Climate
editSydney has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification: Cfa) with warm summers, mild winters, and uniform annual rainfall.[1][2][3][4] The city's weather is moderated by its proximity to the ocean and more extreme conditions are recorded further inland. Temperatures in the western suburbs tend to be 2 °C (4 °F) higher than the coast during summer and 2 °C (4 °F) lower during winter.[5] Sydney's position on the edge of the Pacific Ocean means that it is influenced by the El Niño Southern Oscillation. Sea temperatures average 21 °C (70 °F) and range between 19 °C (66 °F) in July and 24 °C (75 °F) in January.[6][7]
January is the warmest month of the year in Sydney with an average temperature of 18.7 °C (66 °F) to 25.9 °C (79 °F).[8] On average, the temperature reaches 30 °C (86 °F) or more on fourteen days each year. The highest temperature recorded in Sydney was 45.8 °C (114 °F) on 18 January 2013 during a prolonged heat wave across Australia. Temperatures in winter rarely drop below 5 °C (41 °F) in coastal areas. The coldest month is July when the average temperature ranges between 8 °C (46 °F) and 16.3 °C (61 °F).[8] The lowest temperature on record was 2.1 °C (36 °F) on 22 June 1932. Rainfall is generally even throughout the year, averaging 1,212.4 millimetres (47.73 inches), with slightly more occurring during the months from January to July. It rains on 143 days each year on average.
Snowfall in the metropolitan area was last reported in 1836. A fall of soft hail known as graupel happened in 2008 and this raised doubts about whether the 1836 reports were accurate.[9] On 23 September 2009 an enormous plume of dust from the deserts of central Australia arrived over Sydney after travelling east.[10] It is estimated to have contained 16 million tonnes of material and it measured 500 kilometres (311 miles) in width and 1,000 kilometres (621 miles) in length.[11][12] A severe hailstorm struck the city on 14 April 1999. Hailstones measuring up to 9 centimetres (4 inches) in diameter caused damage to 40,000 vehicles and accrued insurance losses of over $1.5 billion.[13]
Numerous maximum temperature records were broken in Sydney during the first decade of the 2000s. The summers from 2002 to 2005 were the warmest in Sydney since 1859 when record-keeping began. 2010 was the eighteenth consecutive year with above average maximum temperatures.[14] 2004 was the warmest year on record until it was exceeded by the 2005 record.[15][16] The spring of 2002 and the winter of 2005 were both the warmest on record.[17][18] Temperature records were also broken in April 2005, March 2006, and September 2006.[19][20][21]
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °C (°F) | 45.8 (114.4) |
42.1 (107.8) |
39.8 (103.6) |
35.4 (95.7) |
30.0 (86.0) |
26.9 (80.4) |
26.5 (79.7) |
31.3 (88.3) |
34.6 (94.3) |
38.2 (100.8) |
41.8 (107.2) |
42.2 (108.0) |
45.8 (114.4) |
| Mean maximum °C (°F) | 36.8 (98.2) |
34.1 (93.4) |
32.2 (90.0) |
29.7 (85.5) |
26.2 (79.2) |
22.3 (72.1) |
22.9 (73.2) |
25.4 (77.7) |
29.9 (85.8) |
33.6 (92.5) |
34.1 (93.4) |
34.4 (93.9) |
38.8 (101.8) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 27.0 (80.6) |
26.8 (80.2) |
25.7 (78.3) |
23.6 (74.5) |
20.9 (69.6) |
18.3 (64.9) |
17.9 (64.2) |
19.3 (66.7) |
21.6 (70.9) |
23.2 (73.8) |
24.2 (75.6) |
25.7 (78.3) |
22.8 (73.0) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 23.5 (74.3) |
23.4 (74.1) |
22.1 (71.8) |
19.5 (67.1) |
16.6 (61.9) |
14.2 (57.6) |
13.4 (56.1) |
14.5 (58.1) |
17.0 (62.6) |
18.9 (66.0) |
20.4 (68.7) |
22.1 (71.8) |
18.8 (65.8) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 20.0 (68.0) |
19.9 (67.8) |
18.4 (65.1) |
15.3 (59.5) |
12.3 (54.1) |
10.0 (50.0) |
8.9 (48.0) |
9.7 (49.5) |
12.3 (54.1) |
14.6 (58.3) |
16.6 (61.9) |
18.4 (65.1) |
14.7 (58.5) |
| Mean minimum °C (°F) | 16.1 (61.0) |
16.1 (61.0) |
14.2 (57.6) |
11.0 (51.8) |
8.3 (46.9) |
6.5 (43.7) |
5.7 (42.3) |
6.1 (43.0) |
8.0 (46.4) |
9.8 (49.6) |
12.0 (53.6) |
13.9 (57.0) |
5.3 (41.5) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 10.6 (51.1) |
9.6 (49.3) |
9.3 (48.7) |
7.0 (44.6) |
4.4 (39.9) |
2.1 (35.8) |
2.2 (36.0) |
2.7 (36.9) |
4.9 (40.8) |
5.7 (42.3) |
7.7 (45.9) |
9.1 (48.4) |
2.1 (35.8) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 91.1 (3.59) |
131.5 (5.18) |
