Weather in New Plymouth in April

A good month. April is a solid month to be in New Plymouth. Highs average 18.2 °C, lows 12.3 °C, and rain falls on 12 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

April ranks 4 of 12 in New Plymouth: past the worst of the year but short of January, which is the month to book if the dates are open.

Rain on 12 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Nothing specialised needed — this is the month you pack for the trip rather than for the weather.

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 April reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 6 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest April day reached 23.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 6.6 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 85 mm — roughly 83% of the month's rain in one day.

April is moderately variable: 38 mm in the driest year against 230 mm in the wettest, around an average of 103 mm. Roughly two Aprils in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 13.4 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 84%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How April sits in the year

The month is on the way down: 2.5 °C cooler than March, with May dropping another 2.4 °C. The first week and the last are not the same trip.

Daylight in April

11.1 hours of daylight, losing 1.2 hours across the month. That is between New Plymouth's extremes of 14.9 and 9.4 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 18.9 °C in April — swimmable, but it takes a moment to commit. The sea peaks at 20.2 °C in February and bottoms out at 14.2 °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

Busy. Popular without being frantic; book the things you care about, improvise the rest.

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

April in New Plymouth versus nearby

If New Plymouth is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Taupo is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 2 days less rain. Palmerston North is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: April works, with January the better month by 10 points if the dates can move. If they cannot, nothing here should stop you booking.

Every month in New Plymouth

See all twelve months in New Plymouth, or where else to go in April.