Our Weather

Cook Islands weather is typically tropical to sub-tropical with just two seasons (wet and dry).  The Northern Group islands temperature is fairly constant throughout the year. It tends to be between 5-7 degrees Celsius warmer than the Southern Group.

 

Wet season: November to April / May

 The wet season begins in late November and lasts until April or May, and sometimes longer in the Southern Cooks (that includes Rarotonga and Aitutaki).   November to March is also the cyclone (hurricane) season.  It can become hot and humid (29 degrees Celcius / 84 Fahrenheit by day) with bright sunny mornings and late afternoon downpours around Rarotonga.  As the heat accumulates over the Pacific Ocean during this season, depressions can form bringing with them thunderstorms, strong winds and the occasional tropical cyclone.   According to the national newspaper, The Cook Islands News: "on Rarotonga, we judge how hot the weather is by checking how much the tar seal on the roads has melted!"

 

Dry season: June to October

July is "midwinter", and the average daily temperature is 25 degrees Celcius / 77 Fahrenheit.  This drops to around 19 degrees Celcius / 66 Fahrenheit at night.   On really cold nights, it can fall as low as 14 Celcius / 57 Fahrenheit.  The lowest winter temperature on record was in 1965 when the thermometer fell to just over 9 degrees C (48F).