Climate  in  Australia

The climate is Australia is not bad at all. It is sunny most of the year, with blue skies and very little rain. It never gets too cold but sometimes it gets too hot, especially during summer time. Australia is one of the driest countries on earth, and depending on the year, the weather in Australia can just go crazy, with prolonged droughts, florets fires, loss of agricultural production, and even a cyclone or two on the northern parts of the continent. El Niño phenomena can have huge influence on the overall Australian climate. 

Talking about drought and rain, there are some curiosities about it. If it rains, the rain can fall on the neighbour block while another 1 km further block is kept dry. A few times in 7 years that I live on the Gold Coast, I remember raining for a week or so. Usually the thing comes and goes in a flash. Also, when Met service forecast rain, all you see are what they call showers, that in reality is nothing more than a dripping situation from the sky not strong enough to even make your cloth wet. Only once on the Gold Coast during the time mentioned above, the rain was enough to flood streets and overflow the Gold Coast Canals. When it really rains, most of the water falls up on the mountains, normally far away from the dams. TV news is Australia have now a habit during the weather report, to give the population information about the level of the dams. What you hear is something like this...Gold Coast 35%, Brisbane 25%, Sydney 28%, Melbourne 45%, and so on...Water restriction for the population is very often put in place with prohibition to water gardens, use hoses, and so on. The discursion about built new dams, desalinate sea water, or recycle sewerage is always on the media, but I never heard about any of these projects getting out of the political talk.

During Winter, cool and warm weather play cat and rat all day long. The day may start freeze around 5º Celsius by 6 in the morning, with a deep blue bright sky that makes you feel like placing an X ray on the top of you sun glasses. By 10 in the morning, is the strip tease time, when everybody starts taking layers of cloth out. By noon is like summer time, and by 4 afternoon you have to put all layers back again. Tasmania which is cooler, has a different weather during winter time, as well as the North part of Australia which is warmer most part of the year. The Australian deserts gets minus something early morning and goes up to about 33 degrees by noon. The winter in Australia starts to show up by end of May to about middle of August. Even in July (supposed to be the peak of the winter) the day temperature is mild and vary nice to any outdoors activity. Depending about how strong is the winter, the Australian ski fields located between Melbourne and Sydney can have temperatures as low as - 8. In other words, if you are planing a trip to Australia, the best agenda is be on the South by Sumer time and travel up North or to the deserts by Winter time.

Tip: In our City Topics every city or region has a real time temperature window just beside of the big photo where you can check it out.

Summer can be tough, with temperatures reaching up to 40 degrees Celsius or more in some places. Four years ago by end of January in Melbourne, I've got 44º C while I was going to a meting wearing jacket and tie. Don't need to say that I got there so sweating that I was looking like coming out of a swimming pool fully dressed. My salvation was the public library with the best air conditioning system on the planet. The Outback and the Deserts of Australia are no go zone during hot summers, unless you are staying in one of the subterranean town built so due the heat. Over there, things can warm up trespassing the 50º in shade (if you find one). In Other parts of Australia, summer time can bring heat waves that can last for many days. I am talking about temps of 38º C for 8 or 9 consecutive days. For sure for people without air conditioning, summer is the worst time for human reproduction in Australia, with couples keeping a large distance from each other on bed. The positive side are the fantastic Australian beaches, providing great happy days outdoor, with plenty of surfing, picnics in parks, Waterfalls in the National Parks and so on...Sumer in Australia goes more or less from middle of December, to about end of February.

Any other time of the year the temperatures in Australia are fabulous, I would say perfect, if not for some windy days caused by depressions near Antarctica. Anyway, Australia has great temperatures all year round, making towns and cities compete against each other with slogans like.." Come to our city. We guarantee 360 days of sunshine per Year" and the other goes..." Come to ours, We guarantee 361 beautiful sunny days. You'll get 1 day bonus if you come here instead of going there"

Curiosities about the Weather in Australia: (in my opinion)

• Craziest Weather: Melbourne - The day can starts freezing and blue, then turn cloudy, then little rain and it gets warmer, then cold again, and goes really hot, showers, cold air, rain and sun again. It is a nice city do keep fit because you may be imposed to take off your sweater and put it back, open and close umbrellas, take out and put back socks, jackets, raincoats many times a day. Australians not from Melbourne used to say the city has all seasons in a single day.

• Rainiest City: Sydney - Despite the fact rain in Sydney is not very frequent, when it rains it really pours for some consecutive days. Sydney beats Melbourne in the total of millilitres per year.

• Windiest City: Perth and Hobart - They receive constant winds from the Indian Ocean, from about 10 am to about sunset.

• Driest City: Adelaide e Brisbane - For some obscure reason, the rain refuses to fall there. When the rain is getting close, it decides to fall before of after the city, and only by mistake it can eventually hit the target.

• Most Humid City: Cairns and Darwin - The proximity to the equator reaching tropical zones and the mountains and vegetation around, provide a nice environment for the wild life but foe the humans the sensation to be cooked in vapour.

• Cyclones can Occur Between December and May on the North, Northeast and Northwest part of Australia. Some times Cyclones and tropical storms can flood large areas, cutting roads and connections with the rest of the country.

• The climate in Australia is officially classified as Tempered in the South to Tropical in the North. Australia is located entirely in the South Hemisphere below the Equator line.

• The Ozone hole in the Skies of Australia is big enough to cause serious burns. It is impressive how red a person gets for only 15 minutes under the sun on the beach. Use of heavy sun block is a must, or you may be candidate to a skin cancer Australian style. 

Temperatures in the cities: The temperatures below are averages registered, and can be higher or lower depending on El Niño, El Father, El Mother, Global Warming, or any other nature phenomena the Met guys come with..

• Temperatures in Adelaide

• Temperatures in Brisbane

• Temperatures in Melbourne

• Temperatures in Perth

• Temperatures in Sydney

• Temperatures in Hobart

• Temperatures in Canberra

• Temperatures in Darwin

• Temperatures in Cairns

For sure Summer is the best season in Australia