Weather in New Plymouth in August

A hard month. August asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 17 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

August ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of New Plymouth's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 37 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 17 days, 4 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 13.2 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 5.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 17 °C and the coldest night fell to 1.9 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 52 mm — roughly 44% of the month's rain in one day.

August is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest August on record still delivered 215 mm against 35 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 118 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind is light at 14.8 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 87%, which at 13.2 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 12.6 °C in July, 13.2 here, 14.4 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

10.6 hours of daylight, gaining 1.1 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 14.3 °C in August — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. 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

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.

August 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, 3 days less rain. Palmerston North is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 1 day less rain.

So: August is a compromise. January is 36 points better and is what New Plymouth is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in New Plymouth

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