Weather in Kota Bharu in February

A good month. February works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. The heat itself is manageable at 28.2 °C, but 83% humidity is what you will actually feel.

February is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is March, and the month at the other end of the year is May.

Rain on 9 days, 1 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Natural fibres and a second shirt for the day. At 83% nothing dries, including you.

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 February reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 3.7 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 31 °C and the coldest night fell to 22.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 52 mm — roughly 83% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. February rainfall has ranged from 5 mm to 268 mm across the twenty years measured — a 263 mm spread around an average of 63 mm. The average is real but almost no individual February looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind is light at 9.7 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 83%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 27.6 °C in January, 28.2 here, 29.3 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain has already shifted: 8 days fewer than January had.

Daylight in February

Kota Bharu sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.9 hours in February, against a range of just 0.7 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 27.8 °C in February — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 30.5 °C in May and bottoms out at 27.7 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, March is the trade worth considering — 13 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

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

February in Kota Bharu versus nearby

If Kota Bharu is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Ipoh is the weaker option in February — 2.8 °C warmer, 7 days more rain. Kota Kuala Muda is the weaker option in February — 3 °C warmer, 1 day more rain.

So: February is the answer for Kota Bharu. If it is booked out or priced out, March is the next best thing at 13 points behind, and May is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Kota Bharu

See all twelve months in Kota Bharu, or where else to go in February.