Wellington weather in August

In August, Wellington sees average daytime highs of 11°C and overnight lows near 9°C, with 82 mm of rain across 12.6 wet days and about 10.3 hours of daylight. It is the 11th-warmest and 4th-wettest month of the year here.

Day-to-day highs hold fairly steady near 11°C through the month. The sky is clear or mostly clear about 36% of the time in August, and the air most often feels dry.

Daylight stretches from about 9 h 48 min at the start of August to 11 hours by month's end. Set against the rest of the year, August is Wellington's 9th-clearest and 9th-windiest month. For the whole year in context, see Wellington's year-round climate.

Daytime high: 11°; 11th warmest
Overnight low: 9°; 2nd coldest
Rainfall: 82 mm; 12.6 wet days
Daylight: 10 h 18 min; 8:15 AM – 6:35 PM
Cloud cover: 55%; 9th clearest
Wind: 25 km/h; 9th windiest
Solar energy: 2.69 kWh/m²
Travel score: 2.7; out of 10

Wellington is capital city of New Zealand; urban area of the cities of Wellington, Lower Hutt, Upper Hutt, and Porirua.

Air quality: Excellent; PM10 12.9 µg/m³ · 2012
Density: 860/km²; people per km²
Founded: 1839

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

← July Wellington year-round climate September →Best places to visit in August

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

Temperature in August

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Day-to-day highs hold fairly steady near 11°C through the month.

A typical August day in Wellington reaches about 11°C in the afternoon and slips back to 9°C overnight — a 2°C spread between the day's warmth and the night's chill. On most days the high lands between 9°C and 13°C. Set against its neighbours, August runs on par with July and about 1°C cooler than September.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Avg high (°C)	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	11	12
Avg low (°C)	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9	9

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	11	9
2	11	9
3	11	9
4	11	9
5	11	9
6	11	9
7	11	9
8	11	9
9	11	9
10	11	9
11	11	9
12	11	9
13	11	9
14	11	9
15	11	9
16	11	9
17	11	9
18	11	9
19	11	9
20	11	9
21	11	9
22	11	9
23	11	9
24	11	9
25	11	9
26	11	9
27	11	9
28	11	9
29	11	9
30	11	9
31	12	9

Wellington weather by month

How August compares with the rest of the year at a glance. August is the 11th-warmest and 4th-wettest month here — the current month is highlighted below.

Month	High / Low (°C)	Rainfall (mm)	Wet days	Daylight (hours)	Travel score
Jan	17° / 15°	55	7.5	14.6	5.9
Feb	18° / 15°	56	6.1	13.7	6.4
Mar	17° / 14°	59	7.4	12.3	5.8
Apr	15° / 13°	73	9	10.9	4.8
May	14° / 12°	76	10.2	9.7	4.0
Jun	12° / 10°	95	12.1	9.1	3.1
Jul	11° / 9°	87	12.1	9.3	2.7
Aug	11° / 9°	82	12.6	10.3	2.7
Sep	12° / 10°	74	10.8	11.7	3.2
Oct	13° / 11°	83	11.3	13.1	3.6
Nov	14° / 12°	69	9.1	14.3	4.3
Dec	16° / 14°	65	9.6	14.9	5.0

Cloud cover in August

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

The sky is clear or mostly clear about 36% of the time in August.

Beyond those clear spells, partly cloudy skies cover about 17% of August, with mostly cloudy or overcast conditions the remaining 47%.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Clearer (%)	54	53	53	52	52	52	51	51	50	51	51	52	52	52	53	53	53	53	54	54	54	55	55	56	55	55	55	55	54	54	53
Cloudier (%)	46	47	47	48	48	48	49	49	50	49	49	48	48	48	47	47	47	47	46	46	46	45	45	44	45	45	45	45	46	46	47

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	54	46
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	52	48
5	52	48
6	52	48
7	51	49
8	51	49
9	50	50
10	51	49
11	51	49
12	52	48
13	52	48
14	52	48
15	53	47
16	53	47
17	53	47
18	53	47
19	54	46
20	54	46
21	54	46
22	55	45
23	55	45
24	56	44
25	55	45
26	55	45
27	55	45
28	55	45
29	54	46
30	54	46
31	53	47

Chance of precipitation in August

Any precipitation

Wellington gets around 82 mm of rain over 12.6 wet days in August. The line is the day-by-day chance of measurable precipitation.

