Climate and average weather in Coffs Harbour

In Coffs Harbour, the summers are humid, warm, wet, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild and mostly clear.

Best: mid March to early December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Coffs Harbour typically varies from 9°C to 26°C, and is rarely below 6°C or above 30°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Coffs Harbour for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid January and mid March to early December.

Hottest
Jan
26°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Feb
165 mm
Driest
Jul
36 mm
Rain / yr
1213 mm
136 wet days
Daylight
10.0–14.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
6 m
30.3°S
Clearest
Aug
29% cloud

Coffs Harbour is city in New South Wales, Australia.

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Coffs Harbour weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around mid March to early December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Coffs Harbour, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.1 months, from November 20 to March 25, with daily high temperatures above 24°C. The hottest month of the year in Coffs Harbour is January, with an average high of 26°C and low of 19°C.

The cool season lasts 3.1 months, from May 25 to August 25, with daily high temperatures below 19°C. The coldest month of the year in Coffs Harbour is July, with an average low of 9°C and high of 17°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 10°C) in August.

10°15°20°25°30°35°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2619
Feb2619
Mar2418
Apr2215
May2012
Jun1810
Jul179
Aug199
Sep2111
Oct2214
Nov2416
Dec2518

Average hourly temperature in Coffs Harbour

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on January afternoons, near 26°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Coffs Harbour weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan26° / 19°16015.413.75.9
Feb26° / 19°16515.713.15.6
Mar24° / 18°16317.812.25.9
Apr22° / 15°7812.311.36.5
May20° / 12°749.110.56.7
Jun18° / 10°817.510.16.4
Jul17° / 365.710.26.7
Aug19° / 455.210.97.3
Sep21° / 11°436.811.87.4
Oct22° / 14°8810.612.76.8
Nov24° / 16°13114.113.56.3
Dec25° / 18°15015.913.95.9

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Coffs Harbour gets about 1213 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.2 months, from around Oct 21 to Apr 26, peaking in February at about 62% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 6.

February is the wettest month by volume, with 165 mm over about 16 wet days; July is the driest, with 36 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 28 · 62%Aug 6 · 13%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4915
Feb5716
Mar5618
Apr4212
May299
Jun258
Jul186
Aug175
Sep237
Oct3511
Nov4714
Dec5116

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Coffs Harbour collects about 1213 mm of rain across 136 wet days — roughly 101 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. February is the wettest month with 165 mm, while July is the driest at just 36 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 40% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150175200JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec16016516378748136454388131150
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan16015
Feb16516
Mar16318
Apr7812
May749
Jun818
Jul366
Aug455
Sep437
Oct8811
Nov13114
Dec15016

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Coffs Harbour, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around April 7 and lasts for 6.2 months, ending around October 13. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 83% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 14 and lasts for 5.7 months, ending around April 6. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 52% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 8 · 88%Dec 10 · 46%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan4951
Feb4951
Mar5743
Apr6436
May6733
Jun6832
Jul7723
Aug8317
Sep7723
Oct6139
Nov5050
Dec4852

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around December 18, brings about 14 hours of light; the shortest, around June 19, only 10 hours — a swing of roughly 4 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.76:047:50
Feb13.16:297:35
Mar12.26:507:04
Apr11.37:106:26
May10.57:295:58
Jun10.17:465:50
Jul10.27:476:00
Aug10.97:256:18
Sep11.86:476:36
Oct12.76:106:55
Nov13.55:467:19
Dec13.95:457:42

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Coffs Harbour averages about 13 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 8 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.4 months, from around May 2 to Oct 13. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is December, down near 8 sunny days — about 60% fewer than the August peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 823 daysDec 138 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan9Mixed
Feb8Mixed
Mar10Mixed
Apr12Mixed
May15Mixed
Jun16Bright
Jul20Bright
Aug21Bright
Sep18Bright
Oct13Mixed
Nov9Mixed
Dec9Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Coffs Harbour, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.4 months, from around November 6 to April 17. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 95% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 18 to November 5, and June is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 99% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 26 · 100%Feb 3 · 4%oppressivemuggydrycomfortablehumidhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan18304912
Feb14325013
Mar21248353
Apr15423760
May5734900
Jun8514100
Jul955000
Aug954000
Sep8018200
Oct45371610
Nov173436130
Dec41840344

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Coffs Harbour is steady company: average speeds sit near 10 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeNov 24 · 11 km/hMay 22 · 9 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan10calm
Feb10calm
Mar10calm
Apr9calm
May9calm
Jun9calm
Jul9calm
Aug9calm
Sep10calm
Oct10calm
Nov10calm
Dec10calm

Hazard calendar for Coffs Harbour

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Coffs Harbour sits in the South Indian Ocean cyclone belt; the season peaks January–March.

