Friday, 2 December 2022 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Greater Sydney - Product code IDCKGC25L0

Greater Sydney in spring 2022: wet and cool

It was a wet and cool spring across Greater Sydney, with rainfall more than double the average in some areas. Daytime temperatures were up to 2 degrees below average, and night-time temperatures were within 1 degree of average. It was the wettest spring at Observatory Hill since 1995, and 2022 has been the wettest year there since records began in 1858.

Wetter than average

• It was wetter than average in spring across Greater Sydney.
• Total spring rainfall was generally over 40% above average, and more than double their average in some areas, including Campbelltown and Camden.
• September rainfall was around double the monthly average, while in October many sites recorded two to three times their monthly average.
• November rainfall was below average across Greater Sydney.
• Some sites had their highest total spring rainfall on record or their highest for at least 20 years.
• For more information on monthly rainfall see the September, October, and November climate summaries.

Generally cool

• Temperatures in spring were relatively cool across Greater Sydney.
• Spring maximum temperatures ranged from around 1 °C below their average near the coast to over 2 °C below average in some inland areas.
• Maximum temperatures were generally below average in all months.
• Some sites had their lowest spring mean daily maximum temperature on record or their lowest since 1999.
• Spring minimum temperatures were generally within 1 °C of their average.
• Mangrove Mountain had its lowest spring mean daily minimum temperature on record.
• A few sites had their lowest spring mean temperature on record or their lowest for at least 20 years.
• For more information on monthly temperature see the September, October, and November climate summaries.

Sydney (Observatory Hill)

• Total rainfall for Sydney (Observatory Hill) was 441.2 mm, which is 193% of the average over all years at the former site of 228.2 mm, or 201% of the 1991–2020 average of 219.4 mm.
• Total rainfall for October was 295.4 mm, exceeding the previous October record (at the combined current and former sites) of 283.2 mm in 1916.
• The spring total rainfall of 441.2 mm was the highest at Sydney (Observatory Hill) since 1995.
• On 6 October, Sydney (Observatory Hill) surpassed its annual record rainfall of 2194.0 mm in 1950.
• The 2022 year-to-date total rainfall, as of 9am 30 November, is 2451.8 mm.
• The mean daily maximum temperature for Sydney (Observatory Hill) was 22.5 °C, which is 0.5 °C above the average over all years at the former site of 22.0 °C, or 0.5 °C below the 1991–2020 average of 23.0 °C.
• The warmest day was 29.0 °C on 26 October, and the coolest day was on 3 September when the temperature reached 16.3 °C.
• The mean daily minimum temperature for Sydney (Observatory Hill) was 14.0 °C, which is 0.5 °C above the average over all years at the former site of 13.5 °C, or 0.5 °C below the 1991–2020 average of 14.5 °C.
• The coldest morning was 8.5 °C on 14 September, and the warmest morning was on 13 November when the minimum temperature was 18.9 °C.

Further information

Media

media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Extremes in spring 2022
Hottest day	32.4 °C at Cooranbong (Lake Macquarie AWS) on 27 Nov
Warmest days on average	23.6 °C at Penrith Lakes AWS
Coolest days on average	15.5 °C at Mount Boyce AWS
Coldest day	6.0 °C at Katoomba (Farnells Rd) on 3 Sep
Coldest night	0.5 °C at Mount Boyce AWS on 2 Nov
Coolest nights on average	6.7 °C at Katoomba (Farnells Rd)
Warmest nights on average	15.0 °C at Sydney Harbour (Wedding Cake West)
Warmest night	19.7 °C at Gosford AWS on 14 Nov
Warmest on average overall	18.4 °C at Norah Head AWS
Coolest on average overall	11.1 °C at Mount Boyce AWS
Wettest overall	557.0 mm at Darkes Forest (Kintyre)
Wettest day	103.4 mm at Yarramalong (Lewensbrook) on 9 Oct
Strongest wind gust	104 km/h at Wattamolla AWS on 9 Oct

