Weather in Nairobi in February

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, February is the one. Highs average 29.2 °C, lows 14.4 °C, and rain falls on 7 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

February ranks 6 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.

Rain on 7 days, 0 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 29.2 °C days and 14.4 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 10 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 35.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 10.7 °C.

February is moderately variable: 5 mm in the driest year against 66 mm in the wettest, around an average of 29 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 12.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 59%.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 27.8 °C in January, 29.2 here, 29 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much. Rain is the thing that moves: March brings 6 days more of it, so the earlier half of a flexible trip is the safer half.

Daylight in February

Nairobi sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.2 hours in February, 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. Within February itself the daily swing is 14.7 °C, so mornings and afternoons need different clothes.

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.

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

So: February works, with July the better month by 15 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Nairobi

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