Climate and average weather in Mendi

In Mendi, the weather is mild, wet, and mostly cloudy and remarkably steady, with daytime highs holding near mild levels all year. The wettest stretch peaks around October.

Best: early January to late December

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Mendi typically varies from 13°C to 22°C, and is rarely below 11°C or above 23°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Mendi for warm-weather activities is from early January to late December.

Hottest
Jan
22°
Coldest
Jul
13°
Wettest
Oct
591 mm
Driest
Jul
412 mm
Rain / yr
5978 mm
348 wet days
Daylight
11.6–12.4 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
1,729 m
6.1°S
Clearest
Jun
89% cloud

Mendi is capital city of Southern Highlands, Papua New Guinea.

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

Mendi 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 late December.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Mendi stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is January, with an average high of 22°C and low of 13°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 13°C and high of 20°C.

Days typically run about 8°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2213
Feb2213
Mar2113
Apr2114
May2113
Jun2013
Jul2013
Aug2013
Sep2013
Oct2113
Nov2213
Dec2213

Average hourly temperature in Mendi

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 22°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 13°C.

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

Mendi 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
Jan22° / 13°45029.412.33.4
Feb22° / 13°42726.812.23.4
Mar21° / 13°50429.9123.3
Apr21° / 14°58329.211.93.3
May21° / 13°55729.911.73.4
Jun20° / 13°46829.111.73.3
Jul20° / 13°41229.711.73.3
Aug20° / 13°48029.611.83.3
Sep20° / 13°56728.4123.4
Oct21° / 13°59128.712.13.5
Nov22° / 13°4862812.33.5
Dec22° / 13°45229.312.43.4

Chance of rain

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

Mendi gets about 5978 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is very wet, and that barely changes with the seasons — rain is spread fairly evenly through the year.

October is the wettest month by volume, with 591 mm over about 29 wet days; July is the driest, with 412 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%110%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecmostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetApr 25 · 99%Oct 18 · 91%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan9529
Feb9627
Mar9630
Apr9729
May9630
Jun9729
Jul9630
Aug9530
Sep9528
Oct9329
Nov9328
Dec9429

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Mendi collects about 5978 mm of rain across 348 wet days — roughly 498 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. October is the wettest month with 591 mm, while July is the driest at just 412 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 29% of the year’s total.

050100150200250300350400450500550600650700JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec450427504583557468412480567591486452
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan45029
Feb42727
Mar50430
Apr58329
May55730
Jun46829
Jul41230
Aug48030
Sep56728
Oct59129
Nov48628
Dec45229

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

In Mendi, 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 June 19 and lasts for 3.4 months, ending around September 28. The clearest month is July, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 2% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around December 14 and lasts for 4.6 months, ending around May 3. The cloudiest month is March, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 100% 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJul 8 · 3%Feb 2 · 0%mostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan199
Feb0100
Mar0100
Apr0100
May298
Jun199
Jul298
Aug298
Sep298
Oct298
Nov298
Dec199

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 January 1, brings about 12 h 24 min of light; the shortest, around June 12, only 11 h 36 min — a swing of roughly 0 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan12.36:256:44
Feb12.26:346:46
Mar12.06:346:36
Apr11.96:306:22
May11.76:306:13
Jun11.76:366:15
Jul11.76:416:21
Aug11.86:366:23
Sep12.06:216:19
Oct12.16:066:15
Nov12.36:026:19
Dec12.46:116:32

Sunny days

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

Mendi gets about 0 sunny days a month gloomy — and it barely shifts through the year, holding between 0 and 0 days every month. Clear skies here are a flat line, not a season.

05JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgloomyDec 20 daysJan 10 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan0Gloomy
Feb0Gloomy
Mar0Gloomy
Apr0Gloomy
May0Gloomy
Jun0Gloomy
Jul0Gloomy
Aug0Gloomy
Sep0Gloomy
Oct0Gloomy
Nov0Gloomy
Dec0Gloomy

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 Mendi, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 4.1 months, from around February 10 to June 15. The muggiest month is May, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 27% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around June 16 to November 18, and August is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 96% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 11 · 97%May 2 · 66%humidcomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)
Jan38314
Feb38215
Mar27918
Apr17128
May27127
Jun38314
Jul4924
Aug7904
Sep6886
Oct78310
Nov58114
Dec37819

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 Mendi is steady company: average speeds sit near 4 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmFeb 3 · 4 km/hApr 4 · 4 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan4calm
Feb4calm
Mar4calm
Apr4calm
May4calm
Jun4calm
Jul4calm
Aug4calm
Sep4calm
Oct4calm
Nov4calm
Dec4calm

Best time to visit Mendi

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around mid January, Mendi 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. In Mendi it holds close to 3.6 all year, so any month is about as good as another for general outdoor tourist activities.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDectravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitation

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
Jan3.4poor
Feb3.4poor
Mar3.3poor
Apr3.3poor
May3.4poor
Jun3.3poor
Jul3.3poor
Aug3.3poor
Sep3.4poor
Oct3.5poor
Nov3.5fair
Dec3.5poor

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. In Mendi it holds close to 2.4 all year, so any month is about as good as another for hot-weather activities.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitation

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 Mendi, 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.

Mendi packs about the same all year — highs hold near 22°C. Across the year the things worth having are rain gear and sun protection.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Mendi sees daytime highs around 22°C and nights near 13°C. Pack rain gear. Worth having: sun protection. About 29 days see rain.

UV index (midday) in Mendi 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 Mendi peaks around March 14 at about 18 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 19 at about 12 (extreme).

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

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeMar 14UV 18Jun 19UV 12
UV index (midday)Level
Jan17Extreme
Feb17Extreme
Mar18Extreme
Apr16Extreme
May14Extreme
Jun12Extreme
Jul12Extreme
Aug14Extreme
Sep16Extreme
Oct16Extreme
Nov16Extreme
Dec15Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Mendi

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 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.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan8.57
Feb8.57
Mar8.57
Apr8.57
May86
Jun7.55.5
Jul86
Aug86.5
Sep8.56.5
Oct8.57
Nov8.57
Dec8.56.5
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Mendi 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. Mendi banks about 2,553 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around April.

01,0002,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan228
Feb207
Mar228
Apr223
May225
Jun202
Jul195
Aug194
Sep196
Oct214
Nov215
Dec227

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.

Mendi receives about 4.3 kWh/m² a day of solar energy — bright — and it stays remarkably steady, holding between 3.5 and 4.9 kWh/m² all year. For solar panels, output here is a flat line, not a seasonal wave.

0123456JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecdimmoderatebrightNov 224.9 kWhJul 223.5 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan4.8Bright
Feb4.6Bright
Mar4.5Bright
Apr4.3Bright
May4.0Bright
Jun3.7Moderate
Jul3.6Moderate
Aug3.9Moderate
Sep4.3Bright
Oct4.8Bright
Nov4.9Bright
Dec4.7Bright

Where is Mendi?

Mendi sits at 6.1°S, 143.7°E, 1,729 m above sea level, in Papua New Guinea. The nearest listed city is Mount Hagen, 71 km away.

GorokaMadangWewakDaruBuloloLaeMerauke

Topography around Mendi

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Mendi has large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 889 m around an average of 1,903 m above sea level; within 16 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,714 m; within 80 km, extreme variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 4,228 m.

The land around Mendi is covered by trees (63%) and grassland (33%) within 3 km, trees (80%) within 16 km, and trees (87%) within 80 km.

3 km
889 m
16 km
1,714 m
80 km
4,228 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfaceswetland
Nearby: Mount Hagen 71 km · Goroka 191 km · Madang 257 km · Wewak 289 km · Daru 330 km · Bulolo 350 km · Lae 375 km · Merauke 444 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
Protestant 64%Roman Catholic 26%other Christian 5%non-Christian 1%

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 Mendi (-6.1475°, 143.6563°, elevation 1,729 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. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).