Climate and average weather in Picton

In Picton, the summers are mild, fairly dry, and partly cloudy and the winters are cool and partly cloudy.

Best: early January to mid April

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Picton typically varies from 6°C to 20°C, and is rarely below 3°C or above 24°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best times of year to visit Picton for warm-weather activities are from early January to mid April and late November to late December.

Hottest
Feb
20°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Jun
91 mm
Driest
Feb
52 mm
Rain / yr
887 mm
109 wet days
Daylight
9.0–15.0 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
0 m
41.3°S
Clearest
Feb
51% cloud

Picton is town in New Zealand.

Density
144/km²
people per km²

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

Picton 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 early January to mid April.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

The hot season lasts 3.6 months, from December 7 to March 27, with daily high temperatures above 18°C. The hottest month of the year in Picton is February, with an average high of 20°C and low of 14°C.

The cool season lasts 3.3 months, from May 30 to September 6, with daily high temperatures below 13°C. The coldest month of the year in Picton is July, with an average low of 6°C and high of 11°C.

Days typically run about 6°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2014
Feb2014
Mar1913
Apr1711
May149
Jun127
Jul116
Aug126
Sep148
Oct159
Nov1711
Dec1913

Average hourly temperature in Picton

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 February afternoons, near 20°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

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

Picton 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
Jan20° / 14°607.414.66.8
Feb20° / 14°525.713.77.1
Mar19° / 13°587.112.36.7
Apr17° / 11°788.210.95.6
May14° / 758.59.74.5
Jun12° / 919.79.13.3
Jul11° / 8310.19.32.9
Aug12° / 7910.810.33.2
Sep14° / 7710.111.73.9
Oct15° / 8911.313.14.5
Nov17° / 11°739.514.35.5
Dec19° / 13°7510.414.96.0

Chance of rain

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

Picton gets about 887 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 6.8 months, from around Jun 4 to Dec 28, peaking in October at about 40% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Feb 6.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 91 mm over about 10 wet days; February is the driest, with 52 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetOct 7 · 40%Feb 6 · 19%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan247
Feb216
Mar237
Apr278
May289
Jun3210
Jul3310
Aug3511
Sep3310
Oct3711
Nov3210
Dec3310

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Picton collects about 887 mm of rain across 109 wet days — roughly 74 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 91 mm, while February is the driest at just 52 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 30% of the year’s total.

0255075100125JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec605258787591837977897375
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan607
Feb526
Mar587
Apr788
May759
Jun9110
Jul8310
Aug7911
Sep7710
Oct8911
Nov7310
Dec7510

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around January 30 and lasts for 4.4 months, ending around June 11. The clearest month is March, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 59% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around September 24 and lasts for 3.8 months, ending around January 18. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 54% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecFeb 25 · 61%Dec 9 · 44%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5347
Feb5842
Mar5941
Apr5743
May5842
Jun5347
Jul5446
Aug5446
Sep5347
Oct5050
Nov5050
Dec4654

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 14, brings about 15 hours of light; the shortest, around June 15, only 9 hours — a swing of roughly 6 hours.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan14.66:138:53
Feb13.76:498:28
Mar12.37:237:44
Apr10.97:576:51
May9.78:296:11
Jun9.18:535:55
Jul9.38:516:08
Aug10.38:186:38
Sep11.77:267:10
Oct13.16:357:43
Nov14.35:588:20
Dec14.95:518:49

Sunny days

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

Picton 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 14 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 6.8 months, from around Feb 3 to Aug 27. The sunniest month is February, with roughly 12 sunny days (mixed).

The greyest month is December, down near 9 sunny days — about 31% fewer than the February peak.

05101520JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightFeb 2214 daysDec 108 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan11Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar12Mixed
Apr11Mixed
May12Mixed
Jun12Mixed
Jul12Mixed
Aug11Mixed
Sep10Mixed
Oct10Mixed
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 Picton, the air stays dry or comfortable essentially all year. Even in February, the muggiest month, it feels humid or worse only about 13% of the time — humidity is not something you need to plan around here.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecApr 30 · 100%Feb 5 · 85%humidcomfortabledryhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan583310
Feb523513
Mar67275
Apr84151
May9460
Jun9910
Jul10000
Aug10000
Sep9910
Oct9820
Nov90100
Dec70263

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.

Across the year, average wind speed in Picton is typically light breeze, near 17 km/h, and varies little with the seasons.

