Weather in Port-Vila in September

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, September is the one. Highs average 25.2 °C, lows 24.1 °C, and rain falls on 11 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

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

Rain on 11 days, 1 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 September reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 1.1 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest September day reached 27.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 21.2 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 29 mm — roughly 49% of the month's rain in one day.

September is moderately variable: 11 mm in the driest year against 125 mm in the wettest, around an average of 59 mm. Roughly two Septembers in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind sits around 21.8 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 78%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How September sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 24.8 °C in August, 25.2 here, 25.9 in October. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in September

12 hours of daylight, gaining 0.5 hours across the month. That is between Port-Vila's extremes of 13.2 and 11.1 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 25.4 °C in September — warm enough to stay in as long as you like. The sea peaks at 28.8 °C in February and bottoms out at 25.2 °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

Peak season. Expect the highest prices of the year and to be booking well ahead. If the dates are flexible, October is the trade worth considering — 8 points weaker on weather, and materially quieter.

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

September in Port-Vila versus nearby

If Port-Vila is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nouméa is close enough to be a coin toss — 3 °C cooler, 3 days less rain. Nadi is the weaker option in September — 2.4 °C warmer, 2 days more rain.

So: September is the answer for Port-Vila. If it is booked out or priced out, July is the next best thing at 5 points behind, and March is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Port-Vila

See all twelve months in Port-Vila, or where else to go in September.