Monthly Climate
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Best time to visit Christchurch

February is the best time to visit Christchurch for general sightseeing, with average highs of 22 °C and about 6 wet days. The comfortable season runs roughly December to March.

It depends what you are going for

One month rarely wins on everything. These are the best months on each measure taken on its own.

If you want Best month On that measure
Sightseeing and walking February comfort 92/100
A beach holiday February sea 17 °C
The least cloud May 56 % average cloud cover
The least rain February 40 mm
Warmth January 22 °C
Cooler weather July 10 °C

Ranked by comfort

# Month Comfort / 100 Avg high Wet days Beach
1 February 92 22 °C 6 56
2 January 89 22 °C 8 51
3 March 87 20 °C 7 44
4 December 85 20 °C 10 37
5 November 77 18 °C 10 25
6 April 74 17 °C 8 25
7 October 66 16 °C 11 16
8 May 62 14 °C 8 15
9 September 60 14 °C 9 13
10 August 50 11 °C 9 13
11 June 47 11 °C 9 12
12 July 46 10 °C 8 14

For a beach holiday

February scores highest, with a sea temperature of 17 °C and air temperatures around 22 °C. The sea never reaches 20 °C here.

Month Sea Air Sunshine Beach score
January 17 °C 22 °C 61 % 51
February 17 °C 22 °C 58 % 56
March 16 °C 20 °C 57 % 44
April 14 °C 17 °C 58 % 25
May 13 °C 14 °C 56 % 15
June 11 °C 11 °C 59 % 12
July 9.5 °C 10 °C 58 % 14
August 9.1 °C 11 °C 58 % 13
September 10 °C 14 °C 57 % 13
October 12 °C 16 °C 59 % 16
November 14 °C 18 °C 60 % 25
December 15 °C 20 °C 64 % 37

When to think twice

July scores lowest with about 8 wet days and highs near 10 °C. That does not make it a bad month — it depends entirely on what you are travelling for. The numbers are all here; the judgement is yours.

The full year

Month Avg high Rainfall Cloud
January 21.8 °C 53 mm 61 %
February 21.7 °C 40 mm 58 %
March 19.7 °C 44 mm 57 %
April 16.6 °C 51 mm 58 %
May 13.7 °C 49 mm 56 %
June 10.7 °C 60 mm 59 %
July 10.1 °C 53 mm 58 %
August 11.4 °C 53 mm 58 %
September 13.8 °C 49 mm 57 %
October 16.1 °C 57 mm 59 %
November 18.1 °C 55 mm 60 %
December 20.4 °C 60 mm 64 %

Data sources and method

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: comfort score, beach score, season boundaries. 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.