Nauru Weather, climate and geography

Weather and climate

Best time to visit

A maritime, equatorial climate tempered by northeast trade winds from March to October. The wettest period is during the westerly monsoon from November to February. If global warming causes sea levels to rise, the habitable low-lying land areas will be at risk from tidal surges and flooding.

Required clothing

Lightweight cottons and linens with waterproofing all year.

Geography

Nauru, the world's smallest republic, is an oval-shaped outcrop, situated in the Central Pacific, west of Kiribati, surrounded by a reef which is exposed at low tide. Although there is no deep-water harbour on the island, offshore moorings are reputedly the deepest in the world. A century of phosphate mining has stripped four-fifths of the land area, and has left the central plateau, which rises to 56m (213ft), infertile and unpopulated: a barren terrain of jagged coral pinnacles which stand 15m (49ft) high. The island has a fertile coastal strip 150 to 300m (492 to 984ft) wide, where there are coconut palms, pandanus trees and indigenous hardwoods such as the tomano. On the land surrounding Buada lagoon, bananas, pineapples and some vegetables are grown. Some secondary vegetation grows over the coral pinnacles which intersperse the island's beaches.