Weather in Nairobi in December

A good month. December works. It is not the peak, but nothing about it fights you. You should expect rain on 15 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

December ranks 8 of 12 in Nairobi: past the worst of the year but short of July, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 15 wet days but only 1 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest December day reached 30.8 °C and the coldest night fell to 10.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 33 mm — roughly 51% of the month's rain in one day.

December is moderately variable: 10 mm in the driest year against 182 mm in the wettest, around an average of 65 mm. Roughly two Decembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 12.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 71%.

How December sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 26.8 °C in November, 26.5 here, 27.8 in January. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: January brings 6 days less of it, so pushing the dates later buys drier weather.

Daylight in December

Nairobi sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.2 hours in December, against a range of just 0.2 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: 16.9 °C between the year's warmest afternoons and coldest nights. At 1684 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.

December in Nairobi versus nearby

If Nairobi 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, 1 day more rain. Kakamega is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain.

So: December is a compromise. July is 19 points better and is what Nairobi 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 Nairobi

See all twelve months in Nairobi, or where else to go in December.