Weather in Mombasa in March

A hard month. March is a hard month in Mombasa, and worth planning around. Daytime highs average 35.2 °C and the afternoon is not negotiable — outdoor plans move to early morning or evening.

March ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Mombasa's year. July is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 37 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 14 wet days but only 1 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Pack for heat management rather than style: shade, water, and a schedule that gives up on the middle of the day.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 17 days clear 35 °C, so a serious heatwave is normal rather than notable. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest March day reached 40.1 °C and the coldest night fell to 23 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 26 mm — roughly 42% of the month's rain in one day.

March is moderately variable: 7 mm in the driest year against 119 mm in the wettest, around an average of 62 mm. Roughly two Marchs in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 71%.

How March sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 36.6 °C in February, 35.2 here, 32.4 in April. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: April brings 10 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in March

Mombasa sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.1 hours in March, against a range of just 0.5 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29.2 °C in March — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. This is the warmest the water gets all year.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

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

March in Mombasa versus nearby

If Mombasa is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Zanzibar is a better bet in March — 5.3 °C cooler, 7 days more rain. Dar es Salaam is a better bet in March — 5.1 °C cooler, 9 days more rain.

So: March is a compromise. July is 36 points better and is what Mombasa is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Mombasa

See all twelve months in Mombasa, or where else to go in March.