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Wellington weather by month: averages, rainfall & climate trends

New Zealand's capital may be the windiest city in the world, a mild, hilly harbour town where the gales funnelling through Cook Strait are the first thing anyone mentions. Wellington weather by month: average temperatures, rainfall, extremes and how the climate has changed since 1940.

Today vs average

+4.3°Chigh well above average

18° / 10°Today
13° / 11°Average
see today in detail →

How it's changed

+1.3°Caverage temperature, 2016–2025 vs 1940–1949average temperature vs 1940–49+1.3°C vs the 1940s · see how it's changed →
Weather by montha typical year, averaged over the full recordJanuary, rain 55 mmhigh 17°low 15°February, rain 59 mmhigh 18°low 16°March, rain 66 mmhigh 17°low 15°April, rain 76 mmhigh 15°low 13°May, rain 88 mmhigh 14°low 11°June, rain 95 mmhigh 12°low 10°July, rain 102 mmhigh 11°low 9°August, rain 92 mmhigh 11°low 9°September, rain 73 mmhigh 12°low 10°October, rain 82 mmhigh 13°low 11°November, rain 68 mmhigh 15°low 12°December, rain 71 mmhigh 16°low 14°wettest month July, 102 mm · 929 mm a yearsee month by month →

Right now

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

Right now

12.6°

11°feels like
80%humidity
9°dew point
7 km/hfrom SE
UV index0.7
sunrise06:24sunset19:46day length13h 22m
TuePartly cloudy18°10°
WedPartly cloudy17°12°
ThuPartly cloudy16°11°
FriMostly clear16°12°
SatPartly cloudy16°13°
SunClear18°13°
MonPartly cloudy18°14°

On this date: October 19

Today (forecast)
18° / 10°
Average for October 19
13° / 11°

High well above average · +4.3°C

  • Highest since 1940: 16.0° · 2001
  • Lowest since 1940: 7.6° · 2000
  • One year ago: 15° / 13°

Every October 19 in history, coldest to hottest

▲ Daily highs▼ Daily lows

Dots show daily highs (top) and lows (bottom) for each October 19 on record (n = 87). 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 Wellington is sampled from the ECMWF ERA5 reanalysis at 41.29°S, 174.78°E, with daily records since 1940.

Coordinates
41.29°S, 174.78°E
Time zone
Pacific/Auckland
Period
1940–2026
Data source
ERA5 (ECMWF)

Last 30 days

22 of the last 31 days were warmer than the historical average for that date. Average difference: +0.6°C.

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

Wellington sits at the southern tip of New Zealand's North Island, wrapped around a harbour at the mouth of Cook Strait. Its temperate marine climate (Köppen Cfb) is mild, with warm summers, cool to mild winters, and genuine extremes of heat or cold both rare. What it is famous for is wind: caught in the path of the Roaring Forties and squeezed through the narrow Cook Strait, the city ranks among the windiest on Earth.

The wind shapes daily life far more than temperature does. Blustery northerlies give way to cold southerly gales that blow straight off the Southern Ocean and sharpen the winter chill, and the rough waters of the strait are notorious. Rain is spread through the year and peaks in winter, while snow almost never reaches sea level. For all the bluster, the underlying climate is gentle and seldom severe.

February brings the year's peak warmth, with afternoons typically reaching 17.8°C and nights around 15.5°C. At the other extreme, July brings afternoon highs of about 11.2°C and typical overnight lows of 9.2°C. Frost is essentially unknown.

The yearly total for Wellington comes to about 929 mm; monthly amounts range from 55 mm in January up to 102 mm in July.

Comparing the record's first decade with its most recent one, Wellington now averages 1.3°C warmer than it did in the 1940s. The last decade has also run wetter, about 11% above the long-term precipitation average.

Sources:en.wikipedia.orgbritannica.commetservice.com

Climate graph (climograph)

February is the warmest month, July the coolest: a yearly swing of 6°C. Wettest month: July (~102 mm). Whole year averages ~929 mm 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).

Rainy days by month

About 99 rainy days a year: most in August (~11), fewest in February (~5).

