Climate and average weather in Kaikoura

Kaikoura gets about 899 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 1.2 months, from around Sep 24 to Oct 29, peaking in October at about 43% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Mar 22.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 96 mm over about 12 wet days; February is the driest, with 60 mm.

Over a full year, Kaikoura collects about 899 mm of rain across 127 wet days — roughly 75 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 96 mm, while February is the driest at just 60 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 30% of the year’s total, and some of the cold-season precipitation falls as snow.

In Kaikoura, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows mild seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around February 9 and lasts for 4.0 months, ending around June 10. The clearest month is May, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 55% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around November 7 and lasts for 3.1 months, ending around February 8. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 54% of the time.

Kaikoura averages about 11 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 8 and 13 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 2.7 months, from around Mar 18 to Jun 7. The sunniest month is May, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is December, down near 9 sunny days — about 27% fewer than the May peak.

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 Kaikoura, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in January, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 6% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

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 Kaikoura is steady company: average speeds sit near 14 km/h — light breeze — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.