Greater Sydney in summer 2026

Rainfall

  • Rainfall totals for summer were around average at the majority of sites across Greater Sydney.
  • Summer rainfall totals ranged from around 50% to around 140% of average across Greater Sydney.
  • A few sites had their highest summer daily rainfall on record.

Temperature

  • Mean maximum temperatures for summer at all sites across Greater Sydney were above average.
  • Summer mean maximum temperatures for Greater Sydney ranged from 0.2 °C above average at Cooranbong (Lake Macquarie AWS) to 1.7 °C above average at Sydney Airport AMO.
  • Mean minimum temperatures for summer at most sites across Greater Sydney were around average.
  • Summer mean minimum temperatures for Greater Sydney ranged from 0.4 °C below average at Holsworthy Aerodrome AWS to 1.2 °C above average at Parramatta North (Masons Drive).

Sydney (Observatory Hill)

  • Total rainfall for Sydney (Observatory Hill) was 314.2 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Sydney (Observatory Hill) was 28.1 °C.
  • The warmest day was 42.2 °C on 10 January 2026, and the coolest day was on 26 December 2025 when the temperature reached 18.7 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Sydney (Observatory Hill) was 19.3 °C.
  • The coldest morning was 13.3 °C on 2 December 2025, and the warmest morning was on 23 February 2026 when the minimum temperature was 23.7 °C.

Extremes in summer 2026
Hottest day 43.5 °C at Holsworthy Defence AWS on 10 Jan 2026
Warmest days on average 30.6 °C at Richmond RAAF
Coolest days on average 24.5 °C at Mount Boyce AWS
Coldest day 10.5 °C at Katoomba (Farnells Rd) on 26 Dec 2025
Coldest night 3.4 °C at Mount Boyce AWS on 2 Dec 2025
Coolest nights on average 13.0 °C at Mount Boyce AWS
Warmest nights on average 20.0 °C at Sydney Harbour (Wedding Cake West)
Warmest night 25.2 °C at Cooranbong (Lake Macquarie AWS) on 22 Dec 2025
Warmest on average overall 24.3 °C at Penrith Lakes AWS
Coolest on average overall 18.7 °C at Mount Boyce AWS
Wettest overall 629.2 mm at Katoomba (Farnells Rd)
Wettest day 254.0 mm at Mount Wilson (Clarine) on 18 Jan 2026
Strongest wind gust 113.0 km/h at Wattamolla AWS on 14 Dec 2025

Record highest summer daily rainfall
New record
(mm)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
Summer
Mount Wilson (Clarine) 254.0 on 18 Jan 2026 188.0 on 09 Feb 2020 56 422.9
Norah Head AWS 129.0 on 18 Jan 2026 94.8 on 07 Feb 2020 30 265.7
Canoelands (Canoelands) 130.0 on 10 Dec 2025 119.2 on 29 Jan 2013 22 316.6
Terrey Hills AWS 179.6 on 18 Jan 2026 135.6 on 29 Jan 2013 21 317.6




