Australia · 1991–2020

Best time to visit
Sydney Central Business District.

October leads for comfortable weather in Sydney Central Business District: typically 23.2°C by day, 14.6°C at night, with 68 mm of rain. Based on measured 1991–2020 NOAA station history.

Best comfortOctober

Typical high23.2°C

Typical low14.6°C

Rain in October68 mm

Comfort

October

October · November · April

88climate match

Beach

January

January · December · February

76climate match

Outdoors

August

August · September · July

87climate match

The weakest month is June, scoring 51 against October’s 88 — days reach only 18.2°C, 6° below the 24°C the score treats as ideal, and 143 mm of rain falls.

Month by month

The whole year,
without the guesswork.

The bars show the comfort score. Day and night temperatures come from daily observed highs and lows; rain is the historical monthly estimate.

Jan

6927° / 20°

Feb

6326.8° / 19.9°

Mar

7025.7° / 18.4°

Apr

8323.6° / 15.3°

May

7120.9° / 12.3°

Jun

5118.2° / 10°

Jul

5917.9° / 8.9°

Aug

6719.3° / 9.7°

Sep

8121.6° / 12.3°

Oct

8823.2° / 14.6°

Nov

8424.2° / 16.6°

Dec

7825.7° / 18.4°

Monthly climate evidence for Sydney Central Business District — daylight is calculated from latitude, everything else is measured, sea temperature from the nearest open water 16 km away
Month	Day	Night	Rain	Wet days	Sea	Daylight	Comfort	Coverage
January	27°C	20°C	91 mm	8.2	22.8°C	14 h 10	69	Strong coverage
February	26.8°C	19.9°C	131 mm	9	23.4°C	13 h 22	63	Strong coverage
March	25.7°C	18.4°C	118 mm	10.1	23.2°C	12 h 24	70	Strong coverage
April	23.6°C	15.3°C	114 mm	7.9	22.3°C	11 h 18	83	Strong coverage
May	20.9°C	12.3°C	101 mm	7.9	21.0°C	10 h 24	71	Strong coverage
June	18.2°C	10°C	143 mm	9.3	19.6°C	9 h 55	51	Strong coverage
July	17.9°C	8.9°C	80 mm	7.2	18.6°C	10 h 06	59	Strong coverage
August	19.3°C	9.7°C	75 mm	5.6	18.1°C	10 h 52	67	Strong coverage
September	21.6°C	12.3°C	63 mm	5.8	18.3°C	11 h 56	81	Strong coverage
October	23.2°C	14.6°C	68 mm	7.6	19.2°C	13 h	88	Strong coverage
November	24.2°C	16.6°C	91 mm	8.7	20.1°C	13 h 56	84	Strong coverage
December	25.7°C	18.4°C	73 mm	7.9	21.4°C	14 h 24	78	Strong coverage

What has changed

Sydney Central Business District runs +1.2°C
on the 1961–1990 baseline.

Each bar compares the 2011–2025 daytime average for that month against the same month in 1961–1990, measured at the same station. Months where the older record is too thin to compare are left blank.

Jan

+1.7

Feb

+1.0

Mar

+1.0

Apr

+0.9

May

+1.2

Jun

+0.7

Jul

+1.5

Aug

+1.3

Sep

+1.6

Oct

+1.6

Nov

+1.5

Dec

+0.8

October daytime highs, 2011–2019. Last recorded: 24.4°C.