117.5 (4.63) |
114.1 (4.49) |
100.8 (3.97) |
142.0 (5.59) |
80.3 (3.16) |
75.1 (2.96) |
63.4 (2.50) |
67.7 (2.67) |
90.6 (3.57) |
73.0 (2.87) |
1,149.7 (45.26) |
| Average rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 8.2 | 9.0 | 10.1 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 9.3 | 7.2 | 5.6 | 5.8 | 7.6 | 8.7 | 7.9 | 95.2 |
| Average afternoon relative humidity (%) | 60 | 62 | 59 | 58 | 58 | 56 | 52 | 47 | 49 | 53 | 57 | 58 | 56 |
| Average dew point °C (°F) | 16.5 (61.7) |
17.2 (63.0) |
15.4 (59.7) |
12.7 (54.9) |
10.3 (50.5) |
7.8 (46.0) |
6.1 (43.0) |
5.4 (41.7) |
7.8 (46.0) |
10.2 (50.4) |
12.6 (54.7) |
14.6 (58.3) |
11.4 (52.5) |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 232.5 | 205.9 | 210.8 | 213.0 | 204.6 | 171.0 | 207.7 | 248.0 | 243.0 | 244.9 | 222.0 | 235.6 | 2,639 |
| Percent possible sunshine | 53 | 54 | 55 | 63 | 63 | 57 | 66 | 72 | 67 | 61 | 55 | 55 | 60 |
| Source 1: Bureau of Meteorology[22][23][24][25] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2: Bureau of Meteorology, Sydney Airport (sunshine hours)[26] | |||||||||||||
- ^ "Climate and the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games". Australian Government. Australian Bureau of Statistics. 24 September 2007. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
- ^ "Sydney Basin – climate". New South Wales Government. Department of Environment and Climate Change. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
- ^ "Australian climatic zones". Australian Government. Bureau of Meteorology. 2008. Archived from the original on 4 December 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
- ^ "Living in Sydney". Sydney Institute of Business & Technology. Archived from the original on 23 October 2008. Retrieved 21 December 2008.
- ^ "Sydney's climate". Living In Australia. 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Sydney climate and weather averages". Weather2Travel. 2014. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ "Bondi Beach water temperature". Meteo365.com. 2013. Retrieved 5 October 2014.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
metdatawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Sydney winter not snow, just hail". The Sydney Morning Herald. 2008. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ Ramachandran, Arjun (2009). "Sydney turns red: dust storm blankets city". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "16 megaton D-bomb". The Gold Coast Bulletin. 13 September 2009. p. 1 to 5.
- ^ Malkin, Bonnie (2009). "Largest dust storms in 70 years cover Sydney". The Telegraph. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "The Sydney hailstorm". Bureau of Meteorology. 1999. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Sydney in 2010: 18th consecutive warm year". Bureau of Meteorology. 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "2004 warmest year on record for Sydney". Bureau of Meteorology. 2005. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Equal warmest year on record for Sydney". Bureau of Meteorology. 2006. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Sydney has warmest spring on record". Bureau of Meteorology. 2002. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Sydney's winter highest on record for daytime temperatures". Bureau of Meteorology. 2005. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Warmest April on record for Sydney". Bureau of Meteorology. 2005. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Warmest March on record for Sydney". Bureau of Meteorology. 2006. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Warmest September on record in Sydney". Bureau of Meteorology. 2006. Retrieved 12 July 2014.
- ^ "Sydney (Observatory Hill) Period 1991-2020". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 14 April 2020.
- ^ "Sydney (Observatory Hill): all years". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 4 June 2018.
- ^ "Sydney (Observatory Hill): highest temperatures". Bureau of Meteorology. Archived from the original on Sep 27, 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
- ^ "Sydney (Observatory Hill): lowest temperatures". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 23 September 2023.
- ^ "Climate statistics for Australian locations Sydney Airport AMO". Bureau of Meteorology.