Summary statistics for summer 2026
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
Summer
2026
Diff
from
average
Highest for
Summer
2026
Mean for
Summer
2026
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
Summer
2026
Total for
Summer
2026
Average
for
Summer
Rank of
Summer
2026
Fraction of
Summer
average
Badgerys Creek AWS 30.5 +1.3 42.8 10 Jan 2026 16.7 0.0 8.1 1 Dec 2025 286.2 245.6 average 116%
Bankstown Airport AWS 29.6 +1.6 42.3 10 Jan 2026 18.1 +0.3 9.7 1 Dec 2025 367.2 272.7 high 135%
Camden Airport AWS 29.9 +0.9 42.4 10 Jan 2026 16.8 +0.4 6.9 1 Dec 2025 297.6 247.6 average 120%
Campbelltown (Mount Annan) 29.7 +0.7 42.2 19 Dec 2025 16.6 +0.2 7.4 1 Dec 2025 257.6 245.3 average 105%
Canterbury Racecourse AWS 27.9 +0.7 42.0 19 Dec 2025 17.7 -0.2 9.7 1 Dec 2025 309.0 274.4 average 113%
Cooranbong (Lake Macquarie AWS) 28.3 +0.2 40.9 21 Dec 2025 17.0 -0.1 8.8 27 Dec 2025 393.2 330.8 average 119%
Gosford AWS 28.1 +0.7 42.0 6 Dec 2025 18.2 -0.2 9.6 27 Dec 2025 398.8
Holsworthy Aerodrome AWS 29.1 +0.6 41.7 10 Jan 2026 17.2 -0.4 9.1 3 Dec 2025 129.4 256.5 low 50%
Holsworthy Defence AWS 29.1 43.5 10 Jan 2026 16.4 8.4 1 Dec 2025 155.2
Horsley Park Equestrian Centre AWS 29.5 +0.5 41.5 10 Jan 2026 17.3 0.0 9.6 3 Dec 2025 310.8 264.9 average 117%
Katoomba (Farnells Rd) 35.6 9 Jan 2026 5.0 27 Dec 2025 629.2 458.9 high 137%
Mangrove Mountain AWS 41.0 21 Dec 2025 7.0 27 Dec 2025 460.6 333.0 high 138%
Mount Boyce AWS 24.5 +1.2 35.3 9 Jan 2026 13.0 +0.2 3.4 2 Dec 2025 451.4 345.2 high 131%
Norah Head AWS 27.0 +1.0 38.4 10 Jan 2026 19.6 +0.1 13.6 27 Dec 2025 388.4 270.2 high 144%
Parramatta North (Masons Drive) 28.9 +0.9 42.2 10 Jan 2026 18.5 +1.2 10.0 1 Dec 2025 326.6 306.4 average 107%
Penrith Lakes AWS 30.6 +0.5 42.5 10 Jan 2026 18.1 0.0 11.3 1 Dec 2025 335.6 271.9 average 123%
Richmond RAAF 30.6 +1.0 42.8 10 Jan 2026 17.9 +0.6 9.6 2 Dec 2025 268.8 269.9 average 100%
Sydney (Observatory Hill) 28.1 42.2 10 Jan 2026 19.3 13.3 2 Dec 2025 314.2
Sydney Airport AMO 28.1 +1.7 42.7 10 Jan 2026 19.6 +1.0 13.4 2 Dec 2025 226.4 285.3 average 79%
Sydney Harbour (Wedding Cake West) 24.9 +0.5 39.6 10 Jan 2026 20.0 0.0 14.2 2 Dec 2025
Sydney Olympic Park AWS (Archery Centre) 29.2 +1.1 42.7 19 Dec 2025 18.5 -0.1 11.4 1 Dec 2025 318.4 343.8 average 93%
Terrey Hills AWS 26.7 +0.7 40.5 10 Jan 2026 17.7 0.0 11.3 27 Dec 2025 420.8 338.3 high 124%

Notes

The Seasonal climate summary, usually published in the first week of the following month, lists the main features of the weather in Greater Sydney using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated.

This summary includes data from observing sites in or near the Greater Sydney “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” (GCCSA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics designed the GCCSAs to represent a socio-economic definition of each capital city. This means the greater capital city boundary includes people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the capital city, but live in the small towns and rural areas surrounding the capital city. It does not define the built up edge of the capital city.

This statement has been prepared based on information available on Monday 2 March 2026. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases, the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.

Averages for individual sites are long-term means based on observations from all available years of record, excluding the current year. The length of record can vary widely from site to site. Averages are not shown for sites with fewer than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of long-term average rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site, based on the decile ranking (very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3, average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9 and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a percentage of the long-term mean.

Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.

Information about Australian Indigenous seasonal calendars is available at the Indigenous Weather Knowledge website.

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

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