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Record highest spring daily rainfall
	New record (mm)		Old record		Years of record
Putty (The Gibba)	93.0	on 9 Oct	48.0	on 26 Nov 2011	22




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Record highest spring total rainfall
	New record (mm)	Old record		Years of record	Average for spring
Camden Airport AWS	413.6	348.6	in 1987	47	182.4
Campbelltown (Kentlyn (Georges River Roa	382.0	356.7	in 1969	42	178.3
Badgerys Creek AWS	307.2	287.0	in 2004	25	165.1
Blackheath (Wombat Street)	502.0	416.0	in 2018	22	253.7
Wyong (Kulnura (Jeavons))	345.0	336.0	in 2011	20	206.0




Highest spring total rainfall for at least 20 years
	Observed (mm)	Most recent higher		Average for spring
Camden (Brownlow Hill)	333.5	378.4	in 1987	163.2
Yarramalong (Lewensbrook)	431.4	503.3	in 1986*	236.7
Darkes Forest (Kintyre)	557.0	604.6	in 1987*	275.8
Mona Vale Golf Club	430.8	477.3	in 1987*	229.0
Sydney Botanic Gardens	434.0	461.2	in 1987*	231.4
Randwick (Randwick St)	392.9	402.6	in 1995	225.8
Prospect Reservoir	308.0	321.3	in 1995*	180.2
Sydney Airport AMO	379.0	388.0	in 1995*	212.0
Bringelly (Maryland)	306.0	319.5	in 1995*	166.9
Audley (Royal National Park)	364.0	426.5	in 1995*	220.7
Collaroy (Long Reef Golf Club)	306.2	341.0	in 1976*	223.5
Mount Wilson (Clarine)	441.6	515.0	in 1999*	270.5

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported




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Record lowest spring mean daily maximum temperature
	New record (°C)	Old record		Years of record	Average for spring
Richmond RAAF	23.1	23.2	in 1999	28	25.1
Penrith Lakes AWS	23.6	= 23.6	in 1999	27	25.6
Canterbury Racecourse AWS	21.8	22.3	in 2010	25	23.4
Horsley Park Equestrian Centre AWS	22.0	23.0	in 1999	25	24.5




Lowest spring mean daily maximum temperature for at least 20 years
	Observed (°C)	Most recent lower		Average for spring
Camden Airport AWS	22.4	21.7	in 1976*	24.3
Bankstown Airport AWS	22.5	22.1	in 1992	23.7
Katoomba (Farnells Rd)	15.8	15.6	in 1992	17.6
Mount Boyce AWS	15.5	15.1	in 1992	17.7
Parramatta North (Masons Drive)	22.2	=22.2	in 1992	23.8
Badgerys Creek AWS	22.9	22.8	in 1999	24.7
Mangrove Mountain AWS	21.4	20.8	in 1999	22.7

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a lower value has gone unreported




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Record lowest spring mean daily minimum temperature
	New record (°C)	Old record		Years of record	Average for spring
Mangrove Mountain AWS	10.6	= 10.6	in 2012	28	11.4




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Record lowest spring mean temperature
	New record (°C)	Old record		Years of record	Average for spring
Mangrove Mountain AWS	16.0	= 16.0	in 1999	28	17.1
Horsley Park Equestrian Centre AWS	16.8	17.0	in 2003	25	18.2




Lowest spring mean temperature for at least 20 years
	Observed (°C)	Most recent lower		Average for spring
Katoomba (Farnells Rd)	11.2	10.9	in 1992	12.7
Mount Boyce AWS	11.1	10.5	in 1992	12.7





Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Summary statistics for spring 2022
	Maximum temperatures (°C)				Minimum temperatures (°C)				Rainfall (millimetres)
	Mean for spring 2022	Diff from average	Highest for spring 2022		Mean for spring 2022	Diff from average	Lowest for spring 2022		Total for spring 2022	Average for spring	Rank of spring 2022	Fraction of spring average
Badgerys Creek AWS	22.9	-1.8	29.0	25 Nov	10.9	+0.3	3.8	12 Sep	307.2	165.1	highest	186%
Bankstown Airport AWS	22.5	-1.2	30.3	27 Nov	12.3	+0.6	5.9	5 Sep	301.0	182.6	v high	165%
Camden Airport AWS	22.4	-1.9	28.4	25 Nov	10.7	+0.7	2.9	14 Sep	413.6	182.4	highest	227%
Campbelltown (Mount Annan)	22.4	-2.4	28.2	12 Nov	10.5	+0.1	3.3	12 Sep	334.0	166.8	v high	200%
Canterbury Racecourse AWS	21.8	-1.6	28.9	31 Oct	12.0	-0.1	5.4	20 Sep	292.2	188.3	high	155%
Cooranbong (Lake Macquarie AWS)	22.6	-1.8	32.4	27 Nov	11.1	+0.1	5.0	12 Sep	365.8	255.0	high	143%
Gosford AWS	21.9		31.5	27 Nov	12.6		4.9	12 Sep	335.2
Holsworthy Aerodrome AWS	21.8	-2.7	28.5	31 Oct	11.6	+0.1	4.2	14 Sep	271.8	158.1	v high	172%
Holsworthy Defence AWS	21.5		28.6	27 Nov	11.1		4.1	14 Sep	412.8
Horsley Park Equestrian Centre AWS	22.0	-2.5	29.9	27 Nov	11.6	-0.2	5.6	3 Nov	276.8	171.9	high	161%
Katoomba (Farnells Rd)	15.8	-1.8	26.0	27 Nov	6.7	-1.0	1.4	12 Sep	396.8	274.4	high	145%
Mangrove Mountain AWS	21.4	-1.3	31.6	27 Nov	10.6	-0.8	4.0	12 Sep	379.6	247.5	v high	153%
Mount Boyce AWS	15.5	-2.2	25.5	27 Nov	6.8	-0.9	0.5	2 Nov	438.2	234.4	v high	187%
Norah Head AWS	22.3	-0.3	29.2	26 Oct	14.5	-0.3	9.8	12 Sep	300.0	224.3	high	134%
Parramatta North (Masons Drive)	22.2	-1.6	30.6	27 Nov	12.1	+0.3	5.2	12 Sep	290.0	203.9	high	142%
Penrith Lakes AWS	23.6	-2.0	29.9	25 Nov	12.1	-0.1	4.1	12 Sep
Richmond RAAF	23.1	-2.0	30.5	31 Oct	11.6	+0.5	3.2	12 Sep	245.2	177.2	high	138%
Sydney (Observatory Hill)	22.5		29.0	26 Oct	14.0		8.5	14 Sep	441.2
Sydney Airport AMO	22.2	-0.4	29.7	31 Oct	14.1	+0.9	8.0	14 Sep	379.0	212.0	v high	179%
Sydney Harbour (Wedding Cake West)	20.0	-1.0	28.2	31 Oct	15.0	-0.3	10.3	14 Sep
Sydney Olympic Park AWS (Archery Centre)	22.5	-2.1	29.4	27 Nov	12.5	-0.2	5.9	12 Sep	272.2	200.4	high	136%
Terrey Hills AWS	20.6	-1.8	29.3	27 Nov	12.5	-0.7	6.5	14 Sep	372.0	248.1	v high	150%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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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. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.

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 “include the population within the urban area of the city, as well as people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the city, and live in small towns and rural areas surrounding the city. It is important to note that GCCSAs do not define the built up edge of the city. They provide a stable definition for these cities and are designed for the output of a range of social and economic survey data.”

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 6 pm on Friday 2 December 2022. 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, which vary widely from site to site. They are not shown for sites with less 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.

Further information

Media

media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057

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