Tarawa, Kiribati climate

Af Tropical rainforest

Tarawa has a remarkably steady tropical climate (Tropical rainforest, Köppen Af). The hottest month is September with an average daily high near 32°C, while the coldest is March averaging around 25°C at night. Around 1586 mm of precipitation falls each year, peaking in March (197 mm) and easing off in November (77 mm).

☀️ All year

Hot

Daytime highs near 32°C most of the year.

🌙 Nights

Stays warm

Even the coolest nights stay near 25°C.

🌧️ Rain

Very wet

About 1586 mm of rain a year.

Wettest in March

⛅ Sky & trend

Often cloudy

Cloudy skies much of the year.

Temperature & precipitation

Daily high–low temperature range with the monthly average, plus monthly precipitation · 1991–2020 normals · hover a month for the exact figures

Hours of sunshine per day

Estimated sunny hours each month — daylight length × clear-sky fraction · 1991–2020 monthly cloud cover (NASA POWER)

Tarawa climate normals (1991–2020)

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg high (°C)	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	31	32	31	31	31
Avg temp (°C)	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	28	29	29	29	28
Avg low (°C)	26	26	25	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26	26
Precipitation (mm)	191	141	197	174	136	114	118	89	97	101	77	152

Jan – Jun	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Avg high (°C)	31	31	31	31	31	31
Avg temp (°C)	28	28	28	28	28	28
Avg low (°C)	26	26	25	26	26	26
Precipitation (mm)	191	141	197	174	136	114

Jul – Dec	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Avg high (°C)	31	31	32	31	31	31
Avg temp (°C)	28	28	29	29	29	28
Avg low (°C)	26	26	26	26	26	26
Precipitation (mm)	118	89	97	101	77	152

Sky & atmosphere

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cloud cover (%)	74	73	70	69	62	62	62	58	56	56	62	70
Relative humidity (%)	80	81	82	83	82	81	79	78	77	78	78	80
Wind speed (m/s)	5.0	5.2	4.9	4.6	4.2	4.1	4.0	4.0	4.2	4.0	4.0	4.5

Jan – Jun	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun
Cloud cover (%)	74	73	70	69	62	62
Relative humidity (%)	80	81	82	83	82	81
Wind speed (m/s)	5.0	5.2	4.9	4.6	4.2	4.1

Jul – Dec	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Cloud cover (%)	62	58	56	56	62	70
Relative humidity (%)	79	78	77	78	78	80
Wind speed (m/s)	4.0	4.0	4.2	4.0	4.0	4.5

Methodology & sources

Temperature & precipitation — 1991–2020 normals computed from 28 years of daily observations at Bonriki Intl, a weather station, about 20 km from the city centre. The underlying daily records come from NOAA's global station network.

Cloud, humidity, wind & sunshine — modelled estimates from NASA POWER, NASA's satellite-and-reanalysis climatology. This is the standard global source for atmospheric variables, which are not measured at most weather stations.

How we build these numbers →