Dunedin Temperature by Month
Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand has an average annual maximum temperature of 15°C (59°F), with moderate seasonal shifts ranging from 11°C (52°F) in July to 19°C (66°F) in January. Below you'll find a full monthly breakdown and a comparison with cities worldwide.
Dunedin Monthly Temperatures
Dunedin experiences balanced seasonal shifts, with noticeable but moderate temperature variations. At night, minimum temperatures range from 11°C (52°F) in January to 3°C (37°F) in July.
The chart below illustrates the average maximum day and minimum night temperatures in Dunedin by month:
The coolest part of the day is typically between 4 AM and 6 AM, while 3 PM is usually the warmest, when solar heating is at its peak. January, the city's warmest month, averages 174 hours of sunshine.
The chart below shows the average temperature throughout the year:
Temperature: Dunedin vs New Zealand
The map below shows the annual temperature across New Zealand. You can also select individual months if you want to compare a specific time of year.
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Dunedin vs World: Temperature Compared
Dunedin's average annual maximum temperature is 15°C (59°F). To put that in context, here's how it compares to a few well-known destinations:
Lisbon, Portugal averages 21°C (70°F) annually — warm summers, mild winters, and rain mainly in the cooler months.
On the cooler end, Oslo, Norway averages just 10°C (50°F) annually, with pleasant summers but long, cold winters.
New York City, USA averages 17°C (63°F) a year, with hot humid summers and cold winters that bring regular snowfall.
Tokyo, Japan averages 21°C (70°F) a year, with hot summers, cool winters, and a well-defined cherry blossom spring.
What Does the Temperature Feel Like in Dunedin?
Temperature alone doesn't tell the whole story — humidity plays a big role in how warm or cold it actually feels. High humidity in summer makes the heat feel more intense, particularly once temperatures climb above 25°C. In winter, the same humidity can make cold air feel sharper than the thermometer suggests.
In the cooler months, when temperatures drop below 10°C, high humidity makes the cold feel more cutting than it would in dry conditions.
In Dunedin, July is the coolest month, with average highs of 11°C (52°F) and humidity around 80% — considered very high. For a full picture, see our humidity page.
Climate temperature data is typically calculated as a 30-year average. This smooths out year-to-year variability and gives a more reliable picture of what a place is actually like, rather than what happened in any single unusual year.
The readings come from a range of sources — land-based weather stations, ocean buoys, ships, and satellites. That data is collected by weather services around the world, then pooled, quality-checked, and averaged to produce the climate records you see here.
Seasonal temperature shifts influence more than just how warm it feels — they also drive changes in rainfall, cloud cover, and wind patterns throughout the year.
Warmer air holds more moisture, which tends to mean heavier or more frequent rain during the warmer months. When temperatures drop in winter, any precipitation that does fall is more likely to come as snow or sleet, though in Dunedin this rarely lasts long on the ground.
For more on Dunedin's weather — including monthly rainfall, sunshine hours, and humidity — visit our Dunedin climate page.
