Australian Climate Zones

What does the word “climate” mean? Many people think of it as “what the weather is usually like”. But climate is more than a summary of average conditions: it also includes information about the natural variability of the atmosphere and the likelihood of particular events.

There are many different ways of describing or classifying climates. How it‘s done depends on the underlying purpose in view; in other words, on your interests and needs.

Thermal comfort is important for tourists, building designers and people with health concerns. How hot or cold will it be? Will it be hot and dry, or warm and humid? For these people, a map showing climate zones based on temperature and humidity will be useful.

In our dry climate, a map showing climate zones based on rainfall only will be useful for irrigation planners and water supply managers.

If you want to grow things, then you‘ll be interested in temperature and rainfall. In the Köppen classification scheme,shown in the map below, the climate of each region is based on temperature and rainfall, as indicated by the native vegetation. For example, date palms grow only in regions where the mean temperature of the coldest month is greater than 18°C, so Köppen chose the 18°C isotherm in the coldest month as the boundary of the equatorial climate.

(You can get more information about this map from here)