Monday 2 March 2026 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Remote Islands and Antarctica - Product code IDCKGC2RR0

Remote Islands and Antarctica in summer 2026

Jump to a map of the areas covered in this summary

Australia's Indian Ocean islands

  • Summer was wetter than average for Christmas Island Aero, the total rainfall was at 1103.0 mm compared to the long-term average for summer of 869.6 mm.
  • At Christmas Island Aero, the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were 0.1 °C and 0.2 °C above average, respectively.
  • The summer rainfall total at Cocos Island Airport was 728.2 mm, this was more than 50% above the long-term summer average of 473.8 mm.
  • At Cocos Island Airport, the mean maximum temperature was 0.5 °C above average and the mean minimum temperature was 0.4 °C above average.

Australia's Pacific Ocean islands

  • Summer rainfall at Norfolk Island was very much above average, with a rainfall total of 416.0 mm, compared to the long-term summer average of 268.4 mm.
  • At Norfolk Island Aero, both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were 0.9 °C above average.
  • Lord Howe Island Aero recorded 180.8 mm of total rainfall during summer, this was below the long-term summer average rainfall of 305.5 mm.
  • At Lord Howe Island Aero, the mean maximum temperature was 0.1 °C above average, while the mean minimum temperature was 0.3 °C below average.

Australia's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic territories

  • The strongest wind gust during summer was 183 km/h at Casey on the evening of the 28 February.
  • The mean maximum and minimum temperatures for summer were above average at Casey and Davis. In contrast, at Mawson the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were below average.
  • Casey had its equal highest summer mean maximum temperature and highest summer mean temperature for 20 years.
  • Summer precipitation at Macquarie Island was 260.8 mm this was close to the long-term average for summer at 257.1 mm.
  • At Macquarie Island, both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were 0.2 °C above average.
  • The strongest wind gust recorded this summer at Macquarie Island was 107 km/h on the morning of 12 February.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Highest summer mean maximum temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)		 Most recent
higher		 Average for
Summer
Casey 2.3 =2.3 in 1993 1.2

note: there may be gaps in the historical record at some sites, so it is possible more recent higher values have gone unreported



Highest summer mean temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)		 Most recent
higher		 Average for
Summer
Casey -0.1 0.1 in 1992 -1.2

note: there may be gaps in the historical record at some sites, so it is possible more recent higher values have gone unreported



Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

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
Offshore Islands
Lord Howe Island Aero 25.3 +0.1 28.8 10 Feb 2026 20.1 -0.3 13.3 4 Dec 2025 180.8 305.5 low 59%
Norfolk Island Aero 25.3 +0.9 28.1 13 Feb 2026 19.9 +0.9 15.2 29 Dec 2025 416.6 268.4 high 155%
Christmas Island Aero 28.1 +0.1 30.6 6 Jan 2026 22.9 +0.2 19.5 1 Dec 2025 1103.0 869.6 high 127%
Cocos Island Airport 30.3 +0.5 31.7 16 Dec 2025 25.3 +0.4 21.0 1 Jan 2026 728.2 473.8 high 154%
Antarctica and Macquarie Island
Casey 2.3 +1.1 6.7 19 Jan 2026 -2.4 +1.3 -9.9 6 Feb 2026 33.2 38.4 average 86%
Davis 2.2 +0.4 8.5 2 Jan 2026 -2.4 +0.2 -9.4 20 Feb 2026 22.8 7.5 high 303%
Macquarie Island 8.7 +0.2 11.8 19 Jan 2026 5.2 +0.2 1.1 19 Dec 2025 260.8 257.1 average 101%
Mawson 1.0 -0.1 7.2 3 Jan 2026 -4.7 -0.2 -12.1 16 Feb 2026

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Map of the areas covered by this summary

Notes

The Seasonal climate summary, usually published in the first week of the following month, lists the main features of the weather in Remote Islands and Antarctica 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 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.

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