Day to day, the chance of measurable rain averages around 40% and peaks near 44% on the wettest days.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Rain chance (%)	39	40	40	41	42	42	43	43	44	44	44	44	44	44	44	43	43	42	42	41	40	39	38	38	37	36	36	35	35	35	35

	Rain chance (%)
1	39
2	40
3	40
4	41
5	42
6	42
7	43
8	43
9	44
10	44
11	44
12	44
13	44
14	44
15	44
16	43
17	43
18	42
19	42
20	41
21	40
22	39
23	38
24	38
25	37
26	36
27	36
28	35
29	35
30	35
31	35

Humidity in August

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Most of August feels dry — the stacked bands show each day's mix of comfort levels, read off the dew point.

By dew point, August lands in the dry band about 100% of days. It rarely turns muggy — the humid and sticky bands barely register.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Dry (%)	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100	100

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

Wind in August

Winds average 25 km/h in August.

Across August, daily wind ranges from about 25 km/h on the calmest days to 26 km/h at its breeziest. It stays fairly steady from day to day.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Wind speed (km/h)	25	25	25	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26
Feels	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy	breezy

	Wind speed (km/h)	Feels
1	25	breezy
2	25	breezy
3	25	breezy
4	26	breezy
5	26	breezy
6	26	breezy
7	26	breezy
8	26	breezy
9	26	breezy
10	26	breezy
11	26	breezy
12	26	breezy
13	26	breezy
14	26	breezy
15	26	breezy
16	26	breezy
17	26	breezy
18	26	breezy
19	26	breezy
20	26	breezy
21	26	breezy
22	26	breezy
23	26	breezy
24	26	breezy
25	26	breezy
26	26	breezy
27	26	breezy
28	26	breezy
29	26	breezy
30	26	breezy
31	26	breezy

Sunrise & sunset in August

DaylightNight

Daylight runs from about 9 h 48 min at the start of August to 11 hours by month's end. The lit band spans sunrise to sunset each day.

Days grow by about 72 minutes over August. Sunrise moves from 8:34 AM to 7:51 AM, and sunset from 6:20 PM to 6:51 PM.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Daylight (h)	9.8	9.8	9.8	9.9	9.9	9.9	10.0	10.0	10.1	10.1	10.1	10.2	10.2	10.2	10.3	10.3	10.4	10.4	10.5	10.5	10.5	10.6	10.6	10.7	10.7	10.8	10.8	10.9	10.9	10.9	11.0
Sunrise (AM)	8:34	8:33	8:32	8:31	8:30	8:28	8:27	8:26	8:25	8:23	8:22	8:21	8:19	8:18	8:16	8:15	8:14	8:12	8:11	8:09	8:08	8:06	8:04	8:03	8:01	8:00	7:58	7:56	7:55	7:53	7:51
Sunset (PM)	6:20	6:21	6:22	6:23	6:24	6:25	6:26	6:27	6:28	6:29	6:30	6:31	6:32	6:33	6:34	6:35	6:36	6:37	6:38	6:39	6:40	6:41	6:42	6:43	6:44	6:45	6:46	6:47	6:48	6:49	6:51

	Daylight (h)	Sunrise (AM)	Sunset (PM)
1	9.8	8:34	6:20
2	9.8	8:33	6:21
3	9.8	8:32	6:22
4	9.9	8:31	6:23
5	9.9	8:30	6:24
6	9.9	8:28	6:25
7	10.0	8:27	6:26
8	10.0	8:26	6:27
9	10.1	8:25	6:28
10	10.1	8:23	6:29
11	10.1	8:22	6:30
12	10.2	8:21	6:31
13	10.2	8:19	6:32
14	10.2	8:18	6:33
15	10.3	8:16	6:34
16	10.3	8:15	6:35
17	10.4	8:14	6:36
18	10.4	8:12	6:37
19	10.5	8:11	6:38
20	10.5	8:09	6:39
21	10.5	8:08	6:40
22	10.6	8:06	6:41
23	10.6	8:04	6:42
24	10.7	8:03	6:43
25	10.7	8:01	6:44
26	10.8	8:00	6:45
27	10.8	7:58	6:46
28	10.9	7:56	6:47
29	10.9	7:55	6:48
30	10.9	7:53	6:49
31	11.0	7:51	6:51

Solar energy in August

Daily solar energy (kWh/m²)

Average shortwave solar energy reaching the ground each day in August, about 2.69 kWh/m².

