Australia in July 2024

In brief

  • The national area-averaged July rainfall total was 7.4% below the 1961–1990 average.

  • Rainfall was above average for most of South Australia and inland parts of the mainland.

  • Rainfall was below average for parts of south-eastern Australia and Western Australia.

  • Australia's national area-averaged mean temperature was 0.70 °C above the 1961–1990 average.

  • Australia's area-averaged mean maximum temperature for July was 0.62 °C above the 1961–1990 average and the mean minimum temperature was 0.78 °C above average.

  • Mean maximum temperatures were above average for south-eastern Australia, parts of northern Australia and a large area of Western Australia. Mean maximum temperatures were below average for areas of inland Australia, northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

  • Mean minimum temperatures were above average for most of Western Australia and parts of northern and eastern Australia. Mean minimum temperatures were below to very much below average for isolated pockets across inland and southern Australia.

Further information and tables of records for each state and the Northern Territory can be found in the individual regional climate summaries, published on 5 August 2024.

Temperatures

Australia's national area-averaged mean temperature for July was 0.70 °C above the 1961–1990 average.

Australia's area-averaged mean maximum temperature was 0.62 °C above average.

Mean maximum temperatures were above average to very much above average (in the highest 10% of all Julys since 1910) for most of Tasmania and Victoria, south-eastern South Australia, southern parts of New South Wales, northern Queensland, the Top End of the Northern Territory, and a large area of Western Australia's coastal and surrounding inland regions. Maximum temperatures were the highest on record for an isolated pocket of south-west Western Australia.

Mean maximum temperatures were below to very much below average (in the lowest 10% of all Julys since 1910) for an area covering the border of northern South Australia and adjacent states and Territories, and pockets of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland.

Australia's area-averaged mean minimum temperature was 0.78 °C above average.

Mean minimum temperatures were above average to very much above average (in the highest 10% of all Julys since 1910) for most of Western Australia, central and west of the Top End of the Northern Territory, northern, western and southern parts of Queensland, coastal New South Wales and some inland areas of the state including the north and west, north-eastern Victoria, southern coastal areas of Tasmania, and eastern parts of South Australia.

Mean minimum temperatures were below to very much below average (in the lowest 10% of all Julys since 1910) for isolated pockets across inland  and southern Australia.

1-month temperature table ending July 2024
Areal average temperatures
  Maximum Temperature Minimum Temperature Mean Temperature
  Rank
(of 115)
Anomaly
(°C)
Comment Rank
(of 115)
Anomaly
(°C)
Comment Rank
(of 115)
Anomaly
(°C)
Comment
Australia 78 +0.62   91 +0.78   88 +0.70  
Queensland 67 +0.45   = 86 +1.23   85 +0.84  
New South Wales 63 +0.17   91 +1.18   = 85 +0.67  
Victoria 91 +0.61   = 71 +0.36   = 83 +0.49  
Tasmania 79 +0.34   49 −0.06   = 63 +0.14  
South Australia = 63 +0.30   = 60 +0.03   = 64 +0.17  
Western Australia 101 +1.26   100 +0.92   103 +1.09  
Northern Territory 61 +0.16   60 +0.32   61 +0.24  

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 115 (highest). A rank marked with ’=‘ indicates the value is tied for that rank. Anomaly is the departure from the long-term (1961–1990) average.

Rainfall

For Australia as a whole, the area-averaged rainfall total for July was 7.4% below the 1961–1990 average.

Rainfall was above average to very much above average (in the highest 10% of all Julys since 1900) for much of South Australia, a large area of central and eastern Northern Territory, southern and western Queensland and an area of the tropical north coast, northern and western New South Wales, an area of southern and central Victoria, parts of eastern Tasmania and an area of the west coast of Western Australia.

Rainfall was below to very much below average (in the lowest 10% of all Julys since 1900) for western and central Tasmania, northern and western Victoria, an area of south-eastern South Australia, southern New South Wales, coastal and inland areas of Queensland, Western Australia's Pilbara extending inland and an area of the south-west coast.

Significant weather and records

Very cold mornings for Tasmania, Victoria and South Australia

A large stationary high pressure system located south of the continent dominated conditions across most of Australia early in the month. On 4 July, most sites in Tasmania and southern Victoria had their highest mean sea level pressure (MSLP) on record, observing between 1040 and 1043 hPa. The highest observed MSLP was 1043.9 hPa at Ouse (southern Tasmania), just below the highest MSLP reliably observed in Australia, of 1044.3 hPa at Launceston Airport on 7 June 1967.

Clear skies and light winds combined with a cold southerly airmass brought widespread morning frost and cooler than average conditions. Between 2 to 6 July, minimum temperatures were up to 6 °C below the 1961-1990 July average across southern and inland Australia and parts of northern Australia. On 3 July, several sites in South Australia recorded their lowest July minimum temperature, including Nullarbor with its annual lowest daily minimum temperature of -3.2°C (38 years of record). Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) recorded 0.6 °C, the coldest morning in the composite record since June 2006 (0.2 °C at Kent Town on the 15th).

On 4, 5 and 6 July, several sites across Tasmania recorded their lowest daily minimum temperature on record for July. The lowest temperature recorded was -13.5 °C at Liawanee in the Central Highlands on 4 July, the second-coldest temperature ever recorded in Tasmania.

Unseasonal rainfall across central Australia

An upper level low pressure system developed and deepened over South Australia on 3 July. This system and associated trough brought widespread rainfall with localised heavy falls and isolated thunderstorms across central and eastern parts of the country. In the 3 days to 9 am on 8 July, 25 to 50 mm of rainfall was recorded from a band stretching from north-eastern South Australia, western Queensland and north-eastern New South Wales, with higher falls of 50 to 100 mm in isolated pockets. During this time of the year inland areas of Australia are generally dry with average July rainfall of 5 to 25 mm. Several sites had their highest daily July rainfall on record on 8 July including 40 mm at Marree (Farina) in South Australia (146 years of record).

