Tarawa climate

Name: Tarawa
Address: KI

Tarawa is warmest in September, with average highs of 28 °C, and coldest in March, when nights average 26 °C. March is the wettest month (231 mm) and September the driest (90 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Tarawa averages 1,808 mm of rain and 365 days above 25 °C.

Kiribati · population 40,311 · 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 September 28 °C
Coldest month March 26 °C
Driest month September 90 mm
Wettest month March 231 mm
Least cloud September 53 % cloud
Hottest on record July 30 °C
Coldest on record March 24 °C
Warmest sea July 29 °C

What to expectTarawa through the year

Tarawa changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 28 and 28 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 365 days a year reach 25 °C, 0 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 30 °C, in July.

Rain is strongly seasonal. March averages 231 mm against 90 mm in September — 2.6 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Tarawa is warmest in July at 29 °C and coldest in February at 28 °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	27.8 °C	211 mm	72 %
February	27.6 °C	160 mm	69 %
March	27.6 °C	231 mm	67 %
April	27.8 °C	203 mm	67 %
May	28.0 °C	145 mm	60 %
June	28.1 °C	139 mm	60 %
July	28.0 °C	141 mm	58 %
August	28.0 °C	111 mm	55 %
September	28.1 °C	90 mm	53 %
October	28.1 °C	92 mm	55 %
November	28.1 °C	96 mm	61 %
December	27.9 °C	189 mm	68 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C
January	27.8 °C	26.3 °C	27.1 °C	29.8 °C	24.6 °C	31
February	27.6 °C	26.2 °C	27.0 °C	29.9 °C	24.5 °C	28
March	27.6 °C	26.1 °C	26.9 °C	29.7 °C	24.4 °C	31
April	27.8 °C	26.2 °C	27.0 °C	29.3 °C	24.6 °C	30
May	28.0 °C	26.4 °C	27.3 °C	29.3 °C	24.7 °C	31
June	28.1 °C	26.5 °C	27.3 °C	29.9 °C	24.8 °C	30
July	28.0 °C	26.4 °C	27.2 °C	30.1 °C	24.7 °C	31
August	28.0 °C	26.5 °C	27.3 °C	29.7 °C	24.7 °C	31
September	28.1 °C	26.6 °C	27.4 °C	29.9 °C	24.8 °C	30
October	28.1 °C	26.6 °C	27.4 °C	29.9 °C	24.7 °C	31
November	28.1 °C	26.6 °C	27.4 °C	29.8 °C	24.4 °C	30
December	27.9 °C	26.4 °C	27.3 °C	29.9 °C	24.4 °C	31

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	211 mm	17	12 h/day	72 %	81 %	25 km/h	28.7 °C
February	160 mm	15	12 h/day	69 %	82 %	26 km/h	28.4 °C
March	231 mm	20	12 h/day	67 %	83 %	25 km/h	28.4 °C
April	203 mm	21	12 h/day	67 %	83 %	24 km/h	28.5 °C
May	145 mm	19	12 h/day	60 %	82 %	22 km/h	28.9 °C
June	139 mm	19	12 h/day	60 %	81 %	21 km/h	29.1 °C
July	141 mm	18	12 h/day	58 %	80 %	21 km/h	29.3 °C
August	111 mm	16	12 h/day	55 %	79 %	21 km/h	29.3 °C
September	90 mm	13	12 h/day	53 %	78 %	22 km/h	29.2 °C
October	92 mm	12	12 h/day	55 %	78 %	21 km/h	29.1 °C
November	96 mm	12	12 h/day	61 %	78 %	22 km/h	29.1 °C
December	189 mm	17	12 h/day	68 %	81 %	24 km/h	28.9 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Tarawa.

QuestionsCommon questions about Tarawa’s climate

When is the best time to visit Tarawa?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. February, March, April sit closest to 20 °C on average, September is the warmest month and September the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Tarawa get?

In September, the warmest month, daily highs average 28 °C. About 0 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 30 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 26 °C in March, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Tarawa?

March, averaging 231 mm over 20 days with rain. The driest month is September with 90 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,808 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 Tarawa 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
Data point: 1.328°, 172.977° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

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.