Spring Weather in Nuku‘alofa Tonga

Daily high temperatures increase by 6°F, from 76°F to 82°F, rarely falling below 73°F or exceeding 85°F.

Daily low temperatures increase by 6°F, from 67°F to 73°F, rarely falling below 61°F or exceeding 76°F.

For reference, on February 13, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Nuku‘alofa typically range from 76°F to 85°F, while on August 22, the coldest day of the year, they range from 66°F to 76°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average spring temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Port Louis, Mauritius (7,883 miles away) is the far-away foreign place with temperatures most similar to Nuku‘alofa (view comparison).

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The spring in Nuku‘alofa experiences very rapidly increasing cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy increasing from 41% to 63%.

The clearest day of the spring is September 5, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 60% of the time.

For reference, on February 25, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 71%, while on August 8, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 62%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Nuku‘alofa, the chance of a wet day over the course of the spring is increasing, starting the season at 23% and ending it at 29%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 42% on April 2, and its lowest chance is 15% on June 29.

Rainfall

To show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the spring in Nuku‘alofa is rapidly increasing, starting the season at 2.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 5.1 inches or falls below 0.5 inches, and ending the season at 3.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 7.5 inches or falls below 0.7 inches.

The lowest average 31-day accumulation is 2.2 inches on October 24.

Over the course of the spring in Nuku‘alofa, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 37 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 1 minute, 4 seconds, and weekly increase of 7 minutes, 31 seconds.

The shortest day of the spring is September 1, with 11 hours, 43 minutes of daylight and the longest day is November 30, with 13 hours, 19 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the spring in Nuku‘alofa is 6:49 AM on September 1 and the earliest sunrise is 59 minutes earlier at 5:50 AM on November 26.

The earliest sunset is 6:32 PM on September 1 and the latest sunset is 38 minutes later at 7:09 PM on November 30.

Daylight saving time is not observed in Nuku‘alofa during 2024.

For reference, on December 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 5:56 AM and sets 13 hours, 25 minutes later, at 7:22 PM, while on June 20, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:17 AM and sets 10 hours, 51 minutes later, at 6:08 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the spring of 2024. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Nuku‘alofa is very rapidly increasing during the spring, rising from 39% to 89% over the course of the season.

For reference, on February 13, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on August 23, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 36% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Nuku‘alofa is essentially constant during the spring, remaining within 0.3 miles per hour of 14.1 miles per hour throughout.

For reference, on April 26, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 15.4 miles per hour, while on February 17, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 13.5 miles per hour.

The lowest daily average wind speed during the spring is 13.8 miles per hour on November 24.

The hourly average wind direction in Nuku‘alofa throughout the spring is predominantly from the east, with a peak proportion of 68% on October 24.

Nuku‘alofa is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Nuku‘alofa is increasing during the spring, rising by 4°F, from 74°F to 78°F, over the course of the season.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

Temperatures in Nuku‘alofa are sufficiently warm year round that it is not entirely meaningful to discuss the growing season in these terms. We nevertheless include the chart below as an illustration of the distribution of temperatures experienced throughout the year.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Nuku‘alofa are very rapidly increasing during the spring, increasing by 2,129°F, from 1,301°F to 3,431°F, over the course of the season.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Nuku‘alofa is rapidly increasing during the spring, rising by 1.7 kWh, from 4.9 kWh to 6.6 kWh, over the course of the season.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Nuku‘alofa are -21.139 deg latitude, -175.202 deg longitude, and 16 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Nuku‘alofa is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 66 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 12 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (253 feet). Within 50 miles contains only modest variations in elevation (1,030 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Nuku‘alofa is covered by water (98%), within 10 miles by water (84%) and trees (11%), and within 50 miles by water (99%).