Heavy rainfall for Tasmania and most of Victoria

A low pressure system developed off the New South Wales coast on 12 July and deepened as it travelled south, reaching the east coast of Tasmania on 14 July. Over several days, as the system tracked north into eastern Bass Strait, it generated strong to damaging wind gusts on the evening of 14 July, especially across several coastal sites in Tasmania and Victoria which recorded wind gusts over 100 km/h. This system also brought several days of rainfall across Tasmania and most of Victoria between 15 to 17 July with daily totals of 50 to 100 mm in Victoria's Central and East Gippsland districts and southern and eastern parts of Tasmania. Higher falls of 100 to 150 mm were recorded in areas of southern Tasmania and an isolated pocket of north-east Victoria. Several daily July rainfall records were set including 116.8 mm at Mount Baw Baw on 16 July (28 years of record). There were Minor and Moderate flood warnings across rivers in the Central and West & South Gippsland districts in Victoria and Minor Flooding for parts of St Paul and Huon Rivers in Tasmania.

This system was also associated with below average temperatures for south-east Australia, and there were reports of up to 30 cm of snow in Alpine areas and snow flurries in many locations across the New South Wales ranges.

Cold mornings for parts of northern Australia

From 18 to 20 July, most of northern and central Australia had cooler than average night-time temperatures, as a deep low pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a high pressure system over southern and central Australia directed cooler southerly airflow well into northern Australia. This led to extensive frost across southern, central and northern Queensland and across southern districts of the Northern Territory.

Minimum temperature anomalies from 18 to 20 July were generally 2 to 6 °C below the 1961-1990 July average across large parts of northern Australia and central Queensland with some areas of 10 to 12 °C below average. From 18 to 20 July, many sites across northern Queensland and several sites across the Top End of the Northern Territory had their lowest minimum temperature for July on record or annual lowest daily minimum temperature. On 18 July, Palmerville (Queensland) had its lowest July minimum temperature on record at 0.5 °C (118 years of record). On 19 July, Charter Towers Airport (Queensland) recorded its annual lowest daily minimum temperature on record at 1.0°C (32 years of record) and on 20 July Daly Waters (Northern Territory) had its annual lowest daily minimum temperature on record at 0.8 °C (55 years of record).

Wet, cold and windy for southern parts of the country

Several cold fronts swept across southern and south-eastern Australia during the month. These systems were associated with strong to damaging wind gusts, widespread rainfall, snow on elevated regions and cooler than average temperatures.

Overnight on 17 July, a cold front moved across south-west Western Australia. Ahead of this front, wind gusts greater than 80 km/h impacted coastal areas and 25 to 50 mm of rainfall was recorded along the south-west coast in the 24 hours to 9 am on 18 July. This front then travelled towards South Australia and Victoria on 19 July and New South Wales on 20 July and strong to damaging wind gusts exceeding 80 km/h were recorded across southern South Australia and central and elevated areas of Victoria and eastern New South Wales. The strongest wind gust recorded was 130 km/h at Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse in Victoria on 20 July.

The cooler southerly airmass behind the front generated below average daytime temperatures and snow across Alpine regions of Victoria and New South Wales with reports of up to 30 cm of snow.

This system was also associated with widespread rainfall extending across southern South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and southern New South Wales, with the highest falls of 25 to 50 mm in north-eastern Victoria and northern Tasmania in the 24 hours to 9 am on 20 July.

Another cold front crossed southern Western Australia overnight on 22 July bringing isolated thunderstorms and heavy rainfall. In the 24 hours to 9 am on 23 July, 25 to 50 mm was recorded across the South West, Lower West and Great Southern districts, with isolated falls greater than 50 mm including 91.2 mm at Mount William, the stations highest daily rainfall on record for any month (21 years of record). Most of the rainfall fell within a few hours and there were reports of flash flooding across parts of the south west. This system moved south-east generating widespread strong to damaging wind gusts over 100 km/h across elevated and coastal areas of Tasmania, Victoria and southern New South Wales on 24 and 25 July.  The strongest wind gust recorded was 135 km/h at Grampians (Mount William) in Victoria on 24 July, the highest daily wind gust on record for the station (20 years of record).

This cold front was also associated with light to moderate rainfall across Victoria, most of New South Wales and Tasmania, with the highest falls of 15 to 25 mm across alpine areas of Victoria and the New South Wales Tablelands in the 24 hours to 9 am on 26 July.

1-month rainfall table ending July 2024
Area-average rainfall
  Rank
(of 125)
Average
(mm)
Departure
from mean
Comment
Australia 66 20.5 −7%  
Queensland = 77 16.8 −9%  
New South Wales 73 39.4 +4%  
Victoria 58 62.8 −12%  
Tasmania 36 114.8 −26%  
South Australia 103 26.1 +34%  
Western Australia 48 16.8 −19%  
Northern Territory 83 4.5 −34%  
Murray-Darling Basin 70 36.9 −5%  

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 125 (highest). A rank marked with ’=‘ indicates the value is tied for that rank. Departure from mean is relative to the long-term (1961–1990) average.

Australian weather extremes during July 2024
Hottest day 36.4°C Yampi Sound (Defence) (WA) on the 10th
Coldest day -4.8°C Thredbo AWS (NSW) on the 28th
Coldest night -13.5°C Liawenee (Tas.) on the 4th
Warmest night 25.6°C Coconut Island (Qld.) on the 1st
Wettest day 132.0 mm Tully Sugar Mill (Qld.) on the 6th

Creative Commons By Attribution logo Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Climate