Climate Christchurch International Airport 2020-2024

Climate and trends: average temperature, flight conditions, precipitation, wind speed and direction.

Calculated from historical METAR data of Christchurch International Airport (NZCH) between 2020 and 2024.

VFR conditions (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	81.3	85	80	80	76	84
February	82.3	80	91	72	82	76
March	79.0	86	93	59	92	75
April	84.6		78	84	96	91
May	81.8		80	88	86	76
June	69.1		50	88	64	56
July	78.9		80	67	83	78
August	85.1		93	81	79	86
September	86.7		79	82	96	98
October	83.9		85	90	75	89
November	77.5		83	77	68	75
December	76.3		75	75	65	85
Average	80.9	83.7	80.9	78.3	79.6	81.1

2nd best VFR conditions of New Zealand

VFR conditions during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the VFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 8 km or more and a ceiling of 3,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Marginal VFR conditions (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	96.8	97	98	99	96	98
February	96.9	99	99	93	98	100
March	96.6	100	100	93	100	96
April	96.4		96	100	100	98
May	91.9		90	91	91	97
June	87.3		84	98	89	77
July	91.1		91	80	98	91
August	95.5		99	92	97	96
September	97.2		96	97	100	100
October	94.7		96	100	88	97
November	96.5		98	96	93	98
December	96.2		97	98	94	98
Average	95.4	98.6	95.7	94.7	95.3	95.9

Marginal VFR conditions or better during daylight period

Percentage of observations where the MVFR minimums for ceiling and visibility are met: visibility of 5 km or more and a ceiling of 1,000 ft or more. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Maximum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	23.5	25	23	22	23	23
February	22.9	23	24	21	23	25
March	20.3	19	20	20	22	20
April	17.8		17	18	20	19
May	15.2		16	16	16	15
June	11.9		12	13	12	12
July	11.8		12	11	12	12
August	13.2		12	14	13	14
September	15.5		16	15	16	17
October	17.4		18	17	17	19
November	19.9		19	21	19	19
December	21.6		22	21	21	22
Average	18.1	22.0	17.5	17.2	17.8	17.9

3rd highest temperature of New Zealand

Average highest temperature per day

The maximum temperature is typically observed some hours after noon.

Minimum temperatures (°C)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	13.2	13	14	13	13	12
February	12.0	11	13	12	12	12
March	10.5	9	10	11	11	10
April	7.4		9	7	7	7
May	5.1		7	6	4	5
June	3.4		5	3	5	4
July	2.5		2	3	3	2
August	3.0		1	4	4	3
September	4.8		6	5	4	4
October	6.7		7	6	8	8
November	9.4		8	11	10	9
December	11.8		12	12	13	10
Average	7.9	11.0	7.7	7.5	7.6	7.1

1st lowest temperature of New Zealand

Average lowest temperature per day

The minimum temperature is typically observed just before sunrise.

Precipitation (%)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	7.8	6	3	7	10	5
February	7.9	3	11	20	1	8
March	11.7	5	15	11	13	18
April	9.6		6	6	6	1
May	8.7		6	10	13	9
June	17.0		11	10	19	30
July	17.1		16	27	8	17
August	8.4		3	9	14	4
September	11.0		10	8	6	7
October	13.1		5	10	15	14
November	11.2		8	17	12	13
December	11.9		4	8	24	13
Average	10.5	4.9	7.9	11.8	11.7	11.1

Precipitation during daylight period

Percentage of observations with observed rain, drizzle, snow or hail. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Wind speed (knots)

Month	Average	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	12.4	13	13	12	12	12
February	11.8	11	12	11	11	12
March	11.0	13	11	10	10	13
April	9.8		10	9	10	10
May	8.0		8	7	9	8
June	7.5		9	8	7	8
July	7.9		8	8	9	8
August	8.7		9	9	9	9
September	10.4		12	10	10	11
October	11.1		12	11	12	11
November	11.5		12	11	12	12
December	12.0		12	11	12	12
Average	10.6	12.4	10.7	9.9	10.5	10.6

3rd highest wind speed of New Zealand

Average wind speed

Excluding wind gusts. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.

Prevailing wind direction

Month	2024	2023	2022	2021	2020
January	058°	081°	091°	048°	075°
February	074°	078°	094°	074°	069°
March	118°	096°	076°	076°	097°
April		075°	079°	053°	055°
May		070°	063°	090°	065°
June		065°	016°	209°	104°
July		182°	205°	071°	085°
August		071°	095°	314°	091°
September		325°	067°	018°	301°
October		029°	080°	087°	058°
November		093°	062°	064°	101°
December		056°	079°	063°	073°

Prevailing wind direction

Average wind direction, weighed by wind speed. Only observations between sunrise and sunset are taken into account.