Weather in Apia in January

Shoulder season. January is shoulder season in Apia — cheaper, quieter, and a genuine gamble. You should expect rain on 26 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

Apia barely has seasons. January scores 55 out of 100 against a best of 72 in August — a gap small enough that the month you choose matters far less here than the week you choose.

Rain on 26 of the month's 31 days, 9 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Natural fibres and a second shirt for the day. At 82% nothing dries, including you.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 1.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 30.9 °C and the coldest night fell to 25.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 88 mm — roughly 34% of the month's rain in one day.

January is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest January on record still delivered 514 mm against 97 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 258 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 14.6 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 82%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How January sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 28.7 °C in December, 28.8 here, 28.8 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in January

Apia sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 12.9 hours in January, against a range of just 1.6 hours across the whole calendar. Sunrise and sunset land at roughly the same time whenever you come.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29.3 °C in January — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. The sea peaks at 29.5 °C in March and bottoms out at 27.8 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

January in Apia versus nearby

If Apia is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nuku‘alofa is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 7 days less rain. Avarua is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.1 °C cooler, 7 days less rain.

So: January works, with August the better month by 17 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in Apia

See all twelve months in Apia, or where else to go in January.