Average May Rainfall for New Zealand

The tables below list monthly averages for rainfall during May at cities, towns, beaches and islands throughout New Zealand.

Each place has a total for how many days of wet weather it usually gets a year and for the normal amount of precipitation. The calculation of days only includes the days when rain totalled at least one millimetre (0.04 inches).

The month's precipitation statistics are long-term historical averages of weather data collected during 1991 to 2020.

North Island

Average monthly precipitation in May
Days Place Inches Milli­metres
13 Auckland 4.7 120
12 Cape Reinga 4.1 104
10 Gisborne 3.6 91
13 Great Barrier Island 6.3 159
12 Hamilton 4.1 103
14 Kaikohe 6.2 156
13 Kaitaia 5.1 131
14 Kerikeri 6.8 174
10 Masterton 2.9 73
7 Napier 2.4 62
14 New Plymouth 5.9 149
10 Palmerston North 3.4 87
10 Rotorua 5.1 130
9 Taupo 3.1 79
10 Tauranga 4.6 116
12 Thames 3.8 95
12 Waiheke Island 4.7 119
11 Wellington 5.7 145
16 Whakapapa Village, Tongariro 10.0 254
12 Whangaparaoa 4.6 118
13 Whangarei 4.4 113
13 Whitianga 6.7 171
11 Whanganui 3.1 80

South Island

May averages for total rainfall
Days Place Inches Milli­metres
9 Akaroa 3.7 95
14 Arthur's Pass 15.6 395
7 Blenheim 2.2 57
8 Christchurch 2.4 60
10 Dunedin 2.5 64
11 Farewell Spit 5.1 130
15 Franz Josef 18.5 471
15 Greymouth 8.3 210
14 Invercargill 4.2 106
6 Kaikoura  2.0 51
11 Lake Rotoiti 4.6 117
7 Lake Tekapo 2.8 72
12 Manapouri 4.1 104
17 Milford Sound 25.4 645
14 Mt Cook 14.9 378
7 Nelson 3.5 88
10 Queenstown 3.6 91
20 Secretary Island 15.0 381
6 Timaru 1.6 40
15 Westport 7.3 187

Other Islands

Rainfall averages for May
Days Place Inches Milli­metres
20 Auckland Islands 3.9 99
23 Campbell Island 5.3 134
14 Chatham Island 3.5 88
13 Raoul Island  5.3 135
19 Stewart Island, Oban 6.1 155
Reference

NIWA (New Zealand National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research). The National Climate Database.

New Zealand Rainfall
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