Climate and average weather in Goroka
In Goroka, the weather is warm, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near warm levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around January.
Over the course of the year, the temperature in Goroka typically varies from 14°C to 24°C, and is rarely below 13°C or above 26°C. October is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.
Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Goroka for warm-weather activities is from early May to late October.
- Hottest
- Oct
- 24°
- Coldest
- Jul
- 14°
- Wettest
- Jan
- 425 mm
- Driest
- Jun
- 88 mm
- Rain / yr
- 2818 mm
- 282 wet days
- Daylight
- 11.6–12.4 h
- shortest–longest
- Elevation
- 1,574 m
- 6.1°S
- Clearest
- Aug
- 75% cloud
Goroka is Capital city of Eastern Highlands, Papua New Guinea.
Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.
Goroka 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 May to late October.
Temperature through the year
Daily average highs and lows in Goroka, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.
Temperatures in Goroka stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is October, with an average high of 24°C and low of 15°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 14°C and high of 23°C.
Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg high (°C) | 24 | 24 | 24 | 23 | 24 | 23 | 23 | 23 | 24 | 24 | 24 | 24 |
| Avg low (°C) | 16 | 16 | 16 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 |
| Avg high (°C) | Avg low (°C) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24 | 16 |
| Feb | 24 | 16 |
| Mar | 24 | 16 |
| Apr | 23 | 15 |
| May | 24 | 15 |
| Jun | 23 | 15 |
| Jul | 23 | 14 |
| Aug | 23 | 14 |
| Sep | 24 | 14 |
| Oct | 24 | 15 |
| Nov | 24 | 15 |
| Dec | 24 | 16 |
Average hourly temperature in Goroka
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 October afternoons, near 24°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 14°C.
Goroka weather by month
Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.
| Month | High / Low (°C) | Rainfall (mm) | Wet days | Daylight (hours) | Travel score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 24° / 16° | 425 | 28.5 | 12.3 | 3.7 |
| Feb | 24° / 16° | 413 | 26.7 | 12.2 | 3.6 |
| Mar | 24° / 16° | 417 | 29.6 | 12 | 3.6 |
| Apr | 23° / 15° | 257 | 26.3 | 11.9 | 3.9 |
| May | 24° / 15° | 151 | 22 | 11.7 | 4.8 |
| Jun | 23° / 15° | 88 | 16.7 | 11.7 | 5.5 |
| Jul | 23° / 14° | 96 | 16.6 | 11.7 | 5.5 |
| Aug | 23° / 14° | 112 | 18.1 | 11.8 | 5.4 |
| Sep | 24° / 14° | 129 | 19.5 | 12 | 5.1 |
| Oct | 24° / 15° | 169 | 23.3 | 12.1 | 4.6 |
| Nov | 24° / 15° | 235 | 25.9 | 12.3 | 4.1 |
| Dec | 24° / 16° | 328 | 28.3 | 12.3 | 3.8 |
Chance of rain
How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.
Goroka gets about 2818 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.
The wetter season lasts 6.4 months, from around Oct 22 to May 5, peaking in February at about 96% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Jul 11.
January is the wettest month by volume, with 425 mm over about 29 wet days; June is the driest, with 88 mm.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rain on a day (%) | 92 | 95 | 95 | 88 | 71 | 55 | 54 | 59 | 65 | 75 | 86 | 91 |
| Rain days | 29 | 27 | 30 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 28 |
| Rain on a day (%) | Rain days | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 92 | 29 |
| Feb | 95 | 27 |
| Mar | 95 | 30 |
| Apr | 88 | 26 |
| May | 71 | 22 |
| Jun | 55 | 17 |
| Jul | 54 | 17 |
| Aug | 59 | 18 |
| Sep | 65 | 20 |
| Oct | 75 | 23 |
| Nov | 86 | 26 |
| Dec | 91 | 28 |
Monthly rainfall
Over a full year, Goroka collects about 2818 mm of rain across 282 wet days — roughly 235 mm in an average month.
