Nouméa climate
Nouméa is warmest in February, with average highs of 28 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 17 °C. March is the wettest month (191 mm) and October the driest (43 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.
Across a full year Nouméa averages 1,192 mm of rain and 189 days above 25 °C.
New Caledonia · population 93,060 · 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 February 28 °C
- Coldest month August 17 °C
- Driest month October 43 mm
- Wettest month March 191 mm
- Least cloud September 44 % cloud
- Hottest on record February 34 °C
- Coldest on record August 13 °C
- Warmest sea February 27 °C
What to expectNouméa through the year
Nouméa has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 22 °C in August to 28 °C in February, a swing of 6.3 °C in mean temperature across the year.
Counted across a normal year, 189 days a year reach 25 °C, 10 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 34 °C, in February.
Rain is strongly seasonal. March averages 191 mm against 43 mm in October — 4.4 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.
The sea off Nouméa is warmest in February at 27 °C and coldest in August at 22 °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 | 28.0 °C | 142 mm | 57 % |
| February | 28.3 °C | 160 mm | 61 % |
| March | 27.4 °C | 191 mm | 63 % |
| April | 25.9 °C | 126 mm | 57 % |
| May | 24.2 °C | 102 mm | 60 % |
| June | 22.7 °C | 81 mm | 59 % |
| July | 21.8 °C | 69 mm | 53 % |
| August | 21.8 °C | 66 mm | 50 % |
| September | 23.2 °C | 50 mm | 44 % |
| October | 24.8 °C | 43 mm | 47 % |
| November | 26.2 °C | 70 mm | 49 % |
| December | 27.6 °C | 94 mm | 52 % |
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 | 28.0 °C | 22.9 °C | 25.1 °C | 32.0 °C | 18.5 °C | 30 | 3 | 0 |
| February | 28.3 °C | 23.6 °C | 25.5 °C | 33.5 °C | 18.1 °C | 28 | 3 | 0 |
| March | 27.4 °C | 23.1 °C | 24.9 °C | 31.7 °C | 19.2 °C | 30 | 1 | 0 |
| April | 25.9 °C | 21.8 °C | 23.5 °C | 29.9 °C | 16.7 °C | 21 | 0 | 0 |
| May | 24.2 °C | 20.1 °C | 21.8 °C | 29.3 °C | 14.6 °C | 8 | 0 | 0 |
| June | 22.7 °C | 18.7 °C | 20.4 °C | 27.1 °C | 14.0 °C | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 21.8 °C | 17.5 °C | 19.4 °C | 27.2 °C | 13.5 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 21.8 °C | 17.1 °C | 19.2 °C | 26.6 °C | 12.5 °C | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 23.2 °C | 17.7 °C | 20.2 °C | 29.8 °C | 13.3 °C | 5 | 0 | 0 |
| October | 24.8 °C | 19.1 °C | 21.6 °C | 29.4 °C | 14.7 °C | 14 | 0 | 0 |
| November | 26.2 °C | 20.4 °C | 23.0 °C | 31.0 °C | 16.1 °C | 22 | 1 | 0 |
| December | 27.6 °C | 22.0 °C | 24.4 °C | 32.1 °C | 17.3 °C | 29 | 2 | 0 |
Rain, sun and wind month by month
| Month | Rainfall | Wet days | Daylight | Cloud cover | Humidity | Wind | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 142 mm | 15 | 13 h/day | 57 % | 81 % | 22 km/h | 26.2 °C |
| February | 160 mm | 17 | 13 h/day | 61 % | 83 % | 21 km/h | 26.9 °C |
| March | 191 mm | 18 | 12 h/day | 63 % | 84 % | 22 km/h | 26.6 °C |
| April | 126 mm | 15 | 12 h/day | 57 % | 82 % | 21 km/h | 25.8 °C |
| May | 102 mm | 11 | 11 h/day | 60 % | 80 % | 20 km/h | 24.9 °C |
| June | 81 mm | 9 | 11 h/day | 59 % | 79 % | 21 km/h | 23.7 °C |
| July | 69 mm | 9 | 11 h/day | 53 % | 77 % | 21 km/h | 22.8 °C |
| August | 66 mm | 8 | 11 h/day | 50 % | 76 % | 20 km/h | 22.3 °C |
| September | 50 mm | 7 | 12 h/day | 44 % | 76 % | 20 km/h | 22.5 °C |
| October | 43 mm | 7 | 13 h/day | 47 % | 76 % | 21 km/h | 23.3 °C |
| November | 70 mm | 8 | 13 h/day | 49 % | 75 % | 22 km/h | 24.2 °C |
| December | 94 mm | 12 | 13 h/day | 52 % | 78 % | 21 km/h | 25.4 °C |
Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Nouméa.
QuestionsCommon questions about Nouméa’s climate
When is the best time to visit Nouméa?
That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. June, July, September sit closest to 20 °C on average, February is the warmest month and October the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.
How hot does Nouméa get?
In February, the warmest month, daily highs average 28 °C. About 10 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 34 °C.
How cold does it get in winter?
Nights average 17 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.
Which month is wettest in Nouméa?
March, averaging 191 mm over 18 days with rain. The driest month is October with 43 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,192 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 Nouméa 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
- -22.274°, 166.449° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
- 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.