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Honolulu weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends

Hawaii's island capital enjoys some of the gentlest weather anywhere: warm, sunny and remarkably even all year, cooled by the surrounding Pacific, with a wetter winter and a drier summer rather than true seasons. Honolulu weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, extremes and how the climate has changed since 1940.

Today vs average

+4.2°Fhigh above average

83° / 76°Today
79° / 76°Average
see today in detail →

How it's changed

+1.5°Faverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–49228days above 77°F a year now (2016–2025) · 158 in the 1940sdays above 77°F · 158 in the 1940s+1.5°F vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →
Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 2.8 incheshigh 74°low 72°February, rain 2.0 incheshigh 74°low 71°March, rain 2.2 incheshigh 74°low 71°April, rain 1.1 incheshigh 75°low 72°May, rain 0.8 incheshigh 76°low 74°June, rain 0.6 incheshigh 77°low 75°July, rain 0.6 incheshigh 78°low 76°August, rain 0.7 incheshigh 79°low 77°September, rain 0.7 incheshigh 79°low 77°October, rain 1.4 incheshigh 79°low 76°November, rain 2.2 incheshigh 77°low 75°December, rain 2.5 incheshigh 76°low 73°wettest month January, 2.8 inches · 17.5 inches a yearsee month by month →

Right now

What it's doing today vs the historical average for this date.
Partly cloudy

Right now

80.6°

83°feels like
71%humidity
70°dew point
14 mphfrom NE
UV index1.6
sunrise06:29sunset18:03day length11h 35m
MonPartly cloudy83°76°
TodayPartly cloudy83°76°
WedPartly cloudy83°75°
ThuPartly cloudy85°74°
FriPartly cloudy84°75°
SatOvercast85°75°
SunPartly cloudy84°75°

On this date: October 20

Today (forecast)
83° / 76°
Average for October 20
79° / 76°

High above average · +4.2°F

  • Highest since 1940: 82.0° · 2019
  • Lowest since 1940: 73.3° · 1955
  • One year ago: 80° / 78°

Every October 20 in history, coldest to hottest

▲ Daily highs▼ Daily lows

Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 20 on record (n = 86). Outlined dots are today's forecast.

Area we sample

Each city's history comes from one ERA5 grid cell, about 28 km across, shown by the dashed box. Near mountains or coasts, conditions can vary across the cell.

Location & data

Historical weather for Honolulu is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 21.31°N, 157.86°W, with daily records since 1940.

Coordinates
21.31°N, 157.86°W
Time zone
Pacific/Honolulu
Period
1940–2026
Data source
ERA5 (ECMWF)

Last 30 days

28 of the last 30 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +1.4°F.

Each bar is one day, from morning low to afternoon high. Warm-colored bars are days whose mean ran above average; cool bars ran below. The dot inside the bar is the daily mean. The shaded band is the typical 10–90% range expected for that date. Average = the day's mean temperature averaged across every year of record (1940–2026) for that calendar date.

This date over the years

One dot per year, showing the mean temperature on this calendar date. Dots are warmer or cooler than the long-term average (dashed line); the shaded band is the typical 10–90% range, and the highlighted dot is today's forecast. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Weather by month

Average temperatures and rainfall for each month: a typical year, from the full record.

Climate overview

Honolulu has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen BSh), unusually mild and even for the tropics. Sitting on the leeward side of Oahu, it lies in a rain shadow that keeps its summers mostly dry, while the surrounding Pacific holds temperatures within a very narrow band from one season to the next. Rather than hot and cold seasons, the year divides into a wetter winter and a drier summer.

Serious storms are rare. Hurricanes seldom make a direct hit (the last to strike near Honolulu was Hurricane Iniki in 1992), and tornadoes occur only about once every fifteen years. The bigger long-term pressures noted for the city are drought and rising sea levels rather than day-to-day extremes.

The year peaks in September, at around 79.3°F by mid-afternoon, with nights around 76.8°F. At the other extreme, February brings afternoon highs of about 74.0°F and typical overnight lows of 71.2°F.

Honolulu picks up roughly 17.5 inches a year, with a peak of 2.8 inches in January and as little as 0.6 inches in June.

Comparing the record's first decade with its most recent one, Honolulu now averages 1.5°F warmer than it did in the 1940s. Days above 77°F have grown noticeably more frequent, from around 160 a year in the first decade to about 230 in the last.

Sources:en.wikipedia.orgbritannica.comweather.gov

Climate graph (climograph)

September is the warmest month, February the coolest: a yearly swing of 6°F. Wettest month: January (~2.8 in). Whole year averages ~17.5 inches of rain.

Bars = average monthly rainfall (right axis). Lines = average daily high and low (left axis). Average = each month's value averaged across every year of record (1940–2026).

Monthly wind

Average daily peak wind at 10 m, by month.