For context, solar energy here swings from a low near 1.6 kWh/m² to a high of 7.3 kWh/m² in January across the year — August's 2.69 kWh/m² falls in the middle.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31
Solar energy (kWh/m²)	2.2	2.2	2.2	2.3	2.3	2.3	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.6	2.6	2.6	2.7	2.7	2.8	2.8	2.9	2.9	2.9	3.0	3.0	3.0	3.1	3.1	3.1	3.2	3.2	3.3
Level	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate	Moderate

	Solar energy (kWh/m²)	Level
1	2.2	Moderate
2	2.2	Moderate
3	2.2	Moderate
4	2.3	Moderate
5	2.3	Moderate
6	2.3	Moderate
7	2.4	Moderate
8	2.4	Moderate
9	2.4	Moderate
10	2.5	Moderate
11	2.5	Moderate
12	2.5	Moderate
13	2.6	Moderate
14	2.6	Moderate
15	2.6	Moderate
16	2.7	Moderate
17	2.7	Moderate
18	2.8	Moderate
19	2.8	Moderate
20	2.9	Moderate
21	2.9	Moderate
22	2.9	Moderate
23	3.0	Moderate
24	3.0	Moderate
25	3.0	Moderate
26	3.1	Moderate
27	3.1	Moderate
28	3.1	Moderate
29	3.2	Moderate
30	3.2	Moderate
31	3.3	Moderate

Planning a trip in August

Is August a good time to visit Wellington?

Our two travel scores rate August for general sightseeing and for beach or pool weather — 0 (poor) to 10 (ideal).

2.7

Sightseeing

11th-best month of the year

0.0

Beach & pool

7th-best month of the year

August is a weaker month for outdoor sightseeing in Wellington.

What to pack for Wellington in August

From August's temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind — what's worth putting in the bag.

In August, Wellington sees daytime highs around 11°C and nights near 9°C. Pack a warm layer. Worth having: rain gear and a windbreaker. About 13 days see rain.

a warm layerrain geara windbreaker

Sea temperature near Wellington in August

The nearest coast averages about 12°C in August — the other half of the beach question. The full-year curve and swim-comfort zones are below.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 13 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.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Sea temperature (°C)	16	17	16	15	14	13	12	12	12	13	14	15
Comfort	Cool	Cool	Cool	Cool	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing	Bracing

	Sea temperature (°C)	Comfort
Jan	16	Cool
Feb	17	Cool
Mar	16	Cool
Apr	15	Cool
May	14	Bracing
Jun	13	Bracing
Jul	12	Bracing
Aug	12	Bracing
Sep	12	Bracing
Oct	13	Bracing
Nov	14	Bracing
Dec	15	Bracing

UV index in Wellington in August

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV in August peaks around 3. The full-year curve, shaded by WHO exposure level, is below.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Wellington 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.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
UV index (midday)	11	10	6	4	2	1	2	3	4	6	9	11
Level	Extreme	Extreme	High	Moderate	Low	Low	Low	Moderate	Moderate	High	Very high	Extreme

	UV index (midday)	Level
Jan	11	Extreme
Feb	10	Extreme
Mar	6	High
Apr	4	Moderate
May	2	Low
Jun	1	Low
Jul	2	Low
Aug	3	Moderate
Sep	4	Moderate
Oct	6	High
Nov	9	Very high
Dec	11	Extreme

Location & terrain

Where is Wellington?

Wellington sits at 41.3°S, 174.8°E, 31 m above sea level, in New Zealand. The nearest listed city is Karori, 3.0 km away.

Topography around Wellington

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Wellington has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 349 m around an average of 85 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 528 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,512 m.

The land around Wellington is covered by trees (45%), artificial surfaces (29%) and water (22%) within 3 km, water (46%) and trees (31%) within 16 km, and water (60%) and trees (23%) within 80 km.

3 km

349 m

trees 45%

16 km

528 m

water 46%

80 km

1,512 m

water 60%

treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater

← July Wellington year-round climate September →Best places to visit in August

August weather nearby: Karori 3.0 km · Lower Hutt 14 km · Wainuiomata 15 km · Porirua 18 km · Upper Hutt 28 km · Paraparaumu 46 km · Picton 64 km · Blenheim 73 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

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 Wellington (-41.2866°, 174.7756°, elevation 31 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).