Coffs Harbour's rainy season runs June–June, when most of the year's rain falls.

Cyclone
Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Coffs Harbour

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Coffs Harbour throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around late March, Coffs Harbour is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Coffs Harbour for general outdoor tourist activities is from mid March to early December, with a peak score in the second week of August.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationAug 8 · 7.5

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan5.9good
Feb5.6good
Mar5.9good
Apr6.4good
May6.7good
Jun6.4good
Jul6.7good
Aug7.3good
Sep7.4good
Oct6.8good
Nov6.2good
Dec5.9good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Coffs Harbour for hot-weather activities is from mid September to mid April, with a peak score in the second week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 12 · 5.8

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Coffs Harbour, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around January (highs near 26°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 17°C), pack a light layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Coffs Harbour sees daytime highs around 26°C and nights near 19°C. Pack rain gear and sun protection. Worth having: light clothes. About 15 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Coffs Harbour

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea offshore is warmest in February at about 26°C and coldest in August near 20°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Aug 27 to Aug 9 — about 11.4 months when the water holds above 20°C.

18°20°22°24°26°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swimcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan25Warm
Feb26Warm
Mar25Warm
Apr24Warm
May23Refreshing
Jun22Refreshing
Jul20Refreshing
Aug20Cool
Sep20Refreshing
Oct21Refreshing
Nov22Refreshing
Dec24Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Coffs Harbour by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Coffs Harbour peaks around January 18 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 3 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 18UV 13Jun 18UV 3
UV index (midday)Level
Jan13Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar10Extreme
Apr7High
May4Moderate
Jun3Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug5High
Sep7High
Oct9Very high
Nov11Extreme
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Coffs Harbour

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan97
Feb8.56.5
Mar7.55
Apr63
May40
Jun1.50
Jul30
Aug50
Sep62.5
Oct7.55
Nov8.56
Dec97

Air quality in Coffs Harbour by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Coffs Harbour is worst in November — around 37 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 8.5× the cleanest month (April, 4 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateNov 1635 µg/m³Apr 205 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb7Good
Mar7Good
Apr4Good
May5Good
Jun5Good
Jul6Good
Aug18Moderate
Sep17Moderate
Oct15Moderate
Nov37Poor
Dec16Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Coffs Harbour is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul1000
Aug1000
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Coffs Harbour banks about 2,929 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan390
Feb346
Mar341
Apr257
May184
Jun116
Jul97
Aug118
Sep180
Oct248
Nov296
Dec357

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Coffs Harbour receives about 4.8 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.9 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 7 to Mar 18. The brightest month is December, averaging about 6.5 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 2.9 kWh/m² — roughly 55% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 306.7 kWhJun 132.9 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.4Intense
Feb5.5Bright
Mar4.8Bright
Apr4.1Bright
May3.3Moderate
Jun2.9Moderate
Jul3.2Moderate
Aug4.2Bright
Sep5.2Bright
Oct5.8Bright
Nov6.2Intense
Dec6.3Intense

Where is Coffs Harbour?

Coffs Harbour sits at 30.3°S, 153.1°E, 6 m above sea level, in Australia. The nearest listed city is Grafton, 71 km away.

TamworthBanora PointPalm Beach

Topography around Coffs Harbour

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Coffs Harbour.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Coffs Harbour has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 255 m around an average of 24 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 713 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,555 m.

The land around Coffs Harbour is covered by trees (36%), artificial surfaces (29%) and grassland (23%) within 3 km, water (44%) and trees (42%) within 16 km, and trees (55%) and water (31%) within 80 km.

3 km
255 m
16 km
713 m
80 km
1,555 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwaterwetland
Nearby: Grafton 71 km · Port Macquarie 128 km · Armidale 141 km · Byron Bay 189 km · Taree 190 km · Tamworth 227 km · Banora Point 235 km · Palm Beach 245 km

Australia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type I
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 90% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$65,130
2025
Happiness
6.9 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
0.9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
4.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
none 38%Roman Catholic 20%Protestant 18%other Christian 4%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Coffs Harbour (-30.2963°, 153.1135°, elevation 6 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).