Rodrigues has no bad season, which is an unhelpful thing to be told when you are booking flights. So here is the actual climate record from the Mauritius Meteorological Services, what it means for a week here, and the dates worth planning around.
When is the best time to visit Rodrigues?
September to December is the driest stretch and the easiest weather to plan around. January to March is hottest, wettest, and when cyclones are most likely. May to October is cooler, and it is the window the tourism office recommends for kitesurfing.
None of those is a season to avoid. The temperature range across the whole year is small enough that your choice is about rain and wind, not about warmth.
| Months | Weather (official record) | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| January – March | Hottest — daily maximums up to 29.4 °C in March; February is the wettest month and the humidity peak | Cyclone activity peaks late January to mid-March |
| April – June | Cooling down; May has the calmest wind on record (16.9 km/h) | The tourism office's kitesurfing window opens in May |
| July – August | Coolest — August averages 24.8 °C max / 18.8 °C min; July has the most rain days (15) | August is the windiest month on record (19.6 km/h) |
| September – December | The driest stretch — September–October driest, 7–8 rain days a month October to December | The easiest weather to plan around; Kreol Festival late November – early December |
Temperature: a narrow band all year
The Meteorological Services give a mean summer temperature of 25.9 °C for Rodrigues and a mean winter temperature of about 22.3 °C — a difference of 3.6 degrees across the entire year.
Average daily maximums run from 24.8 °C in August, the coolest month, to 29.4 °C in March. Average minimums run from 18.8 °C in August to 23.8 °C in February. January to March are the hottest months.
The extremes ever recorded at the Rodrigues station are 34.0 °C in February and 14.5 °C in July. In other words: you will not be cold, and you will not be dangerously hot.
Rain: less than Mauritius, but not as little as people say
Rodrigues averages about 1,116 mm of rain a year, roughly 55% of the island-wide Mauritius mean of about 2,010 mm. So the shorthand that Rodrigues is drier is true.
It deserves one caveat. Measured against the west coast of Mauritius, where most beach hotels sit, Rodrigues is actually WETTER — Medine records about 781 mm a year. Drier than Mauritius overall; wetter than the part of Mauritius most visitors experience.
February is the wettest month and September–October the driest. The more useful number, though, is rain DAYS: October, November and December see 8, 7 and 8 days a month with more than 1 mm, against 15 days in July. A wet July here means many small interruptions; a wet February means fewer, heavier ones.
Humidity sits between 74% and 81% all year, peaking in February.
When is cyclone season, honestly?
You will read that the cyclone season 'officially runs 15 November to 15 May'. We could not find that in any primary source. What we could verify: the World Meteorological Organization defines the South-West Indian Ocean season as 1 July to 30 June; Mauritius's own National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Centre gives 1 November to 15 May; and the Meteorological Services publish no start or end date at all on their cyclone pages.
Météo-France La Réunion recorded 13 named storms in the 2024–25 season against a normal of 10, with activity peaking between late January and mid-March. That peak is the part worth planning around.
The warning system is worth understanding before you need it. A Class I warning comes 36 to 48 hours before gusts of 120 km/h are expected, Class II with about 12 hours of daylight left, Class III with about 6, and Class IV once those gusts are actually recorded. It is clear, well run, and it gives you time.
For scale: during Cyclone Joaninha in March 2019, Port Mathurin gusted over 100 km/h for more than 33 hours, peaking at 161 km/h. That is rare, and it is why the warnings exist.
Wind, and the kitesurfing question
The tourism office recommends May to October for kitesurfing, says wind typically reaches at least 10 knots year-round, and names Mourouk as the main spot, with a lagoon about 1.5 m deep.
One honest note, because kite schools quote bigger numbers. The official monthly wind record for Rodrigues varies only between 16.9 km/h in May and 19.6 km/h in August, and it shows no clean winter peak — January, February and July all sit at 19.3 km/h. Figures like '20–25 knots' or '220 windy days a year' come from operators, not from the meteorological record.
Dates worth planning around
The Fête du Poisson, which marks the opening of the seine fishing season, is held on 1 March. It is a fixed date and it is the most Rodriguan day of the year.
The Rodrigues Kreol Festival runs in late November and early December — not October, as several travel sites claim — and its dates move each year. The 25th edition ran 1–7 December 2024 and the 26th ran 30 November to 7 December 2025. Check before you book around it.
The Rodrigues International Kitesurf Festival is NOT running in 2026: the organising association has taken a sabbatical year after ten editions. A separate competition runs 2–5 July 2026 at Anse Mourouk under a different club.
Ready to explore Rodrigues?
Rent a scooter or car directly from local owners — or let Ti Roulé, our free island guide, build a plan around your dates.