It doesn’t fall evenly. January is the wettest month with 425 mm, while June is the driest at just 88 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 45% of the year’s total.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Rainfall (mm) | 425 | 413 | 417 | 257 | 151 | 88 | 96 | 112 | 129 | 169 | 235 | 328 |
| Rain days | 29 | 27 | 30 | 26 | 22 | 17 | 17 | 18 | 20 | 23 | 26 | 28 |
| Rainfall (mm) | Rain days | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 425 | 29 |
| Feb | 413 | 27 |
| Mar | 417 | 30 |
| Apr | 257 | 26 |
| May | 151 | 22 |
| Jun | 88 | 17 |
| Jul | 96 | 17 |
| Aug | 112 | 18 |
| Sep | 129 | 20 |
| Oct | 169 | 23 |
| Nov | 235 | 26 |
| Dec | 328 | 28 |
Clouds and sunshine
How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.
In Goroka, 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 May 9 and lasts for 5.5 months, ending around October 21. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 25% of the time on average.
The cloudier part of the year begins around October 22 and lasts for 6.5 months, ending around May 8. The cloudiest month is February, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 99% of the time.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Clearer (%) | 3 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 13 | 18 | 20 | 25 | 20 | 12 | 6 | 3 |
| Cloudier (%) | 97 | 99 | 99 | 97 | 87 | 82 | 80 | 75 | 80 | 88 | 94 | 97 |
| Clearer (%) | Cloudier (%) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3 | 97 |
| Feb | 1 | 99 |
| Mar | 1 | 99 |
| Apr | 3 | 97 |
| May | 13 | 87 |
| Jun | 18 | 82 |
| Jul | 20 | 80 |
| Aug | 25 | 75 |
| Sep | 20 | 80 |
| Oct | 12 | 88 |
| Nov | 6 | 94 |
| Dec | 3 | 97 |
Daylight, sunrise and sunset
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 15, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around June 16, only 11 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 0 h 48 min.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daylight (h) | 12.3 | 12.2 | 12.0 | 11.9 | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.7 | 11.8 | 12.0 | 12.1 | 12.3 | 12.3 |
| Sunrise (AM) | 6:18 | 6:27 | 6:27 | 6:23 | 6:23 | 6:29 | 6:34 | 6:29 | 6:14 | 5:59 | 5:55 | 6:04 |
| Sunset (PM) | 6:37 | 6:39 | 6:29 | 6:15 | 6:06 | 6:08 | 6:14 | 6:17 | 6:12 | 6:08 | 6:12 | 6:25 |
| Daylight (h) | Sunrise (AM) | Sunset (PM) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 12.3 | 6:18 | 6:37 |
| Feb | 12.2 | 6:27 | 6:39 |
| Mar | 12.0 | 6:27 | 6:29 |
| Apr | 11.9 | 6:23 | 6:15 |
| May | 11.7 | 6:23 | 6:06 |
| Jun | 11.7 | 6:29 | 6:08 |
| Jul | 11.7 | 6:34 | 6:14 |
| Aug | 11.8 | 6:29 | 6:17 |
| Sep | 12.0 | 6:14 | 6:12 |
| Oct | 12.1 | 5:59 | 6:08 |
| Nov | 12.3 | 5:55 | 6:12 |
| Dec | 12.3 | 6:04 | 6:25 |
Sunny days
How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.
Goroka averages about 1 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 0 and 4 days.
The sunnier stretch runs 4.8 months, from around May 11 to Oct 4. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 3 sunny days (gloomy).
The greyest month is January, down near 0 sunny days — about 92% fewer than the August peak.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sunny days | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Sky | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy | Gloomy |
| Sunny days | Sky | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 0 | Gloomy |
| Feb | 0 | Gloomy |
| Mar | 0 | Gloomy |
| Apr | 0 | Gloomy |
| May | 1 | Gloomy |
| Jun | 2 | Gloomy |
| Jul | 2 | Gloomy |
| Aug | 3 | Gloomy |
| Sep | 2 | Gloomy |
| Oct | 1 | Gloomy |
| Nov | 0 | Gloomy |
| Dec | 0 | Gloomy |
Humidity comfort
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 Goroka, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.
