Avarua climate
Avarua is warmest in March, with average highs of 27 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 22 °C. January is the wettest month (217 mm) and June the driest (65 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.
Across a full year Avarua averages 1,569 mm of rain and 179 days above 25 °C.
Cook Islands · population 13,373 · 1991–2020 normals
Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month
- Warmest month March 27 °C
- Coldest month August 22 °C
- Driest month June 65 mm
- Wettest month January 217 mm
- Least cloud August 59 % cloud
- Hottest on record February 29 °C
- Coldest on record October 18 °C
- Warmest sea March 28 °C
What to expectAvarua through the year
Avarua has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 23 °C in August to 27 °C in March, a swing of 3.7 °C in mean temperature across the year.
Counted across a normal year, 179 days a year reach 25 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 29 °C, in February.
Rain is strongly seasonal. January averages 217 mm against 65 mm in June — 3.3 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.
The sea off Avarua is warmest in March at 28 °C and coldest in August at 24 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.
Month by month
| Month | Avg high | Rainfall | Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26.3 °C | 217 mm | 70 % |
| February | 26.8 °C | 183 mm | 69 % |
| March | 26.8 °C | 188 mm | 65 % |
| April | 26.2 °C | 151 mm | 63 % |
| May | 25.0 °C | 139 mm | 65 % |
| June | 24.1 °C | 65 mm | 62 % |
| July | 23.4 °C | 100 mm | 59 % |
| August | 23.1 °C | 71 mm | 59 % |
| September | 23.2 °C | 70 mm | 61 % |
| October | 23.7 °C | 89 mm | 64 % |
| November | 24.8 °C | 108 mm | 67 % |
| December | 25.6 °C | 190 mm | 68 % |
Temperature month by month
| Month | Avg high | Avg low | Mean | Record high | Record low | Days above 25 °C | Days above 30 °C | Days below 0 °C |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26.3 °C | 25.0 °C | 25.7 °C | 28.6 °C | 22.5 °C | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| February | 26.8 °C | 25.4 °C | 26.1 °C | 28.9 °C | 23.1 °C | 28 | 0 | 0 |
| March | 26.8 °C | 25.4 °C | 26.2 °C | 28.8 °C | 21.8 °C | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| April | 26.2 °C | 24.9 °C | 25.6 °C | 28.1 °C | 20.9 °C | 27 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 25.0 °C | 23.8 °C | 24.4 °C | 27.7 °C | 21.0 °C | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 24.1 °C | 22.9 °C | 23.5 °C | 26.7 °C | 19.0 °C | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 23.4 °C | 22.2 °C | 22.8 °C | 25.9 °C | 18.6 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 23.1 °C | 21.9 °C | 22.5 °C | 25.5 °C | 18.4 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 23.2 °C | 22.1 °C | 22.6 °C | 26.3 °C | 18.9 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 23.7 °C | 22.6 °C | 23.1 °C | 26.7 °C | 17.7 °C | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 24.8 °C | 23.7 °C | 24.2 °C | 27.5 °C | 19.7 °C | 13 | 0 | 0 |
| December | 25.6 °C | 24.4 °C | 25.0 °C | 28.0 °C | 21.4 °C | 23 | 0 | 0 |
Rain, sun and wind month by month
| Month | Rainfall | Wet days | Daylight | Cloud cover | Humidity | Wind | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 217 mm | 18 | 13 h/day | 70 % | 82 % | 28 km/h | 27.1 °C |
| February | 183 mm | 16 | 13 h/day | 69 % | 82 % | 29 km/h | 27.5 °C |
| March | 188 mm | 18 | 12 h/day | 65 % | 82 % | 27 km/h | 27.6 °C |
| April | 151 mm | 15 | 12 h/day | 63 % | 79 % | 30 km/h | 27.3 °C |
| May | 139 mm | 13 | 11 h/day | 65 % | 76 % | 30 km/h | 26.3 °C |
| June | 65 mm | 8 | 11 h/day | 62 % | 74 % | 30 km/h | 25.4 °C |
| July | 100 mm | 8 | 11 h/day | 59 % | 74 % | 31 km/h | 24.7 °C |
| August | 71 mm | 8 | 11 h/day | 59 % | 74 % | 30 km/h | 24.4 °C |
| September | 70 mm | 8 | 12 h/day | 61 % | 76 % | 31 km/h | 24.4 °C |
| October | 89 mm | 9 | 13 h/day | 64 % | 76 % | 30 km/h | 24.8 °C |
| November | 108 mm | 10 | 13 h/day | 67 % | 79 % | 28 km/h | 25.6 °C |
| December | 190 mm | 14 | 13 h/day | 68 % | 80 % | 30 km/h | 26.5 °C |
Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Avarua.
QuestionsCommon questions about Avarua’s climate
When is the best time to visit Avarua?
That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. July, August, September sit closest to 20 °C on average, March is the warmest month and June the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.
How hot does Avarua get?
In March, the warmest month, daily highs average 27 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 29 °C.
How cold does it get in winter?
Nights average 22 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.
Which month is wettest in Avarua?
January, averaging 217 mm over 18 days with rain. The driest month is June with 65 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,569 mm.
Are these figures a forecast?
No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Avarua rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.
Data sources and method
- ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
- Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
- NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
- GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0
- Normal period
- 1991–2020
- Dataset version
- era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
- Last processed
Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.
Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.