Weather in Kakamega in August

A good month. August is a solid month to be in Kakamega. You should expect rain on 28 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

August ranks 7 of 12 in Kakamega: past the worst of the year but short of January, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 28 of the month's 31 days, 6 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average August reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 28.1 °C and the coldest night fell to 12.4 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 50 mm — roughly 25% of the month's rain in one day.

August is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest August on record still delivered 404 mm against 99 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 201 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 3.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 81%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 23.8 °C in July, 24.1 here, 25.4 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

Kakamega sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.1 hours in August, against a range of just 0 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

An inland climate

Despite being inland, the year stays fairly even: 14.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 1563 m, altitude is doing as much work here as latitude: thinner air means fierce sun by day and heat that leaves the moment it sets.

How busy it gets

Shoulder. The value months — prices ease off and you get the place closer to itself.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

August in Kakamega versus nearby

If Kakamega is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nakuru is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 6 days less rain. Nairobi is a better bet in August — 2.7 °C warmer, 22 days less rain.

So: August works, with January the better month by 16 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Kakamega

See all twelve months in Kakamega, or where else to go in August.