Climate averages 1991–2020

Port Moresby weather
in May.

A hot, moderately wet month: the joint 9th warmest and the 6th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 29.2°C Daytime mean, May
Average low 23.3°C Night-time mean, May
Rainfall 81 mm 12 days with ≥1 mm
Daylight 12 h Sunrise to sunset, per day
Every month in Port Moresby · average highYear overview

May is a hot month in Port Moresby: daytime highs average 29.2°C and nights cool to about 23.3°C. By daytime temperature it is the joint 9th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 81 mm of rain on roughly 12 days, which makes May a moderately wet month (the 6th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 11 h 41 min on an average May day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Merauke (749 km away). In May its highs average 28.8°C, about as warm as Port Moresby, with 106 mm of rain.

From May to June, average highs fall by 0.3°C to 28.9°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 81 mm to 51 mm.

The annual picture

May in context

30-year average
Average highAverage low°C
Average daily high and low temperatures by month The same values are available in the monthly table below. Lines show mean daily maxima and minima, not a forecast interval. 20253035 JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm
Average monthly rainfall totalsEach bar is a mean monthly total over 1991–2020. Full numbers are in the table. JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec 3000

Averages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated

Every month, side by side

Port Moresby climate table

1991–2020
Monthly climate averages for Port Moresby, 1991–2020
MonthAverage highHigh / lowAverage lowRainfall mm/monthRain days ≥1 mm/dayDaylight hours/dayDay­light h/day
January 30.1°C23.6°C23.6°C23022.912.613 h
February 29.9°C23.6°C23.6°C19721.112.412 h
March 29.3°C23.2°C23.2°C27624.912.212 h
April 29.3°C23.3°C23.3°C17720.211.912 h
May, selected 29.2°C23.3°C23.3°C8112.211.712 h
June 28.9°C23.1°C23.1°C518.611.612 h
July 28.6°C22.6°C22.6°C295.211.612 h
August 29.2°C22.4°C22.4°C346.411.812 h
September 30.1°C22.8°C22.8°C457.812.012 h
October 30.8°C23.2°C23.2°C6211.012.312 h
November 31.0°C23.5°C23.5°C11015.512.513 h
December 30.6°C23.7°C23.7°C17021.212.713 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

Distance from Port Moresby

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 limits

How these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Port Moresby) is explained once on the Port Moresby year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.