Sydney's rainfall

[nzmaninsydney]

Hi.

Have lived in Sydney for 5 years now.

Have got some rainfall statsictics.

Since arriving here in April 2001, the wettest month I have experienced has been 371mm in May 2001, 349mm in February 2002 and 349mm in May 2003. The average for February is 125mm and 135mm for May.

The driest months have been 6mm in October 2002, 6mm in September 2003, 8mm in May 2004 and 1mm for August this year.

Autumn is the wettest season here and spring the driest.

The wettest month in history has been February 1990, which recorded a whopping 631mm, second in place is April 1961 with 622mm and 3rd place is 575mm in May 1919.

[Willoughby]

G'day mate, welcome aboard.

[spwill]

Have lived in Sydney for 5 years now.

I spent 5 years in Sydney from 1990. McMahons Pt, North Sydney.
The only thing I miss about living there is the Weather.

[NZstorm]

Sydney has a suprisingly high rainfall for a temperate east coast location.
A psuedo monsoon goes right down the east coast of Australia for summer/autume.

[nzmaninsydney]

I live in Bondi, about 10 minutes walk to the beach.

Yes, Sydney has a huge variety of weather extremes.

The yearly sunshine total here for last year was 2800 hours.

Its a cold, showery and windy day here today.

Last week on Wednesday, it was 39 degrees, hottest December day on that date since records began in 1851. Today, its currently 19 degrees. Last year in December, on the 20th, we had a maximum of 16 degrees which was the coldest December day in 75 years. The average Maximum is 23 degrees.

Winter/early Spring here is extremely sunny, in fact Sydney normally gets most of its clear days in Winter. Summer/Autumn are the least sunny seasons.

August this year, only 1.6mm fell compared to the normal of 75mm, and recorded 270 hours of sunshine (the highest monthly total for 2005 so far).

November was very wet with 125mm falling (compared to the average of 80mm) and only recorded 200 hours of sunshine. Goes to show that in Sydney, it can be extremely wet and cloudy or extremely dry and sunny.

I lived in Melbourne from 1996 to 2000, the winters in Melbourne are usually grey, wet, windy and cold with very few clear days. Summer in Melbourne is changeable (you get 4 seasons in 1 day), it can be hot and sunny with 40 degrees then the next day, it will be raining and windy, about 16 or 17 degrees. March and April in Melbourne is normally the best for good weather, many days are clear and mild.

I have noticed that Aucklands weather is similar to Sydneys, Wellingtons weather is similar to Tasmania and Christchurchs weather is similar to Melbourne.

The wettest day I have experienced since arriving here in April 2001 has been 150mm in February 2003. We get rain on 133 days per year.

[RWood]

The Sydney warmth/sun "countervailing" are noticeable from about 26 years of data from the Aero (older city site shows something very similar) for sunshine: (averages for Jan-Dec, plus annual)

Sun- %
shine of
hrs. poss.
233 53
203 54
214 56
204 61
183 57
180 60
205 65
242 72
234 66
248 62
231 56
248 56
2624 59.4

Auckland and Sydney may be "similar" but Sydney is almost 2.0C warmer than Auckland and is far sunnier (no argument from Michael!). Ch'ch rainfall is similar to Melbourne but it has significantly fewer days of precip. W'gton can't really be compared to Tasmania as Tas. has a sharp East-west divide with rainfall, niether main zone matching Wellington.

[Michael]

Sydney's SW are a lot better than here as well bringing sunshine wheres here Rain.but its probably the reverse their SE bring Rain to Sydney but thats not as often as our SW

[nzmaninsydney]

Yes, Sydney has more sun and is warmer than Auckland, I come from Auckland myself. Auckland is more humid than Sydney.

Sydney does tend to have a bit more rain than Auckland, when it rains in Sydney, it can be quite heavy. Dont get many showery days here in Sydney. (There is a saying in Sydney, when it rains, it really rains and thats very true) and another saying:- it never rains but it pours.

Sydney and Wellington have 1 thing in common-a southerly.
When a southerly arrives in Sydney, it most of the time brings heavy rain/showers, gales and cold temperatures, the same happens in Wellington in a southerly airstream.

Sydney in August 1998, recorded its wettest August ever when 482.6mm fell on 17 days. A southerly event occurred during this month.

On the 6th when a southerly change swept the Sydney coast, 60.4mm fell, conditions were heavy rain and windy, on the 7th-104.6mm fell, conditions were heavy rain and southerly gales and on the 8th 136.0mm fell and conditions were heavy rain and gales. 301.0mm fell over 3 days in a southerly event.

As for comparing the weather between Australian and NZ cities, Melbourne and Christchurch have nearly the same yearly rainfall total, Melbournes yearly rainfall total is 650mm, similar's to Christchurch. (I lived in Christchurch for 4 years from 1990 to 1994.

Wellington and Tasmania share the same temperatures, after all Tasmania and Wellington rarely gets hot and has cool temperatures in the Summer. Wellington has far more rain than Hobart (Hobart gets 650mm per year).

I have obtained the sunshine averages for Sydney from the weather office, weather recording began in the 1850s.

Sunshine averages are:-

Jan 229.4
Feb 204.4
Mar 210.8
Apr 210.6
May 182.9
Jun 180.0
Jul 201.5
Aug 241.8
Sep 234.0
Oct 244.9
Nov 231.0
Dec 248.0

2619.3 hrs of sunshine per year.

As you can see, Winter/Spring are very sunny and Summer/Autumn are cloudier.

For example, when 349mm fell in February 2002, the sunshine total for that month was only 140 hours. Rain fell on 21 days (I can remember that month very well )

Summer and Autumn are wet here, late Winter/Spring as well as December are dry months.

Rainfall Averages are:

Jan 103.4
Feb 116.1
Mar 132.1
Apr 127.8
May 122.8
Jun 129.8
Jul 98.9
Aug 82.2
Sep 69.5
Oct 77.2
Nov 83.3
Dec 78.3

1221.4mm of rain per year.

As we all know, sometimes rain doesnt always stick to the average, for example, October last year, 235 mm of rain fell, the 2nd wettest October on record (The wettest October on record is 285.0mm in 1987).

Happy reading

[nzmaninsydney]

Yes, SW and W winds normally brings clear, dry days to Sydney, they are very common durning Winter/Spring, althought they can be very cold, at night-time, out in the western suburbs, temperature can drop to below zero.

The same winds bring rain/showers, gales and cold temperatures to Melbourne.

When we get NE and E winds, they often bring cloud, wind and rain to Sydney, but in Melbourne, they can bring clear, hot and humid days.

Spring is the windiest time for Sydney.

When we get a North-Westerly wind (common during Spring and December), temperatures can rise to 40 degrees, they usually last no more than 24 hours and normally is followed by a southerly buster, which can drop temperatures very rapidly. This is quite similar for Christchurch, (How I miss seeing the Nor-wester arch cloud in Christchurch).

[NZstorm]

As for comparing the weather between Australian and NZ cities

mean annual temp
Sydney 17.5C
Auckland 15.5C
Melbourne 14.8C
Christchurch 11.6C

[RWood]

If I were moving to an Australian major city I'd pick Perth or perhaps Brisbane for climate - more for the sunshine than anything else.

[Manukau heads obs]

if you are wanting to watch a delayed coverage game of the 1 dayer, then dont read this post























at last we beat them in cricket!!!
an amazing world record i see, just checking the sports on net
(i have sky ,but not sports