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	11	9
2	11	9
3	11	9
4	11	9
5	11	9
6	11	9
7	11	9
8	11	9
9	11	9
10	11	9
11	11	9
12	11	9
13	11	9
14	11	9
15	11	9
16	11	9
17	11	9
18	11	9
19	11	9
20	11	9
21	11	9
22	11	9
23	11	9
24	11	9
25	11	9
26	11	9
27	11	9
28	11	9
29	11	9
30	11	9
31	12	9

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	54	46
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	52	48
5	52	48
6	52	48
7	51	49
8	51	49
9	50	50
10	51	49
11	51	49
12	52	48
13	52	48
14	52	48
15	53	47
16	53	47
17	53	47
18	53	47
19	54	46
20	54	46
21	54	46
22	55	45
23	55	45
24	56	44
25	55	45
26	55	45
27	55	45
28	55	45
29	54	46
30	54	46
31	53	47

	Rain chance (%)
1	39
2	40
3	40
4	41
5	42
6	42
7	43
8	43
9	44
10	44
11	44
12	44
13	44
14	44
15	44
16	43
17	43
18	42
19	42
20	41
21	40
22	39
23	38
24	38
25	37
26	36
27	36
28	35
29	35
30	35
31	35

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	11	9
2	11	9
3	11	9
4	11	9
5	11	9
6	11	9
7	11	9
8	11	9
9	11	9
10	11	9
11	11	9
12	11	9
13	11	9
14	11	9
15	11	9
16	11	9
17	11	9
18	11	9
19	11	9
20	11	9
21	11	9
22	11	9
23	11	9
24	11	9
25	11	9
26	11	9
27	11	9
28	11	9
29	11	9
30	11	9
31	12	9

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	54	46
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	52	48
5	52	48
6	52	48
7	51	49
8	51	49
9	50	50
10	51	49
11	51	49
12	52	48
13	52	48
14	52	48
15	53	47
16	53	47
17	53	47
18	53	47
19	54	46
20	54	46
21	54	46
22	55	45
23	55	45
24	56	44
25	55	45
26	55	45
27	55	45
28	55	45
29	54	46
30	54	46
31	53	47

	Rain chance (%)
1	39
2	40
3	40
4	41
5	42
6	42
7	43
8	43
9	44
10	44
11	44
12	44
13	44
14	44
15	44
16	43
17	43
18	42
19	42
20	41
21	40
22	39
23	38
24	38
25	37
26	36
27	36
28	35
29	35
30	35
31	35

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100

	Avg high (°C)	Avg low (°C)
1	11	9
2	11	9
3	11	9
4	11	9
5	11	9
6	11	9
7	11	9
8	11	9
9	11	9
10	11	9
11	11	9
12	11	9
13	11	9
14	11	9
15	11	9
16	11	9
17	11	9
18	11	9
19	11	9
20	11	9
21	11	9
22	11	9
23	11	9
24	11	9
25	11	9
26	11	9
27	11	9
28	11	9
29	11	9
30	11	9
31	12	9

	Clearer (%)	Cloudier (%)
1	54	46
2	53	47
3	53	47
4	52	48
5	52	48
6	52	48
7	51	49
8	51	49
9	50	50
10	51	49
11	51	49
12	52	48
13	52	48
14	52	48
15	53	47
16	53	47
17	53	47
18	53	47
19	54	46
20	54	46
21	54	46
22	55	45
23	55	45
24	56	44
25	55	45
26	55	45
27	55	45
28	55	45
29	54	46
30	54	46
31	53	47

	Rain chance (%)
1	39
2	40
3	40
4	41
5	42
6	42
7	43
8	43
9	44
10	44
11	44
12	44
13	44
14	44
15	44
16	43
17	43
18	42
19	42
20	41
21	40
22	39
23	38
24	38
25	37
26	36
27	36
28	35
29	35
30	35
31	35

	Dry (%)
1	100
2	100
3	100
4	100
5	100
6	100
7	100
8	100
9	100
10	100
11	100
12	100
13	100
14	100
15	100
16	100
17	100
18	100
19	100
20	100
21	100
22	100
23	100
24	100
25	100
26	100
27	100
28	100
29	100
30	100
31	100