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Weather extremes

How extreme does Christchurch's weather get?

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest days Christchurch has recorded — the outer limits of what its weather can do, and how far they sit beyond a normal day.

Based on 34 years of daily weather observations (1991–present), from the Christchurch Intl station 10 km away. Updated through August 2025 — an all-time extreme only changes when a more extreme day actually occurs, so some dates are old. That is normal, not stale data.

The four kinds of extreme

The hottest, coldest, wettest and snowiest single days Christchurch has recorded — each shown against what a normal day that time of year looks like.

🔥 Hottest day
97°F Mar 24, 1998

That is about 28°F hotter than a normal March afternoon in Christchurch (typical high near 69°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 97°F Mar 24, 1998
2 97°F Dec 21, 2015
3 97°F Jan 26, 2021
❄️ Coldest night
21°F Jul 2, 2001

About 13°F colder than a normal July night in Christchurch (typical low near 35°F).

The three most extreme on record

1 21°F Jul 2, 2001
2 21°F Jul 4, 2001
3 21°F Jul 6, 2003
🌧️ Most rain in one day
2.32 in Jul 27, 1994

The three most extreme on record

1 2.32 in Jul 27, 1994
2 1.69 in Mar 7, 1994
3 1.22 in Mar 18, 1994

How hot and cold it gets, month by month

The shaded band is the normal range of daily temperatures for each month. The dots show the most extreme it has ever been — so you can see how far beyond a normal day the records really sit.

10°30°50°70°90°110° all-time high 97°F JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
normal range of daily temperatureshottest ever recordedcoldest ever recorded

Christchurch's record heat sits well above even a hot day for the season — March's 97°F is about 28°F beyond a normal hot afternoon. Its record cold is just as far below a normal winter night — the dots mark how rare each extreme really is.

In plain terms

In a normal year, Christchurch's warmest days reach the low 70s°F and its coldest nights drop to the mid-30s°F. But across the record it has gone as high as 97°F and as low as 21°F. A single day has delivered over 2 inches of rain. Those are the outer edges worth knowing if you are moving here, planning a trip, or thinking about a house.
Methodology & sources

Temperature & precipitation — 1991–2020 normals computed from 26 years of daily observations at Christchurch Aero Aws, a weather station, about 11 km from the city centre. The underlying daily records come from NOAA's global station network.

How we build these numbers →