Cook Islands · 21.21°S 159.78°W · 30-year monthly averages, judged against the Tropical preset (highs 28–38 °C82–100 °F, any rain except monsoon)
The best time to visit Rarotonga is December to April, with highs of 28–29 °C82–84 °F and nights of 22–23 °C72–73 °F.
Rain falls all year, 104–264 mm4.1–10 in a month, so there is no dry season. July is the driest month and January the wettest. February is the hottest month (highs of 29 °C84 °F) and July the coldest (25 °C77 °F).
The figures are 30-year monthly averages (WorldClim 2.1 monthly normals 1970–2000) for the 0.25° grid cell at -21.21, -159.78. This is a climate guide, not a forecast.
Pick the weather you like. Every month is then judged against it: temperature above the month names, rain below.
Good time to go for a Tropical holiday: December to April.
Open Rarotonga on the interactive map ↗ the same verdicts for any place on Earth, in any month
Reading the chart. Gold means good: the month fits what you picked. Any other colour shows the reason it does not. The temperature bar can be too cold or too hot; the rain bar can be too dry, too rainy or monsoon. A faded gold bar means that half fits but the other half does not. A gold month name means both halves fit.
What the verdicts mean. Temperature is the month's average daily high (the afternoon), judged against the preset's band (highs 28–38 °C82–100 °F for Tropical). Rain is judged by each month's class within Rarotonga's own year, not by raw millimetres: dry under 60 mm2.4 in, showers 60–100 mm2.4–3.9 in, rainy from 100 mm3.9 in and at least 35 % of the wettest month. Too rainy is a rainy-season month that the preset does not allow. Monsoon is the heaviest kind of rainy season: 180 mm7.1 in or more (120 mm4.7 in near the yearly peak) in a climate where the wettest month has at least three times the rain of the driest. Every monsoon month is also a rainy-season month; the label says which kind. Full rules on the method page.
| Month | Rain | High | Low | Season | Tropical verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 26410 | 2983 | 2373 | rainy | good |
| February | 2248.8 | 2984 | 2373 | rainy | good |
| March | 2007.9 | 2984 | 2373 | rainy | good |
| April | 2088.2 | 2882 | 2272 | rainy | good |
| May | 1766.9 | 2679 | 2170 | rainy | too cold |
| June | 1124.4 | 2577 | 2067 | rainy | too cold |
| July | 1044.1 | 2576 | 1966 | rainy | too cold |
| August | 1285.0 | 2576 | 1965 | rainy | too cold |
| September | 1124.4 | 2577 | 1966 | rainy | too cold |
| October | 1204.7 | 2678 | 2068 | rainy | too cold |
| November | 1686.6 | 2781 | 2170 | rainy | too cold |
| December | 2248.8 | 2882 | 2272 | rainy | good |
| Looking for | Rule | Months that fit |
|---|---|---|
| Warm | highs 19–28 °C66–82 °F, dry or showers | |
| Tropical | highs 28–38 °C82–100 °F, any rain except monsoon | December to April |
| Beach | highs 28–38 °C82–100 °F, dry or showers | |
| Cool | highs 3–19 °C37–66 °F, any rain except monsoon | |
| Snow | highs below 3 °C37 °F, any rain |
Not a clear one. Rain falls all year, 104–264 mm4.1–10 in a month, so there is no dry season. July is the driest month and January the wettest.
February is the hottest month (highs of 29 °C84 °F) and July the coldest (25 °C77 °F). Annual rainfall is about 2,040 mm80 in.
The nearest destinations that fit the Tropical preset in the months when Rarotonga does not:
The interactive map colours the whole world by how well it fits the weather you like, in any month, and shows this chart for any place you tap.