Port Moresby climate

Name: Port Moresby
Address: PG

Port Moresby is warmest in November, with average highs of 31 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 23 °C. March is the wettest month (282 mm) and July the driest (31 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Port Moresby averages 1,475 mm of rain and 364 days above 25 °C.

Papua New Guinea · population 283,733 · 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 November 31 °C
Coldest month August 23 °C
Driest month July 31 mm
Wettest month March 282 mm
Least cloud August 65 % cloud
Hottest on record November 36 °C
Coldest on record May 16 °C
Warmest sea January 29 °C

What to expectPort Moresby through the year

Port Moresby changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 29 and 31 °C, so no month stands out as a season in the way it would further from the equator.

Counted across a normal year, 364 days a year reach 25 °C, 160 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C, in November.

Rain is strongly seasonal. March averages 282 mm against 31 mm in July — 9.0 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Port Moresby is warmest in January at 29 °C and coldest in August at 25 °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	30.3 °C	234 mm	88 %
February	30.1 °C	201 mm	89 %
March	29.5 °C	282 mm	90 %
April	29.4 °C	180 mm	83 %
May	29.3 °C	81 mm	72 %
June	29.0 °C	50 mm	69 %
July	28.6 °C	31 mm	66 %
August	29.1 °C	34 mm	65 %
September	30.1 °C	45 mm	68 %
October	30.8 °C	61 mm	69 %
November	31.0 °C	106 mm	73 %
December	30.7 °C	170 mm	81 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	30.3 °C	23.8 °C	26.7 °C	35.0 °C	20.6 °C	31	18
February	30.1 °C	23.8 °C	26.5 °C	34.4 °C	20.2 °C	28	15
March	29.5 °C	23.4 °C	26.1 °C	33.0 °C	19.2 °C	31	11
April	29.4 °C	23.5 °C	26.1 °C	32.3 °C	18.9 °C	30	7
May	29.3 °C	23.5 °C	26.1 °C	32.5 °C	15.6 °C	31	7
June	29.0 °C	23.3 °C	25.7 °C	31.9 °C	18.3 °C	30	5
July	28.6 °C	22.8 °C	25.2 °C	33.0 °C	17.7 °C	31	5
August	29.1 °C	22.6 °C	25.3 °C	33.7 °C	15.7 °C	31	9
September	30.1 °C	23.0 °C	26.0 °C	33.6 °C	16.2 °C	30	16
October	30.8 °C	23.4 °C	26.6 °C	34.9 °C	17.8 °C	31	22
November	31.0 °C	23.7 °C	27.0 °C	35.7 °C	18.3 °C	30	22
December	30.7 °C	23.9 °C	27.0 °C	35.0 °C	18.4 °C	31	22

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	234 mm	22	13 h/day	88 %	82 %	15 km/h	29.3 °C
February	201 mm	21	12 h/day	89 %	83 %	16 km/h	29.3 °C
March	282 mm	24	12 h/day	90 %	86 %	14 km/h	29.2 °C
April	180 mm	20	12 h/day	83 %	86 %	13 km/h	28.7 °C
May	81 mm	12	12 h/day	72 %	84 %	17 km/h	27.6 °C
June	50 mm	8	12 h/day	69 %	82 %	19 km/h	26.5 °C
July	31 mm	5	12 h/day	66 %	79 %	22 km/h	25.6 °C
August	34 mm	6	12 h/day	65 %	77 %	22 km/h	25.2 °C
September	45 mm	7	12 h/day	68 %	77 %	20 km/h	25.3 °C
October	61 mm	10	12 h/day	69 %	78 %	18 km/h	26.1 °C
November	106 mm	14	13 h/day	73 %	80 %	15 km/h	27.4 °C
December	170 mm	21	13 h/day	81 %	82 %	13 km/h	28.9 °C

Where Port Moresby ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Warmest sea temperatures in the world in February	15th of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in the world in January	17th of 50	29 °C

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Port Moresby.

QuestionsCommon questions about Port Moresby’s climate

When is the best time to visit Port Moresby?

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

How hot does Port Moresby get?

In November, the warmest month, daily highs average 31 °C. About 160 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 36 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 23 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Port Moresby?

March, averaging 282 mm over 24 days with rain. The driest month is July with 31 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,475 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 Port Moresby 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: -9.477°, 147.151° (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.