Bars = average number of days with ≥ 2 mm per month. Hover for the monthly rainfall total.

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.

Wellington 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 lowRainRainy daysDaylightHighestLowest
January17.5°15.1°55 mm614.7 h22.9° (2018)9.8° (1998)
February17.8°15.5°59 mm513.6 h22.5° (2018)9.6° (1993)
March16.9°14.7°66 mm712.3 h22.0° (1962)8.9° (1992)
April15.3°13.0°76 mm710.9 h20.7° (2025)7.4° (1965)
May13.6°11.5°88 mm99.7 h18.3° (2023)5.6° (1959)
June12.0°9.9°95 mm109.0 h16.8° (2025)5.0° (1983)
July11.2°9.2°102 mm119.3 h15.5° (1998)4.3° (1959)
August11.3°9.2°92 mm1110.3 h15.8° (2022)4.1° (2011)
September12.2°10.0°73 mm911.7 h17.3° (1969)5.1° (1953)
October13.4°11.1°82 mm913.1 h19.4° (1962)5.2° (2022)
November14.6°12.3°68 mm714.4 h19.2° (2001)5.3° (1976)
December16.1°13.9°71 mm815.0 h21.1° (2012)8.7° (1944)

How it's changed

Year-by-year signals from 1940 to today.

Climate stripes

Annual mean shifted from 1940–1949 to 2016–2025 by +1.3°C.

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: +0.13°C 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

Jun–Aug is warming fastest: +0.17°C 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 ≥ 25°C per year: 0.0 early in the record → 0.0 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 2018, coldest in 2011: 22.9°C / 4.1°C.

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

Annual rainfall

~929 mm/year on average. Last decade: +11% vs that average. Long-term trend: +9 mm 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 Wellington

Which is the warmest month in Wellington?
On long-term average, the warmest month in Wellington is February (mean daily temperature of about 16.6°C) and the coolest is July (about 10.1°C).
How does today's temperature in Wellington compare to the historical average?
On October 19, 2026, Wellington is forecast to reach a high of 17.6°C and a low of 9.8°C. The long-term average for this date (the full record since 1940) is a high of 13.3°C and a low of 11.1°C, so today's high is 4.3°C warmer than that average.
How much has Wellington warmed since 1940?
Comparing the first decade of the record (1940–1949) with the most recent (2016–2025), the annual mean temperature in Wellington is about 1.3°C warmer.
How much does it rain in Wellington?
Wellington receives about 929 mm of precipitation per year on long-term average, with July typically the wettest month.
What is the average temperature in Wellington?
Over the full record (since 1940), the annual mean temperature in Wellington is about 13.1°C. The warmest month is February and the coolest is July.
What are the average temperatures in Wellington by month?
Average daily highs and lows for each month in Wellington (°C, full record since 1940): January 17°/15°, February 18°/16°, March 17°/15°, April 15°/13°, May 14°/11°, June 12°/10°, July 11°/9°, August 11°/9°, September 12°/10°, October 13°/11°, November 15°/12°, December 16°/14°.
What is the weather like in Wellington in summer?
Summer in Wellington (December to February) is fairly mild. Expect 16–18°C by day and 14–16°C at night, with February the warmest month. Rain is steady at around 62 mm a month, spread over roughly 6 days. No season is drier.
What is the weather like in Wellington in winter?
Winter in Wellington (June to August) is cool. Daytime highs sit at 11–12°C and nights at 9–10°C; July is the coldest month. Rain falls on about 11 days a month, adding up to around 96 mm. It is the wettest season of the year.
What is the weather like in Wellington in spring?
September to November is spring in Wellington, and it is cool. Afternoons run 12–15°C and nights 10–12°C; November is the warmest month. Rain is steady at around 75 mm a month, spread over roughly 8 days.
What is the weather like in Wellington in autumn?
Autumn in Wellington (March to May) is fairly mild. Expect 14–17°C by day and 11–15°C at night, with May the coldest month. Rain falls on about 8 days a month, adding up to around 77 mm.
How many days a year does it rain in Wellington?
On long-term average, Wellington has about 99 days a year with at least 2 mm of rain or snow. The annual total is roughly 929 mm.

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