Weather in Wellington in February

Prime time. If you get to pick your dates, February is the one. Highs average 19.5 °C, lows 15.1 °C, and rain falls on 7 days — nothing in the month is working against you.

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

Rain on 7 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 February reaches 30 °C; the day barely swings — 4.5 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 25.3 °C and the coldest night fell to 10.9 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 77 mm — roughly 133% of the month's rain in one day.

This is the volatile part. February rainfall has ranged from 13 mm to 258 mm across the twenty years measured — a 245 mm spread around an average of 58 mm. The average is real but almost no individual February looks like it, so treat the figure as the middle of a wide range rather than a forecast.

Wind sits around 18.7 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 19.2 °C in January, 19.5 here, 18.3 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

13.7 hours of daylight, losing 1.3 hours across the month. That is between Wellington's extremes of 15.1 and 9.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 16.8 °C in February — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. 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.

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

February in Wellington versus nearby

If Wellington is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Nelson is close enough to be a coin toss — 5.9 °C warmer, 2 days more rain. Palmerston North is close enough to be a coin toss — 4.3 °C warmer, 2 days more rain.

So: February is the answer for Wellington. If it is booked out or priced out, January is the next best thing at 2 points behind, and July is the month to keep off the shortlist.

Every month in Wellington

See all twelve months in Wellington, or where else to go in February.