The more humid part of the year lasts 6.8 months, from around November 3 to May 28. The muggiest month is December, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 92% of the time.
The most comfortable stretch runs from around May 29 to November 2, and August is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 67% of the time.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dry (%) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| Comfortable (%) | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 42 | 63 | 64 | 52 | 40 | 20 | 8 |
| Humid (%) | 91 | 91 | 89 | 91 | 82 | 57 | 36 | 33 | 41 | 56 | 78 | 91 |
| Muggy (%) | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Dry (%) | Comfortable (%) | Humid (%) | Muggy (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 0 | 8 | 91 | 1 |
| Feb | 0 | 8 | 91 | 1 |
| Mar | 0 | 9 | 89 | 1 |
| Apr | 0 | 9 | 91 | 1 |
| May | 0 | 18 | 82 | 0 |
| Jun | 1 | 42 | 57 | 0 |
| Jul | 1 | 63 | 36 | 0 |
| Aug | 3 | 64 | 33 | 0 |
| Sep | 7 | 52 | 41 | 0 |
| Oct | 4 | 40 | 56 | 0 |
| Nov | 1 | 20 | 78 | 0 |
| Dec | 0 | 8 | 91 | 1 |
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 Goroka is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/h — calm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wind speed (km/h) | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Feels | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm | calm |
| Wind speed (km/h) | Feels | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3 | calm |
| Feb | 3 | calm |
| Mar | 3 | calm |
| Apr | 3 | calm |
| May | 4 | calm |
| Jun | 4 | calm |
| Jul | 4 | calm |
| Aug | 4 | calm |
| Sep | 4 | calm |
| Oct | 4 | calm |
| Nov | 3 | calm |
| Dec | 3 | calm |
Hazard calendar for Goroka
When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.
Goroka's rainy season runs November–April, when most of the year's rain falls.
Best time to visit Goroka
To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Goroka throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.
Around late October, Goroka 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 Goroka for general outdoor tourist activities is from early May to late October, with a peak score in the second week of June.
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).
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Travel score (0–10) | 3.7 | 3.6 | 3.6 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 5.4 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.1 | 4.6 | 4.1 | 3.8 |
| Rating | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair | fair |
| Travel score (0–10) | Rating | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 3.7 | fair |
| Feb | 3.6 | fair |
| Mar | 3.6 | fair |
| Apr | 3.9 | fair |
| May | 4.8 | fair |
| Jun | 5.4 | fair |
| Jul | 5.5 | fair |
| Aug | 5.4 | fair |
| Sep | 5.1 | fair |
| Oct | 4.6 | fair |
| Nov | 4.1 | fair |
| Dec | 3.8 | fair |
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 Goroka for hot-weather activities is from late April to early November, with a peak score in the second week of June.
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 Goroka, by month
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.
Goroka packs about the same all year — highs hold near 24°C. Across the year the things worth having are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection.
In October, Goroka sees daytime highs around 24°C and nights near 15°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: light clothes and sun protection. About 23 days see rain.
UV index (midday) in Goroka by month
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 Goroka peaks around March 11 at about 18 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 20 at about 12 (extreme).
The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV index (midday) | 17 | 17 | 18 | 16 | 13 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 15 | 15 | 15 | 15 |
| Level | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme | Extreme |
| UV index (midday) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 17 | Extreme |
| Feb | 17 | Extreme |
| Mar | 18 | Extreme |
| Apr | 16 | Extreme |
| May | 13 | Extreme |
| Jun | 11 | Extreme |
| Jul | 12 | Extreme |
| Aug | 13 | Extreme |
| Sep | 15 | Extreme |
| Oct | 15 | Extreme |
| Nov | 15 | Extreme |
| Dec | 15 | Extreme |
Average hourly UV index in Goroka
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 March the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 8.5 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UV ≥ 3 (h/day) | 9 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8 | 7.5 | 7.5 | 8 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 | 8.5 |
| UV ≥ 6 (h/day) | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 6 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 7 | 7 |
| UV ≥ 3 (h/day) | UV ≥ 6 (h/day) | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 9 | 7 |
| Feb | 8.5 | 7 |
| Mar | 8.5 | 7 |
| Apr | 8.5 | 6.5 |
| May | 8 | 6.5 |
| Jun | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| Jul | 7.5 | 5.5 |
| Aug | 8 | 6 |
| Sep | 8.5 | 6.5 |
| Oct | 8.5 | 6.5 |
| Nov | 8.5 | 7 |
| Dec | 8.5 | 7 |
Air quality in Goroka by month
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 Goroka is worst in July — around 41 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 6.5× the cleanest month (January, 6 µg/m³).
Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PM2.5 (µg/m³) | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 9 | 19 | 41 | 27 | 19 | 13 | 10 | 7 |
| Level | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Moderate | Poor | Moderate | Moderate | Moderate | Good | Good |
| PM2.5 (µg/m³) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 6 | Good |
| Feb | 6 | Good |
| Mar | 7 | Good |
| Apr | 7 | Good |
| May | 9 | Good |
| Jun | 19 | Moderate |
| Jul | 41 | Poor |
| Aug | 27 | Moderate |
| Sep | 19 | Moderate |
| Oct | 13 | Moderate |
| Nov | 10 | Good |
| Dec | 7 | Good |
Growing season
Goroka is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frost-free chance (%) | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
| Frost nights | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Frost-free chance (%) | Frost nights | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 100 | 0 |
| Feb | 100 | 0 |
| Mar | 100 | 0 |
| Apr | 100 | 0 |
| May | 100 | 0 |
| Jun | 100 | 0 |
| Jul | 100 | 0 |
| Aug | 100 | 0 |
| Sep | 100 | 0 |
| Oct | 100 | 0 |
| Nov | 100 | 0 |
| Dec | 100 | 0 |
Growing degree days
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. Goroka banks about 3,377 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Growing degree days (°C·days) | 298 | 270 | 297 | 283 | 288 | 266 | 267 | 272 | 269 | 286 | 283 | 298 |
| Growing degree days (°C·days) | |
|---|---|
| Jan | 298 |
| Feb | 270 |
| Mar | 297 |
| Apr | 283 |
| May | 288 |
| Jun | 266 |
| Jul | 267 |
| Aug | 272 |
| Sep | 269 |
| Oct | 286 |
| Nov | 283 |
| Dec | 298 |
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.
Goroka receives about 4.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 4.3 and 5.4 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Solar energy (kWh/m²) | 4.7 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.8 | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.0 | 4.7 |
| Level | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright | Bright |
| Solar energy (kWh/m²) | Level | |
|---|---|---|
| Jan | 4.7 | Bright |
| Feb | 4.4 | Bright |
| Mar | 4.4 | Bright |
| Apr | 4.4 | Bright |
| May | 4.5 | Bright |
| Jun | 4.4 | Bright |
| Jul | 4.4 | Bright |
| Aug | 4.8 | Bright |
| Sep | 5.2 | Bright |
| Oct | 5.3 | Bright |
| Nov | 5.0 | Bright |
| Dec | 4.7 | Bright |
Where is Goroka?
Goroka sits at 6.1°S, 145.4°E, 1,574 m above sea level, in Papua New Guinea. The nearest listed city is Madang, 106 km away.
Topography around Goroka
How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Goroka.
Within 3 km, the terrain around Goroka has significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 335 m around an average of 1,549 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 2,179 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,443 m.
The land around Goroka is covered by trees (71%) within 3 km, trees (76%) and grassland (23%) within 16 km, and trees (84%) within 80 km.
Papua New Guinea travel facts
- Travel advisory
- Level 3
- Reconsider Travel
- Power plugs
- Type I
- 240 V · 50 Hz
- Prices
- ≈ 58% of US
- price level, 2025
- GDP per capita
- $3,020
- 2025
- Homicide rate
- 9.3
- per 100k, 2010
- Road deaths
- 12.6
- per 100k/yr, 2019
- Income group
- Lower middle
- 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 Goroka (-6.085°, 145.3867°, elevation 1,574 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. 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).