Australian Capital Territory in December 2024

Rainfall

  • Rainfall totals for December were above average at all sites across Australian Capital Territory.
  • December rainfall totals ranged from around 134% of average at Canberra Airport to 158% of average at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS.
  • Majority of rainfall occurred during the first 8 days of the month.
  • The wettest day was the 7th when 65.0 mm rain fell at Mount Ginini AWS. This location also recorded the wettest overall of the month with 152.8 mm rainfall.

Temperature

  • Mean maximum temperatures for December were above average at all sites across Australian Capital Territory .
  • December mean maximum temperatures for the territory ranged from 2.1 °C to 2.3 °C above average at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS and Mount Ginini AWS, respectively.
  • The warmest day was the 16th when 34.5 °C was recorded at the Canberra Airport and the coldest day was at Mount Ginini AWS on the 23rd where 11.3 °C was recorded.
  • Mean minimum temperatures for December at all sites across Australian Capital Territory were above average.
  • December mean minimum temperatures for the territory ranged from 0.7 °C to 1.5 °C above average at Canberra Airport and Mount Ginini AWS, respectively.
  • The coldest nightly temperature was 0.2 °C recorded at Mount Ginini AWS on the 24th and the warmest nightly temperature was 19.7 °C recorded at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS.

Canberra Airport

  • Total rainfall for Canberra Airport was 101.8 mm, which is 134% of the long-term average at the current site of 75.8 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Canberra Airport was 29.4 °C, which is 2.2 °C above the long-term average at the current site of 27.2 °C.
  • The warmest day was 34.5 °C on the 16th, and the coolest day was on the 23rd when the temperature reached 22.2 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Canberra Airport was 12.7 °C, which is 0.7 °C above the long-term average at the current site of 12.0 °C.
  • The coldest morning was 3.6 °C on the 24th, and the warmest morning was on the 7th when the minimum temperature was 19.6 °C.

Extremes in December 2024
Hottest day 34.5 °C at Canberra Airport on the 16th
Warmest days on average 29.4 °C at Canberra Airport
Coolest days on average 20.1 °C at Mount Ginini AWS
Coldest day 11.3 °C at Mount Ginini AWS on the 23rd
Coldest night 0.2 °C at Mount Ginini AWS on the 24th
Coolest nights on average 8.9 °C at Mount Ginini AWS
Warmest nights on average 13.5 °C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS
Warmest night 19.7 °C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS on the 7th
Warmest on average overall 21.4 °C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS
Coolest on average overall 14.5 °C at Mount Ginini AWS
Wettest overall 152.8 mm at Mount Ginini AWS
Wettest day 65.0 mm at Mount Ginini AWS on the 7th
Strongest wind gust 74.0 km/h at Mount Ginini AWS on the 3rd


Summary statistics for December 2024
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
December
2024
Diff
from
average
Highest for
December
2024
Mean for
December
2024
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
December
2024
Total for
December
2024
Average
for
December
Rank of
December
2024
Fraction of
December
average
Canberra Airport 29.4 +2.2 34.5 16th 12.7 +0.7 3.6 24th 101.8 75.8 average 134%
Mount Ginini AWS 20.1 +2.3 26.3 16th 8.9 +1.5 0.2 24th 152.8 109.8 high 139%
Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS 29.2 +2.1 34.2 16th 13.5 +1.2 4.8 24th 107.6 68.2 high 158%

