Australia - the Weather.
Introduction
Australia is a big place, the north of the country lies above the Tropical of Capricorn (thus making it Tropical) whilst the south of the country is often described as having a Mediterranean climate. To complicate things for much of the world, being in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia's seasons are to most people (including a lot of Australians in truth) back-to-front, with Christmas falling in the summer holidays.
Methodology
Ozzy's Australia is a travel website, so as such, the intention is to recommend the “best” times to travel. Clearly “best” is highly subjective - so for our purposes “best” means hot - but not too hot - and mainly dry. The Government's Bureau of Meteorology website has been used for the data - it really is a most excellent source of weather information and we highly recommend it. Eleven locations have been selected, the capital cities, plus Alice Springs, Cairns and Broome for additional interest. The local weather site with the most historic data has usually been the one selected.
The measurements used are the mean maximum daily temperature (°C) and mean number of days of rainfall above 1 mm per month. As a point of note, the mean maximum daily temperature across the 11 locations is 25°C and the mean number of days of rainfall above 1 mm per month is just 7 - making Australia a great place to visit! The intention was to use these averages to help recommend the best times visit, however, using this basis, Darwin is too hot and Tasmania is too cold - which whilst there's probably some truth in that, it isn't very helpful - so a more arbitrary approach has been taken...
Results
Dah-de-de-dah-dah-daah-daaaah....
| Perth | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 32 |
32 |
30 |
26 |
22 |
19 |
18 |
18 |
20 |
23 |
26 |
29 |
24 |
| Rain (Days) | 1 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
14 |
15 |
13 |
10 |
7 |
4 |
2 |
87 |
| Canberra | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 29 |
28 |
25 |
20 |
16 |
12 |
12 |
14 |
16 |
20 |
24 |
26 |
20 |
| Rain (Days) | 5 |
4 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
6 |
73 |
| Sydney | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 26 |
26 |
25 |
22 |
19 |
17 |
16 |
18 |
20 |
22 |
24 |
25 |
22 |
| Rain (Days) | 9 |
9 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
100 |
| Melbourne | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 26 |
26 |
24 |
20 |
17 |
14 |
13 |
15 |
17 |
20 |
22 |
24 |
20 |
| Rain (Days) | 6 |
5 |
6 |
8 |
10 |
10 |
10 |
11 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
7 |
100 |
| Brisbane | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 29 |
29 |
28 |
26 |
23 |
21 |
20 |
22 |
24 |
26 |
28 |
29 |
26 |
| Rain (Days) | 8 |
9 |
9 |
7 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
4 |
4 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
76 |
| Cairns | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 32 |
31 |
31 |
29 |
27 |
26 |
26 |
26 |
28 |
30 |
31 |
32 |
29 |
| Rain (Days) | 14 |
14 |
15 |
13 |
10 |
7 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
7 |
9 |
110 |
| Adelaide | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 28 |
28 |
25 |
22 |
19 |
16 |
15 |
16 |
18 |
21 |
24 |
26 |
21 |
| Rain (Days) | 3 |
2 |
3 |
6 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
11 |
9 |
7 |
4 |
4 |
79 |
| Hobart | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 22 |
22 |
20 |
17 |
14 |
12 |
12 |
13 |
15 |
17 |
19 |
20 |
17 |
| Rain (Days) | 6 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
7 |
7 |
8 |
8 |
8 |
9 |
8 |
7 |
87 |
| Darwin | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 32 |
31 |
32 |
33 |
32 |
31 |
31 |
31 |
33 |
33 |
33 |
33 |
32 |
| Rain (Days) | 19 |
18 |
17 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
5 |
10 |
14 |
94 |
| Alice Springs | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 36 |
35 |
33 |
28 |
23 |
20 |
20 |
23 |
27 |
31 |
34 |
35 |
29 |
| Rain (Days) | 3 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
4 |
4 |
29 |
| Broome | Jan |
Feb |
Mar |
Apr |
May |
Jun |
Jul |
Aug |
Sep |
Oct |
Nov |
Dec |
Annual |
| Temp (°C) | 33 |
33 |
34 |
34 |
32 |
29 |
29 |
30 |
32 |
33 |
34 |
34 |
32 |
| Rain (Days) | 9 |
9 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
35 |
“Nice” times to visit are highlighted in green - we stress that this is very subjective and the weather, as in most places, is very unpredictable...
Conclusion
So, what was the point of this! The answer is to help plan the big trip! It seems to be the right of European backpackers and Aussie retirees (the Grey Nomads) to spend a year circumnavigating Australia. Ozzy also fancies a trip! Here's the plan!
April - begin in Perth - nice temperatures, little chance of rain, sea warm - head north.
May - Coral Coast, swimming with the whale sharks at Ningaloo reef, Cape Range National Park.
June - Keep going up the west coast- heading up to Broome and The Kimberley's.
July - Darwin, Kakadu and the Red Centre - may be a bit cold at night at Ulura, but better than too hot!
August - up to Cairns and Cape York.
September - start heading down the Queensland Coast, slowly though, there's a lot to see.
October - still heading down, will hit the Sunshine Coast, then Brisbane - next stop Surfers and the Gold Coast
November - Northern New South Wales (Bryon Bay) before heading down to Sydney.
December - round the South East corner to Melbourne - see the family for Christmas.
January - a trip over to Tassie, chill out up Cradle Mountain...
February - along the Great Ocean Road to Adelaide - a bit hot, but there's always the ocean.
March - across the Nullabor to explore the SW Corner - surf and wine - sounds good - it is good!
It's a plan then! We''ll check it out for you and report back! If you've got too much money, we could use it...!!!!!
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