Weather in New Plymouth in January

Prime time. January is about as good as New Plymouth gets. Highs average 21.1 °C, lows 14.4 °C, and rain falls on 10 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

January is the highest-scoring month of the twelve. The nearest rival is February, and the month at the other end of the year is July.

Rain on 10 days, 2 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 January reaches 30 °C. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest January day reached 27.4 °C and the coldest night fell to 8.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 86 mm — roughly 125% of the month's rain in one day.

January is moderately variable: 22 mm in the driest year against 166 mm in the wettest, around an average of 69 mm. Roughly two Januarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 13.9 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: 19.4 °C in December, 21.1 here, 21.7 in February. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in January

January is at or near the longest days of New Plymouth's year: 14.6 hours of daylight, losing 0.7 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 19.2 °C in January — swimmable, but it takes a moment to commit. This is the warmest the water gets all year.

How busy it gets

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, November is the trade worth considering — 12 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

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

January 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 — 2.9 °C warmer, the same number of rain days. Palmerston North is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.2 °C warmer, the same number of rain days.

So: January is the answer for New Plymouth. If it is booked out or priced out, February is the next best thing at 0 points behind, and July is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in New Plymouth

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