Climate averages 1991–2020
Dunedin weather
in January.
A mild, moderately wet month: one of the warmest and the 11th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a mild month in Dunedin: daytime highs average 17.4°C and nights cool to about 10.9°C. By daytime temperature it is one of the warmest months of the year.
Expect about 89 mm of rain on roughly 13 days, which makes January a moderately wet month (the 11th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 15 h 16 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Christchurch (310 km away). In January its highs average 21.2°C, 3.8°C warmer than Dunedin, with 50 mm of rain.
Among the 11 cities listed in New Zealand, Dunedin ranks 11th of 11 for the warmest January highs and 10th of 11 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 11 cities is 20.8°C; Dunedin is 3.4°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs stay level at 17.4°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 89 mm to 74 mm.
The annual picture
January in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Dunedin climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 17.4°C10.9°C | 10.9°C | 89 | 12.9 | 15.315 h |
| February | 17.4°C10.9°C | 10.9°C | 74 | 10.5 | 14.014 h |
| March | 16.1°C9.6°C | 9.6°C | 59 | 9.5 | 12.412 h |
| April | 13.9°C7.6°C | 7.6°C | 54 | 9.3 | 10.811 h |
| May | 11.5°C5.5°C | 5.5°C | 50 | 9.7 | 9.49 h |
| June | 8.9°C3.2°C | 3.2°C | 46 | 9.2 | 8.79 h |
| July | 8.4°C2.3°C | 2.3°C | 39 | 8.0 | 9.09 h |
| August | 9.7°C3.1°C | 3.1°C | 41 | 9.4 | 10.210 h |
| September | 11.6°C4.4°C | 4.4°C | 50 | 10.6 | 11.712 h |
| October | 13.1°C6.1°C | 6.1°C | 74 | 13.5 | 13.413 h |
| November | 14.3°C7.6°C | 7.6°C | 77 | 13.6 | 14.815 h |
| December | 16.0°C9.6°C | 9.6°C | 96 | 14.4 | 15.616 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
January in nearby cities
- Christchurch in JanuaryNew Zealand · 310 kmHigh 21.2°C · Low 12.4°C · 50 mm rain
- Wellington in JanuaryNew Zealand · 615 kmHigh 17.8°C · Low 14.6°C · 55 mm rain
- Lower Hutt in JanuaryNew Zealand · 628 kmHigh 19.5°C · Low 14.6°C · 58 mm rain
- Palmerston North in JanuaryNew Zealand · 740 kmHigh 20.8°C · Low 13.1°C · 70 mm rain
- Hamilton, New Zealand in JanuaryNew Zealand · 982 kmHigh 22.5°C · Low 14.0°C · 70 mm rain
- Tauranga in JanuaryNew Zealand · 1024 kmHigh 22.0°C · Low 15.5°C · 86 mm rain
- Manukau City in JanuaryNew Zealand · 1052 kmHigh 22.2°C · Low 16.0°C · 65 mm rain
- Auckland in JanuaryNew Zealand · 1064 kmHigh 22.0°C · Low 16.4°C · 68 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Dunedin) is explained once on the Dunedin year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.