Climatology
This page presents Solomon Islands's climate context for the current climatology, 1991-2020, derived from observed, historical data. Information should be used to build a strong understanding of current climate conditions in order to appreciate future climate scenarios and projected change. You can visualize data for the current climatology through spatial variation, the seasonal cycle, or as a time series. Analysis is available for both annual and seasonal data. Data presentation defaults to national-scale aggregation, however sub-national data aggregations can be accessed by clicking within a country, on a sub-national unit. Other historical climatologies can be selected from the Time Period dropdown list.
Observed, historical data is produced by the Climatic Research Unit (CRU) of University of East Anglia. Data is presented at a 0.5º x 0.5º (50km x 50km) resolution.
The Solomon Islands have a warm, tropical climate year-round. Temperatures across the country range between 25-32°C and precipitation ranges between 3000-5000 millimeters annually, although the most intense part of the rainy season occurs during the north-westerly monsoonal winds that bring tropical cyclones across the archipelago between December-March. The El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is an important driver of climate in the Solomon Islands, heavily influencing periods of drought, the risk of floods and the frequency of tropical cyclones. Climate in this part of the Pacific is governed by a number of factors that include the trade winds and the movement of the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), a zone of high-pressure rainfall that migrates across the Pacific south of the equator. Year-to-year variability in climate is also strongly influenced by the El Niño conditions in the south-east Pacific, which bring drought conditions to the Solomon Islands.