Canberra month by month, at a glance
Hover each month for the summary. Click to pin it.
Almost everything people know about Australian weather comes from its coastal cities. Canberra is not one of them: it sits at around 580 metres, more than a hundred kilometres from the sea and ringed by ranges. The result is a climate that surprises anyone arriving from Sydney.
01 An inland climate, not a coastal one
The airport normals, taken between 1939 and 2010, give four sharply marked seasons. January is the hottest month, with an average high of 28.0 degrees and a low of 13.2; July is the coldest, with 11.4 and −0.1. Seventeen degrees separate the highs at either end.
Rainfall, by contrast, barely draws seasons: 616 millimetres a year over some 106 days, with a minimum of 40.4 millimetres in June and a maximum of 64.4 in November. No month is dry and none is a monsoon.
The gap between records gives the measure of the place: 42.2 degrees on 1 February 1968 and −10.0 on 11 July 1971. Fifty-two degrees of range at the same weather station.
Key moments at a glance
19.4 degrees, long days and the flower festival in the park.
Highs of 20.0 degrees and the deciduous planting in colour.
A high of 11.4 and an average low of −0.1, with near-daily frost.
28.0 degrees and only 58.5 mm; half the city is away on holiday.
02 The frosts, in numbers
Ninety-nine frost days a year means it freezes, on average, on rather more than one day in four. They concentrate between April and October, with July as the critical month: the average low sits just below zero.
In practice, winter here means very cold mornings and mild afternoons. July's average high of 11.4 degrees is perfectly walkable; the problem is first thing, when the ground is white and the fog takes a while to lift.
It snows little in the city itself, but it does in the surrounding ranges, which rise above 1,500 metres. From the lake you see them white several times a year, and they are the obvious winter excursion.
03 Spring and autumn, the two good stretches
March and April are the best bet if you want kind temperatures: highs of 24.5 and 20.0 degrees, dry air and the urban trees turning. This is a city planted almost entirely in the twentieth century, and much of its tree stock is deciduous, so autumn shows far more here than in the rest of the country.
The other window is October and November. Highs run between 19 and 23 degrees, the days are long, and the park beside the lake hosts the spring festival, which runs from mid-September to mid-October.
That festival plants more than a million bulbs and seasonal flowers across some 4.2 hectares. It is the only time of year when the city has a visitor density comparable to a tourist capital.
04 Summer: dry heat and smoke
From December to February average highs run from 26 to 28 degrees, with considerably higher peaks and very little humidity. It is a heat you can handle in the shade and a hard one in the sun, and the nights genuinely cool down: January's average low is 13.2 degrees.
The factor worth bearing in mind is a different one: between October and February the risk of bushfires in the region rises, and in bad episodes the city's air quality suffers for days. That is no reason to rule out summer, but it is a reason to check the alerts before fixing dates.
January also carries a calendar effect: it is the Australian holiday month, many institutions scale back and the city goes quiet. Good if you are there to see collections without queues; less good if you want atmosphere.
05 What to pack, and in short
In winter, a proper coat, gloves and something for the freezing morning; the afternoon usually asks for less than you expected. In summer, a hat, sun protection and a light layer for the evening, because the daily temperature swing is large all year.
If you can choose, go in March or April, when the trees are in colour and the temperature is the kindest of the year, or between October and November, with long days and the flowering. Avoid June, July and August unless you are going for the snowy ranges, and take January with the city at half speed.
