Climate averages 1991–2020
Wellington weather
in May.
A cool, moderately wet month: the 7th warmest and the 8th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
May is a cool month in Wellington: daytime highs average 13.8°C and nights cool to about 11.1°C. By daytime temperature it is the 7th warmest of the 12 months.
Expect about 76 mm of rain on roughly 10 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 8th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 9 h 51 min on an average May day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Lower Hutt (14 km away). In May its highs average 14.3°C, about as warm as Wellington, with 70 mm of rain.
Among the 11 cities listed in New Zealand, Wellington ranks 9th of 11 for the warmest May highs and 5th of 11 for the driest May (rainfall, lowest first). The mean May high of those 11 cities is 14.8°C; Wellington is 1.0°C cooler than that mean.
From May to June, average highs fall by 1.8°C to 12.0°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 76 mm to 95 mm.
The annual picture
May 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
Wellington climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 17.8°C14.6°C | 14.6°C | 55 | 7.6 | 14.815 h |
| February | 18.3°C15.0°C | 15.0°C | 56 | 6.1 | 13.714 h |
| March | 17.2°C14.0°C | 14.0°C | 59 | 7.6 | 12.412 h |
| April | 15.4°C12.4°C | 12.4°C | 73 | 9.1 | 11.011 h |
| May, selected | 13.8°C11.1°C | 11.1°C | 76 | 10.3 | 9.910 h |
| June | 12.0°C9.4°C | 9.4°C | 95 | 12.1 | 9.29 h |
| July | 11.2°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 87 | 12.2 | 9.510 h |
| August | 11.3°C8.6°C | 8.6°C | 82 | 12.7 | 10.510 h |
| September | 12.3°C9.4°C | 9.4°C | 74 | 10.7 | 11.812 h |
| October | 13.5°C10.4°C | 10.4°C | 83 | 11.4 | 13.213 h |
| November | 14.7°C11.5°C | 11.5°C | 69 | 9.1 | 14.414 h |
| December | 16.5°C13.4°C | 13.4°C | 65 | 9.7 | 15.115 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
May in nearby cities
- Lower Hutt in MayNew Zealand · 14 kmHigh 14.3°C · Low 10.4°C · 70 mm rain
- Palmerston North in MayNew Zealand · 125 kmHigh 14.4°C · Low 7.9°C · 79 mm rain
- Hastings, New Zealand in MayNew Zealand · 254 kmHigh 15.5°C · Low 8.3°C · 54 mm rain
- New Plymouth in MayNew Zealand · 254 kmHigh 14.7°C · Low 10.2°C · 183 mm rain
- Christchurch in MayNew Zealand · 305 kmHigh 13.5°C · Low 5.8°C · 48 mm rain
- Hamilton, New Zealand in MayNew Zealand · 392 kmHigh 15.8°C · Low 8.2°C · 107 mm rain
- Tauranga in MayNew Zealand · 418 kmHigh 15.8°C · Low 10.6°C · 113 mm rain
- Manukau City in MayNew Zealand · 478 kmHigh 16.4°C · Low 11.5°C · 92 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 Wellington) is explained once on the Wellington year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.