Yeah, it will pass soon enough. Autumn, Winter and Spring are usually pretty awesome with a bit of rain. Winters nice and warmish - nothing close to freezing. I think 6 degrees C was the coldest I have felt so far early morning then it warms up nicely for the rest of the day.

You don't get the real extremes of temperature in Brisbane. Hardly ever above 35 in summer and hardly ever below freezing in winter - and even then it probably warm up to 20 during the day. All other capitals (except Darwin) usually have some 40 deg days in summer.

Weather events are more severe than the UK - rain (we had 2 feet of rain in 3 days last month), hail that can cause damage to cars and houses, fires, floods, dust storms, cyclones.

Melbourne averages 1 day a year over 40C and less than 10 over 35C. Sydney would have even less hot days. Sydney is probably the sweet spot although its often pretty humid.

You need to look to the original inhabitants of the land to really understand the weather in Australia, they documented the changing conditions for generations - The D'harawal calendar covers the Sydney area - http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/dharawal/parradowee.shtml

Personally I would have 6 seasons broken up into equal 2 month periods that fit exactly into a calendar year.
Jan/Feb = Summer (warm or hot in various ways, wetter than Nov/Dec, can be humid, but not always)
Mar/Apr = Early Autumn (Can be warm dry Indian summer or cooler wetter, usually the wettest period)
May/Jun = Late Autumn (Getting cooler and still showery, still warm days possible)
Jul/Aug = Winter (The start of the dry half of the year, westerly winds dominate in Sydney with clear blue sky days and low humidity, can get very windy)
Sep/Oct = Spring (The big warm up into summer spring growth goes crazy, strong westerly wind still dominates in Sept, dry and low humidity)
Nov/Dec = Early Summer (Dry and getting hotter, peak of the bushfire season around Sydney, first hints of humidity rising around Christmas which is usually around the time the dry breaks).

You could simplify it further by saying Sydney has a wet six months -Jan to June, and then a dry six months Jul - Dec.

Good map!

Melbourne is a bit like Adelaide - a tad cooler in winter, and the weather patterns that come over from the West don't seem to last as long. It can get bloody hot in Melbourne but the fact is those really hot days go on for longer in Perth and Adelaide.

Speaking for Brisbane and Melbourne, I think it's because Brisbane has a narrower temp band and Melbourne dips to the teens in both summer and winter stuffs up the average. What is true is that Brisbane doesn't get to 35+ plus much but Melbourne can get to 40.

It depends on what you mean by cold. Cold enough for a fleece or a jacket, but its more often than not between 7-13(15) degrees which makes it one of the narrowest temp bands in the country. There are places in all capitals where the temps really drop.

I would ask people - do you hate humidity - think twice about Brisbane, and the tropics, and even Sydney - and do you hate grey days and winter style conditions - rule out Melbourne, Tassie, and to a lesser extent Adelaide.

Much of Australia has blue sky winters.

"Dry Days" report I prepared earlier that might add to the above

Note comments on the side are based on an Australian range of hot and cold, not British.


Annual Dry days Per Year (>= 1mm)

288 Brisbane - Annual Rainfall 1149
270 Adelaide - Annual Rainfall 622.1
265 Perth - Annual Rainfall 867.6
260 Sydney - Annual Rainfall 1084.4
255 Melbourne - Annual Rainfall 648.5

Summer Dry Days Per Month (Avg Min/Max Temps Celsius)

30 Perth (17.9 - 29.7) <---- Very dry summer
28 Adelaide (16.7 - 28.6) <---- Very dry summer
26 Melbourne (14.3 - 25.9) <---- Medium dry summer
23 Brisbane (20.7-29.4) <---- Humid with afternoon storms
23 Sydney (18.7-25.9) <---- Somewhat humid with afternoon storms

Winter Dry Days Per Month (Avg Min/Max Temps Celsius)

27 Brisbane (9.5-20.4) <---- Very dry, very warm winter
25 Sydney (8.0-16.3) <---- Very dry, warmish winter
21 Melbourne (6.0-13.4) <---- Wet, very cold winter
19 Adelaide (7.7 - 14.8) <---- Wet, cold winter
16 Perth (9.0-17.4) <---- Very wet, warmish winter

Note: Based on 100 yr averages at city centre reading stations (where available). Source: Australian Bureau of Meteorology
Note: Comments on right of temps mine so just best guesses based on the numbers

These are really insightful stats . Personally love the Brisbane climate, especially the mild and sunny winter and spring seasons. Also the fact the temperatures are more stable with less day to day variation.

Not so fussed right now though with all these upper surface troughs and low weather systems pounding the state though (we are in the 'wet' season though).

Take note of this comment. Many comments on this site intimate that Melbourne is "very cold" or "cold" in winter. It is compared to Brisbane or Perth for instance, but compared to anywhere in the UK, it is very mild or even warm.

So many people rule Melbourne out because of a perception that it is cold. Yet many winters days I wear just a t-shirt..........

BB

Good point.

Also worth looking at things like - Brisbane house are largely designed for hot days - no insulation, no heating. A greater proportion of Tas and Vic houses are designed for colder weather

Well, all I can say is that it has been a very hot, long summer here in WA. It's over 30 here already and not even 6 am yet. It rained for about 3 minutes this morning - first rain we've seen here (northern suburbs of Perth) in what seems like months.

I really shouldn't complain. In 6 months I'll be bitching because it's +1 with horizontal rain and gale force winds.

I have said it before. I have never been so cold in my life than during a Perth winter. It's wet, windy and the houses have zero insulation. I spent my first 40+ years in Canada and have never been so cold.

If you look on page one, you'll see that Melbourne spreads its rain pretty evenly throughout the year. In Perth it dumps it all on you during the winter, and in Brisbane during the summer.

Upshot is in Brisbane its hot and humid during the summer, then you get drenched in a thunderstorm. In winter its dry, so you get clear days, and relatively cold nights.

In Perth its clear blue summer days, but those winters get cold at night and its dank and raining all the time.

Personally I think Melbourne is better. The summers can get very hot, but only for a few days. The winters get as cold as a UK spring (which isn't exactly cold in my book) and for a few months its dull. However, the changeability, I think, fits the Brit viewpoint on weather better. Sydney gets a little bit warmer, but it rains too much.

BTW Another way to get a feel for the quality of the climate is http://www.degreedays.net/ This provides you with 'degree days' - the time multiplied by the deviation from the base temp throughout the year. Put in something like 22C as the base, and run it for both heating and cooling. If you had, say, 12C for 24 hours, that would equal 10 degree days.

The bigger the deviation, the bigger the total number, the more time you will be hot or cold.

It also give you a clue as to how much money you will be paying in HVAC.

Whereas in some parts of Australia it is always dull!

BB