Honiara climate
Honiara is warmest in December, with average highs of 29 °C, and coldest in August, when nights average 25 °C. January is the wettest month (355 mm) and June the driest (159 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.
Across a full year Honiara averages 3,091 mm of rain and 365 days above 25 °C.
Solomon Islands · population 56,298 · 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 December 29 °C
- Coldest month August 25 °C
- Driest month June 159 mm
- Wettest month January 355 mm
- Least cloud August 74 % cloud
- Hottest on record November 34 °C
- Coldest on record August 20 °C
- Warmest sea January 30 °C
What to expectHoniara through the year
Honiara changes little through the year. Average daily highs stay between 28 and 29 °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, 18 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 34 °C, in November.
Rain is strongly seasonal. January averages 355 mm against 159 mm in June — 2.2 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.
The sea off Honiara is warmest in January at 30 °C and coldest in August 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 | 29.2 °C | 355 mm | 86 % |
| February | 29.0 °C | 342 mm | 88 % |
| March | 29.0 °C | 355 mm | 85 % |
| April | 29.0 °C | 292 mm | 81 % |
| May | 28.8 °C | 210 mm | 80 % |
| June | 28.6 °C | 159 mm | 76 % |
| July | 28.3 °C | 180 mm | 77 % |
| August | 28.3 °C | 171 mm | 74 % |
| September | 28.6 °C | 186 mm | 75 % |
| October | 28.8 °C | 253 mm | 77 % |
| November | 29.1 °C | 260 mm | 80 % |
| December | 29.2 °C | 328 mm | 82 % |
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 | 29.2 °C | 25.1 °C | 26.9 °C | 32.2 °C | 21.9 °C | 31 | 4 | 0 |
| February | 29.0 °C | 25.1 °C | 26.8 °C | 33.3 °C | 21.4 °C | 28 | 3 | 0 |
| March | 29.0 °C | 25.0 °C | 26.7 °C | 31.8 °C | 21.6 °C | 31 | 2 | 0 |
| April | 29.0 °C | 25.0 °C | 26.7 °C | 30.6 °C | 21.4 °C | 30 | 1 | 0 |
| May | 28.8 °C | 25.1 °C | 26.7 °C | 30.8 °C | 21.3 °C | 31 | 1 | 0 |
| June | 28.6 °C | 25.1 °C | 26.5 °C | 31.2 °C | 21.1 °C | 30 | 0 | 0 |
| July | 28.3 °C | 24.8 °C | 26.2 °C | 30.7 °C | 20.7 °C | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| August | 28.3 °C | 24.7 °C | 26.1 °C | 30.6 °C | 20.4 °C | 31 | 0 | 0 |
| September | 28.6 °C | 24.8 °C | 26.4 °C | 30.5 °C | 21.2 °C | 30 | 1 | 0 |
| October | 28.8 °C | 24.8 °C | 26.5 °C | 32.0 °C | 20.9 °C | 31 | 1 | 0 |
| November | 29.1 °C | 24.9 °C | 26.7 °C | 34.0 °C | 21.6 °C | 30 | 2 | 0 |
| December | 29.2 °C | 25.0 °C | 26.9 °C | 31.9 °C | 22.0 °C | 31 | 3 | 0 |
Rain, sun and wind month by month
| Month | Rainfall | Wet days | Daylight | Cloud cover | Humidity | Wind | Sea temp |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 355 mm | 28 | 13 h/day | 86 % | 89 % | 13 km/h | 29.7 °C |
| February | 342 mm | 26 | 12 h/day | 88 % | 89 % | 14 km/h | 29.6 °C |
| March | 355 mm | 28 | 12 h/day | 85 % | 90 % | 13 km/h | 29.5 °C |
| April | 292 mm | 27 | 12 h/day | 81 % | 90 % | 12 km/h | 29.6 °C |
| May | 210 mm | 26 | 12 h/day | 80 % | 89 % | 13 km/h | 29.3 °C |
| June | 159 mm | 23 | 12 h/day | 76 % | 88 % | 15 km/h | 29.0 °C |
| July | 180 mm | 23 | 12 h/day | 77 % | 87 % | 16 km/h | 28.6 °C |
| August | 171 mm | 23 | 12 h/day | 74 % | 87 % | 16 km/h | 28.4 °C |
| September | 186 mm | 23 | 12 h/day | 75 % | 87 % | 15 km/h | 28.5 °C |
| October | 253 mm | 26 | 12 h/day | 77 % | 87 % | 14 km/h | 28.8 °C |
| November | 260 mm | 25 | 13 h/day | 80 % | 88 % | 12 km/h | 29.3 °C |
| December | 328 mm | 27 | 13 h/day | 82 % | 89 % | 12 km/h | 29.7 °C |
Where Honiara ranks
| Ranking | Position | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Warmest sea temperatures in the world in January | 2ndof 50 | 30 °C |
| Warmest sea temperatures in the world in February | 4thof 50 | 30 °C |
| Warmest sea temperatures in the world in December | 6thof 50 | 30 °C |
| Warmest sea temperatures in the world in March | 17thof 50 | 30 °C |
| Warmest sea temperatures in the world year-round | 50thof 50 | 29 °C |
Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Honiara.
QuestionsCommon questions about Honiara’s climate
When is the best time to visit Honiara?
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, December is the warmest month and June the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.
How hot does Honiara get?
In December, the warmest month, daily highs average 29 °C. About 18 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 25 °C in August, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.
Which month is wettest in Honiara?
January, averaging 355 mm over 28 days with rain. The driest month is June with 159 mm. The year as a whole averages 3,091 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 Honiara 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.