Records at SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL), 1859–2020
Month	Record high	Record low	Wettest day	Wettest / driest month	Years
January	43.4°C7 Jan 2018	10.6°C18 Jan 1949	191 mm17 Jan 1988	387 mm1911 · driest 6 mm in 1985	162
February	42.1°C8 Feb 1926	9.6°C28 Feb 1863	244 mm3 Feb 1990	631 mm1990 · driest 3 mm in 1939	162
March	39.8°C9 Mar 1983	9.3°C14 Mar 1886	281 mm28 Mar 1942	521 mm1942 · driest 8 mm in 1965	162
April	35.4°C9 Apr 2018	7.0°C27 Apr 1864	191 mm29 Apr 1860	622 mm1861 · driest 1 mm in 1868	162
May	30.0°C1 May 1919	4.4°C30 May 1862	212 mm28 May 1889	585 mm1919 · driest 3 mm in 2008	162
June	26.9°C11 Jun 1931	2.1°C22 Jun 1932	151 mm11 Jun 1991	643 mm1950 · driest 4 mm in 1962	162
July	26.5°C30 Jul 2017	2.2°C8 Jul 1861	198 mm7 Jul 1931	336 mm1950 · driest 2 mm in 1970	162
August	31.3°C26 Aug 1995	2.7°C3 Aug 1872	328 mm6 Aug 1986	483 mm1998 · driest 0 mm in 1995	162
September	34.6°C26 Sep 1965	4.9°C2 Sep 1945	145 mm10 Sep 1879	356 mm1879 · driest 0 mm in 2017	161
October	38.2°C13 Oct 2004	5.7°C6 Oct 1927	162 mm13 Oct 1902	285 mm1987 · driest 1 mm in 1988	161
November	41.8°C25 Nov 1982	7.9°C27 Nov 1864	235 mm9 Nov 1984	517 mm1961 · driest 2 mm in 1915	161
December	42.2°C20 Dec 1957	9.1°C3 Dec 1924	126 mm9 Dec 1970	402 mm1920 · driest 2 mm in 2019	161

Typical days per month at SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL), 1991–2020
Month	Days 25°C+	Days 30°C+	Heavy rain (10 mm+)
January	22	4	3
February	21	3	3
March	19	2	4
April	9	<1	3
May	2	0	3
June	<1	0	4
July	<1	0	2
August	1	0	2
September	5	1	2
October	8	2	2
November	10	3	3
December	17	4	2

The best month has moved. On the 1961–1990 numbers the strongest month here was November (scoring 86); on 2011–2025 it is October (96). Both are scored the same way, from the same station — only the climate underneath changed.

How often, not how much — every day in SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL)’s record sorted by what it was actually like, rather than averaged
Month	Warm & dry days	Wet days	Washouts	Week with 3+ wet days	Daytime mean has ranged
January	72%	28%	9%	33%	24.3–27.4°C
February	68%	32%	11%	41%	24.5–27.3°C
March	67%	32%	11%	40%	23.6–26.2°C
April	61%	30%	11%	36%	21.0–24.2°C
May	35%	28%	10%	33%	17.8–21.2°C
June	9%	29%	12%	36%	15.4–18.5°C
July	8%	24%	9%	27%	14.6–18.0°C
August	20%	23%	7%	25%	16.1–19.5°C
September	40%	24%	6%	26%	18.3–21.9°C
October	57%	26%	7%	28%	20.6–24.0°C
November	66%	28%	8%	34%	22.0–25.4°C
December	73%	26%	7%	27%	23.6–26.8°C

A warm and dry day reaches 20°C with under 1 mm of rain; a wet day gets 1 mm or more; a washout gets 10 mm or more. The week column is the share of seven-day stretches in that month, across the station’s whole daily record, that contained three or more wet days — the odds a week-long trip is rained on repeatedly, counted rather than modelled. The last column is the 10th to 90th percentile of that month’s daytime average across individual years: a narrow band means the average is what you will get, a wide one means the average is a midpoint between years that felt quite different.

1859Each stripe is one year’s mean temperature against the 145-year average. Warmest: 2016. Coolest: 1860.2019

The evidence behind this page

Nearby, measured,
and named.

Place identity: GeoNames 6619280
NOAA station: ASN00066062 · SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL)
Station distance: 0.5 km from the place centre
Climate period: 1991–2020
Minimum month coverage: 29 usable years
Daylight: Calculated from latitude -33.86°, mid-month, sunrise to sunset including refraction. Not a station measurement.
Sea temperature: NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology, nearest open water 16 km from the place centre. A sheltered bay can run warmer than the open sea it is measured from.
Important limit: Historical climate is not a forecast. Nearby stations can miss mountains, coasts, and local microclimates.

These places read the same station, so their numbers are identical — distance from SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL) is what differs

Sydney→Randwick→Mosman→Manly→Surry Hills→Coogee→

Or put two places side by side: Sydney Central Business District vs Sydney

Best time to visitSydney Central Business District.