Monthly solar energy

Average daily incoming solar energy in megajoules per square metre: the record's own proxy for how sunny the month is.

Honolulu month by month: what to expect

Typical conditions for each month, averaged across the full record (since 1940). Daylight is the time from sunrise to sunset. Highest and Lowest are the most extreme values in the ERA5 dataset (modelled since 1940), so they can differ from official weather-station readings.

MonthAvg highAvg lowRainDaylightHighestLowest
January74.5°71.8°2.8 in10.8 h77.9° (2021)62.8° (1985)
February74.0°71.2°2.0 in11.3 h77.7° (1981)62.9° (1962)
March74.0°71.4°2.2 in11.9 h77.7° (2023)64.2° (1955)
April74.8°72.3°1.1 in12.5 h78.7° (2016)65.5° (1973)
May76.1°73.6°0.8 in13.0 h80.1° (2019)67.3° (2017)
June77.5°75.1°0.6 in13.3 h81.2° (2019)69.1° (2011)
July78.3°75.9°0.6 in13.2 h82.1° (2015)72.4° (1975)
August79.1°76.7°0.7 in12.7 h83.7° (2015)72.8° (1955)
September79.3°76.8°0.7 in12.1 h84.2° (2015)71.8° (1956)
October78.8°76.3°1.4 in11.5 h82.2° (2019)71.3° (1956)
November77.3°74.9°2.2 in11.0 h81.7° (2019)65.7° (1972)
December75.6°73.1°2.5 in10.7 h79.3° (2019)62.3° (1988)

How it's changed

Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.

Climate stripes

Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +1.5°F.

Each vertical stripe is one year. Color encodes how much that year's annual mean differed from the long-term average. Average = each year's annual mean compared to the average of all years (1940–2026). cooler ← → warmer

Annual mean temperature

Long-term trend: +0.17°F per decade.

One point per year, showing the temperature averaged across the whole year. The dashed line is the least-squares long-term trend. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Seasonal warming

Dec–Feb is warming fastest: +0.18°F per decade.

Each faint line is one three-month period's average per year; the bold dashed line is its long-term trend. Different parts of the year often warm at different rates. Based on ERA5 reanalysis: modelled estimates, not station readings.

Hot days vs frost days

Days ≥ 77°F per year: 157.6 early in the record → 228.3 recently. Frost days: 0 → 0.

Thin lines are raw yearly counts; thick lines are the smoothed trend that removes year-to-year noise. The hot-day threshold is auto-picked per city so the line actually moves. Average = a centered 5-year rolling average to smooth weather noise.

Yearly hot & cold extremes

Hottest day since 1940 in 2015, coldest in 1988: 84.2°F / 62.3°F.

One point per year: the single hottest and coldest day recorded that year.

Annual rainfall

~17.5 in/year on average. Last decade: −20% vs that average. Long-term trend: −1.02 in per decade.

One bar per year of total rainfall. Dashed line is the long-term average. Average = the average annual rainfall across every year of record (1940–2026).

Day-by-day grid

Each tiny square is one calendar day across the full record, about 30,000 days per city. Use the mode switch above the chart: Anomaly colors each day by how far it ran from the historical average for that date (red = warmer, blue = cooler), Daily mean temp shows the absolute mean temperature for the day (useful to see seasons and heatwaves), and Precipitation shows daily rainfall (useful to spot wet/dry seasons and droughts). Average = the long-term average for that calendar date (1940–2026).

Frequently asked questions about Honolulu

Which is the warmest month in Honolulu?
On long-term average, the warmest month in Honolulu is September (mean daily temperature of about 78.0°F) and the coolest is February (about 72.5°F).
How does today's temperature in Honolulu compare to the historical average?
On October 20, 2026, Honolulu is forecast to reach a high of 82.9°F and a low of 76.3°F. The long-term average for this date (the full record since 1940) is a high of 78.8°F and a low of 76.3°F, so today's high is 4.2°F warmer than that average.
How much has Honolulu warmed since 1940?
Comparing the first decade of the record (1940–1949) with the most recent (2016–2025), the annual mean temperature in Honolulu is about 1.5°F warmer.
How much does it rain in Honolulu?
Honolulu receives about 17.5 inches of precipitation per year on long-term average, with January typically the wettest month.
What is the average temperature in Honolulu?
Over the full record (since 1940), the annual mean temperature in Honolulu is about 75.3°F. The warmest month is September and the coolest is February.
What are the average temperatures in Honolulu by month?
Average daily highs and lows for each month in Honolulu (°F, full record since 1940): January 74°/72°, February 74°/71°, March 74°/71°, April 75°/72°, May 76°/74°, June 77°/75°, July 78°/76°, August 79°/77°, September 79°/77°, October 79°/76°, November 77°/75°, December 76°/73°.

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