Daily maximum temperatures for December 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Canberra Airport 26.2 30.8 25.3 30.5 30.5 33.5 31.0 28.0 23.1 28.0 27.3 30.3 30.3 32.2 33.0 34.5 32.5 25.8 25.5 29.7 32.7 29.6 22.2 26.2 31.3 34.1 28.6 26.5 29.8 31.0 30.7
Mount Ginini AWS 14.7 20.1 14.9 21.5 21.4 25.1 19.0 18.4 14.9 18.5 18.6 21.7 22.3 23.2 25.0 26.3 22.6 17.0 18.2 22.6 23.3 19.3 11.3 18.1 22.4 23.7 18.6 16.3 19.7 21.3 23.4
Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS 25.6 30.1 25.7 30.9 30.3 34.2 31.3 27.8 23.1 28.1 26.9 30.4 30.3 32.0 33.3 34.2 31.8 25.3 26.1 29.8 32.7 29.3 21.9 26.4 31.5 33.7 28.1 25.3 29.4 30.4 30.3
Values are the maximum temperature, usually in the 24 hours from 9 am on the day indicated,
and typically occurred in the afternoon of that day.
Temperatures coloured according to their difference
from the long-term average for the period
-10.0 -9.0 -8.0 -7.0 -6.0 -5.0 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 +1.0 +2.0 +3.0 +4.0 +5.0 +6.0 +7.0 +8.0 +9.0 +10.0 °C Grey outline marks highest
and lowest for the period

Daily minimum temperatures for December 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Canberra Airport 17.6 10.2 16.5 16.6 14.5 18.3 19.6 19.3 11.8 7.2 12.6 9.1 10.1 16.4 13.4 12.8 17.7 14.0 6.5 8.5 10.8 11.2 12.4 3.6 8.7 9.8 18.9 11.7 6.7 13.7 14.9
Mount Ginini AWS 9.1 8.6 12.3 12.4 11.8 14.7 13.4 10.7 5.5 5.8 5.0 7.9 10.9 10.6 13.3 11.8 16.2 5.0 1.6 8.0 11.6 7.2 5.1 0.2 8.8 10.6 11.4 4.8 6.3 7.2 9.3
Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS 17.3 10.5 16.4 16.4 15.8 18.7 19.7 18.1 12.7 6.7 14.6 8.8 11.2 16.9 13.6 13.2 18.4 13.7 9.5 10.3 12.1 15.1 11.4 4.8 8.1 11.9 17.6 13.1 8.2 15.6 18.0
Values are the minimum temperature, usually in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated,
and typically occurred that morning.
Temperatures coloured according to their difference
from the long-term average for the period
-10.0 -9.0 -8.0 -7.0 -6.0 -5.0 -4.0 -3.0 -2.0 -1.0 0.0 +1.0 +2.0 +3.0 +4.0 +5.0 +6.0 +7.0 +8.0 +9.0 +10.0 °C Grey outline marks highest
and lowest for the period

Daily rainfall for December 2024
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
Aranda (Bindaga St) 39.0 2.4 - 7.8 8.4 - 17.2 0.6 - - - - 1.4 - -
Bruce (Australian Institute of Sport) 50.4 - 10.0 4.0
Canberra (Australian National Botanic Ga 40.8 1.5 0.2 6.2 13.2 - 19.0 0.3 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 1.8 - - - -
Canberra Airport 40.4 0.6 - 7.0 4.4 - 48.6 0.2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.6 - - - -
Mount Ginini AWS 53.6 9.8 0.6 21.4 - 0.2 65.0 1.2 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 0.8 0.2 - - -
Nicholls (Gungahlin Lakes) - 58.0 - 25.6
Torrens (Darke St) 49.0 0.6 - 6.2 8.4
Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS 48.2 1.0 - 9.8 3.0 - 40.2 1.4 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4.0 - - - -
Most values are the precipitation in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated. Days marked with → are part of a longer accumulation, which is shown on the final day.
Values over 100 mm have been rounded to the nearest whole millimetre.
Days marked with - have a rainfall report of zero; days left blank have no rainfall report (which often indicates no rain fell).
Rainfalls coloured
according to the amount
0 1.0 5.0 10.0 15.0 25.0 50.0 100 150 200 300 400 600 millimetres

Notes

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

This statement has been prepared based on information available on Sunday 5 January 2025. 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 previous 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.

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