Weather in Nairobi in July

Prime time. July is about as good as Nairobi gets. Highs average 26 °C, lows 12.3 °C, and rain falls on 4 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

July is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is August, and the month at the other end of the year is April.

Rain falls on only 4 days, so an itinerary with no wet-weather fallback is a reasonable risk. 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 July reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest July day reached 29.9 °C and the coldest night fell to 8.7 °C.

July is moderately variable: 4 mm in the driest year against 51 mm in the wettest, around an average of 17 mm. Roughly two Julys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 8.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity is unremarkable at 64%.

How July sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 25.6 °C in June, 26 here, 26.8 in August. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in July

Nairobi sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.1 hours in July, 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

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, September is the trade worth considering — 10 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

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

July in Nairobi versus nearby

If Nairobi is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nakuru is the weaker option in July — 2.5 °C cooler, 16 days more rain. Kakamega is the weaker option in July — 2.2 °C cooler, 22 days more rain.

So: July is the answer for Nairobi. If it is booked out or priced out, August is the next best thing at 4 points behind, and April is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Nairobi

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