Yaren month by month, at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
Yaren's annual average is 2,080 millimetres of rain spread over 152 days. It is a tidy figure, with a wet block from November to February and a drier stretch from May to October, and it is enough to pack a bag. What it does not explain is the number that really decides a trip to Nauru: across different years, the annual total has ranged from about 310 millimetres to about 4,500.
01 Two thousand and eighty millimetres on average
The wet months are December and January, with 280 millimetres each, followed by February with 250. The westerly monsoon blows from November to February and concentrates most of the water there.
The dry stretch opens with May at 120 millimetres and closes with October at 100, the year's minimum. Between them, June drops to 110 and August to 130. The gap between the wettest and the driest month is 180 millimetres: notable, but not dramatic.
Rain days sharpen the picture. May and June have nine; January has sixteen. August is a curious case: only 130 millimetres spread over fourteen days, that is, short frequent showers rather than long downpours.
Key moments at a glance
100 mm on average, less than half of January's.
110 mm within the trade-wind stretch.
280 mm over 16 days, the annual maximum.
280 mm and 15 rain days.
02 Three hundred and ten, or four thousand five hundred
Variability between years is Nauru's dominant climatic feature. Historical records run from around 310 millimetres in a year to around 4,500: fourteen times more water in one year than in another, over the same island.
The engine of that swing is the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. In El Niño phases rainfall over Nauru increases; in La Niña phases it drops, and droughts can run for up to three years in a row.
For the traveller this translates into something very concrete: the island has no rivers or streams, and fresh water comes from roof catchment, desalination and supplies brought in by ship. In a dry year water is rationed, and that is the variable worth checking before you book.
03 The thermometer barely moves
Nauru sits half a degree of latitude from the equator, and the temperature shows it. Average highs are 30 degrees from January to September and 31 from October to December. Average lows are 25 degrees in all twelve months.
The recorded extremes do not open the range much either: 37 degrees as the absolute high, in February, and 20 as the absolute low, in May, July and September. There is no cold season and no hot season; there is one temperature with shades.
The practical consequence is that your clothing does not change with the calendar. What changes is how long you stay wet and how long what you are wearing takes to dry.
04 What does change with the calendar
From November to February the wind turns westerly and brings the monsoon showers. The rest of the year the easterly trade wind dominates, steadier, and it is what makes afternoons on the east coast pleasant.
The sea follows that cycle. Anibare Bay, in the east, is the country's main stretch of sand, and the reef ringing the island generates frequent rip currents: it is worth asking before going in, in any month.
Everything else you visit — the mined plateau, Buada Lagoon, the ring road — works the same all year. The only real difference is mud and visibility when it rains hard.
05 What to pack, and in short
Light quick-drying clothes, closed shoes with a hard sole for walking among limestone pinnacles, high sun protection, a thin rain shell and a refillable bottle. Payments are in Australian dollars and cards are rarely accepted, so bring cash.
In short: May to October for the dry stretch, with October and June as the best bets; November to February only if you accept daily showers. And above all of that, look at the year: in Nauru the calendar proposes and El Niño disposes.
