaysia itself. In 7 cases, neighboring but nearby weather stations were also used to obtain more accurate values.