Weather in Apia in May

Shoulder season. May sits in between. You will get good days and you will lose some. You should expect rain on 19 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

Apia barely has seasons. May scores 56 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 19 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 28.7 °C days and 27.4 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: it never really gets hot: not one day in an average May reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 1.3 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest May day reached 30.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 25.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 58 mm — roughly 45% of the month's rain in one day.

May is moderately variable: 12 mm in the driest year against 275 mm in the wettest, around an average of 128 mm. Roughly two Mays in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 15.5 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 81%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How May sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 28.8 °C in April, 28.7 here, 28.3 in June. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in May

Apia sits close enough to the equator that daylight barely moves all year — 11.5 hours in May, 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 29.1 °C in May — 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.

May in Apia versus nearby

If Apia is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nuku‘alofa is a better bet in May — 3.5 °C cooler, 4 days less rain. Avarua is a better bet in May — 3.1 °C cooler, 2 days less rain.

So: May works, with August the better month by 16 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 May.