The windier part of the year lasts 5.1 months, from around Sep 5 to Feb 7. The windiest month is November, averaging about 19 km/h (light breeze).

The calmer part of the year runs from around Feb 8 to Sep 4, with April the calmest month at about 16 km/h.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwindiercalmerwindiercalmlight breezebreezyNov 12 · 19 km/hApr 20 · 15 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan18light breeze
Feb17light breeze
Mar17light breeze
Apr16light breeze
May16light breeze
Jun16light breeze
Jul16light breeze
Aug16light breeze
Sep18light breeze
Oct18light breeze
Nov19light breeze
Dec18light breeze

Best time to visit Picton

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early April, Picton is still near the tail of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds already thinning.

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 Picton for general outdoor tourist activities is from late November to mid April, with a peak score in the second week of February.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 9 · 7.1

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
Jan6.7good
Feb7.0good
Mar6.6good
Apr5.6good
May4.5fair
Jun3.3poor
Jul3.0poor
Aug3.3poor
Sep3.9fair
Oct4.5fair
Nov5.4fair
Dec6.0good

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 Picton for hot-weather activities is from early January to early March, with a peak score in the first week of February.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationFeb 5 · 4.1

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 Picton, 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 February (highs near 20°C), the essentials are sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 11°C), pack a warm layer and rain gear.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Picton sees daytime highs around 20°C and nights near 14°C. Pack sun protection. About 6 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Picton

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

The sea at the nearest coast (about 14 km away) is warmest in February at about 17°C and coldest in August near 12°C.

The water stays below 20°C all year — cool enough that most swimmers want a wetsuit.

10°12°14°16°18°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbracingcool
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan16Cool
Feb17Cool
Mar16Cool
Apr15Cool
May14Bracing
Jun13Bracing
Jul12Bracing
Aug12Bracing
Sep12Bracing
Oct13Bracing
Nov14Bracing
Dec15Bracing

UV index (midday) in Picton 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 Picton peaks around January 1 at about 11 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 17 at about 1 (low).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 8 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeModerateLowModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 1UV 11Jun 17UV 1
UV index (midday)Level
Jan11Extreme
Feb10Extreme
Mar6High
Apr4Moderate
May2Low
Jun1Low
Jul2Low
Aug3Moderate
Sep4Moderate
Oct6High
Nov9Very high
Dec11Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Picton

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 6.5 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)
Jan96.5
Feb85.5
Mar61.5
Apr3.50
May00
Jun00
Jul00
Aug00
Sep40
Oct6.52
Nov85
Dec96.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Picton 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
Jun990
Jul990
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. Picton banks about 1,108 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

02505007501,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan213
Feb199
Mar177
Apr107
May47
Jun0
Jul0
Aug0
Sep19
Oct63
Nov110
Dec173

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.

Picton receives about 4.5 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 1.7 and 7.8 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 5.9 months, from around Sep 25 to Mar 23. The brightest month is January, averaging about 7.4 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 1.7 kWh/m² — roughly 76% less than the January peak.

0123456789JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseJan 17.8 kWhJun 181.7 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan7.5Intense
Feb6.3Intense
Mar4.9Bright
Apr3.3Moderate
May2.3Moderate
Jun1.7Dim
Jul1.9Dim
Aug2.8Moderate
Sep4.1Bright
Oct5.6Bright
Nov6.8Intense
Dec7.3Intense

Where is Picton?

Picton sits at 41.3°S, 174.0°E, 0 m above sea level, in New Zealand. The nearest listed city is Blenheim, 25 km away.

Topography around Picton

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Picton has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 675 m around an average of 157 m above sea level; within 16 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,051 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,066 m.

The land around Picton is covered by trees (79%) within 3 km, trees (60%) and water (31%) within 16 km, and water (57%) and trees (25%) within 80 km.

3 km
675 m
16 km
1,051 m
80 km
2,066 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfaceswater
Nearby: Blenheim 25 km · Nelson 61 km · Karori 61 km · Wellington 64 km · Stoke 65 km · Richmond 69 km · Porirua 73 km · Lower Hutt 76 km

New Zealand travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type I
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 86% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$49,591
2025
Happiness
7.0 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Safe drinking water
100%
of population, 2024
Homicide rate
1.5
per 100k, 2022
Road deaths
9.6
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
no religion 49%Christian 37%objected to answering 7%Hindu 3%

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 Picton (-41.2907°, 174.008°, elevation 0 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. 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).