Greater Melbourne in summer 2023-24

Rainfall

  • Summer rainfall was above to very much above average for most suburbs of Greater Melbourne.
  • Rainfall totals ranged from 110% of the seasonal average at Cerberus to 205% of the seasonal average at Wallan (Kilmore Gap).
  • The highest summer rainfall total in Greater Melbourne was 381.0 mm, at Ferny Creek.
  • Coldstream and Willowmavin (Avalon Station) had their highest summer daily rainfall on record and Woodend had its highest total summer rainfall for at least 20 years.

Temperature

  • Mean maximum temperatures varied across Greater Melbourne, ranging from 0.7 °C below average at Wallan (Kilmore Gap) to 0.3 °C above average at Laverton RAAF and Scoresby Research Institute.
  • The warmest summer daytime temperature on average was 27.2 °C at Viewbank.
  • The cooldest summer daytime temperature on average was at 22.5 °C at Ferny Creek.
  • Mean minimum temperatures were above average for most suburbs of Greater Melbourne, except for Ferny Creek and ranged from 0.3 °C below average at Ferny Creek to 1.7 °C above average at Essendon Airport.
  • Melbourne (Olympic Park) had the warmest summer nights (minimum temperature) on average, at 15.8 °C.
  • Wallan (Kilmore Gap) had the coldest summer nights (minimum temperature) on average, at 12.0 °C.

Melbourne (Olympic Park)

  • Total rainfall for Melbourne (Olympic Park) was 186.4 mm, which is 140% of the long-term average of 133.3 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Melbourne (Olympic Park) was 25.2 °C, which is 0.5 °C below the long-term average of 25.7 °C.
  • The warmest day was 37.5 °C on 4 February, and the coolest day was on 2 December when the temperature reached 16.7 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Melbourne (Olympic Park) was 15.8 °C, which is 0.2 °C above the long-term average of 15.6 °C.
  • The coldest morning was 11.7 °C on 25 February, and the warmest morning was on 22 February when the minimum temperature was 21.5 °C.

Extremes in summer 2023-24
Hottest day 39.7 °C at Melbourne Airport on 13 Feb 2024
Warmest days on average 27.2 °C at Viewbank
Coolest days on average 22.5 °C at Ferny Creek
Coldest day 13.1 °C at Wallan (Kilmore Gap) on 2 Dec 2023
Coldest night 3.8 °C at Coldstream on 15 Feb 2024
Coolest nights on average 12.0 °C at Wallan (Kilmore Gap)
Warmest nights on average 15.8 °C at Melbourne (Olympic Park)
Warmest night 23.9 °C at Essendon Airport on 22 Feb 2024
Warmest on average overall 20.8 °C at Viewbank
Coolest on average overall 17.4 °C at Ferny Creek
Wettest overall 381.0 mm at Ferny Creek
Wettest day 136.6 mm at Willowmavin (Avalon Station) on 8 Jan 2024
Strongest wind gust 115 km/h at Fawkner Beacon on 13 Feb 2024

Record highest summer daily rainfall
New record
(mm)
Old
record
Years of
record
Coldstream 76.2 on 8 Jan 2024 76.0 on 5 Feb 2011 31
Willowmavin (Avalon Station) 136.6 on 8 Jan 2024 75.2 on 3 Feb 2005 24



Highest summer total rainfall for at least 20 years
Observed
(mm)
Most recent
higher
Average for
summer
Woodend 265.6 266.1 in 1993* 141.2

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




Summary statistics for summer 2023-24
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
summer
2023-24
Diff
from
average
Highest for
summer
2023-24
Mean for
summer
2023-24
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
summer
2023-24
Total for
summer
2023-24
Average
for
summer
Rank of
summer
2023-24
Fraction of
summer
average
Cerberus 23.5 -0.5 36.9 22 Feb 2024 14.1 +0.7 7.0 25 Feb 2024 141.6 129.3 average 110%
Coldstream 26.4 -0.6 36.3 4 Feb 2024 12.5 +1.2 3.8 15 Feb 2024 290.0 160.8 v high 180%
Essendon Airport 25.9 +0.2 38.3 4 Feb 2024 15.0 +1.7 10.5 23 Dec 2023 190.0 139.6 high 136%
Ferny Creek 22.5 -0.8 32.6 4 Feb 2024 12.2 -0.3 7.1 20 Dec 2023 381.0 254.4 v high 150%
Frankston (Ballam Park) 24.9   37.5 4 Feb 2024 14.4   8.8 20 Dec 2023 204.0
Laverton RAAF 25.4 +0.3 39.5 13 Feb 2024 15.0 +1.5 9.4 25 Feb 2024 180.2 131.2 high 137%
Melbourne (Olympic Park) 25.2 -0.5 37.5 4 Feb 2024 15.8 +0.2 11.7 25 Feb 2024 186.4 133.3 high 140%
Melbourne Airport 25.9 -0.1 39.7 13 Feb 2024 14.0 +0.6 8.6 25 Feb 2024 192.6 134.0 high 144%
Moorabbin Airport 25.2 -0.1 38.2 13 Feb 2024 14.8 +0.9 9.8 15 Feb 2024 277.2 151.6 v high 183%
Scoresby Research Institute 26.1 +0.3 36.9 4 Feb 2024 14.0 +0.9 6.7 15 Feb 2024 205.8 180.3 high 114%
Viewbank 27.2 +0.1 38.2 4 Feb 2024 14.4 +0.4 7.4 15 Feb 2024 177.4 155.3 average 114%
Wallan (Kilmore Gap) 23.4 -0.7 33.7 4 Feb 2024 12.0 +0.2 7.1 20 Dec 2023 297.4 145.2 v high 205%

Notes

The Seasonal climate summary, usually published in the first week of the following month, lists the main features of the weather in Greater Melbourne 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 Melbourne “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 at 10 am on Friday 1 March 2024. 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.


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