Weather Australia

The seasons of weather Experienced in Australia

Australia is a country in the southern Hemisphere. 

Just like other countries in this hemisphere, there are four official seasons which occur as follows:

Autumn: March – May
Winter: June –August
Spring: September – November
Summer: December – February

Christmas in Australia falls in summer so Australians never experience a white Christmas as the countries in the Northern Hemisphere.

Students usually have two breaks in a year. The first break is mid year during the winter season. The second break which is also known as the Christmas or summer holiday Fall in December.

Although seasons in the northern hemisphere share the same names as those in the south, the weather patterns are different. Australia being a dry country experiences a much hotter summer. Also, the rainfall patterns are quite distinct with some areas getting a lot of rainfall at some point in the course of the year, then at another point having no rainfall at all.

The four seasons calendar as we know it was introduced to Australia by the British back in 1978. The Indigenous Australians however have their own season’s calendar which is different from the one above. Such an indigenous group is the Jawoyn found in the northern territory. Jiorrk signifies the wet season which runs from January to February. Bungarung, depicts the end of the rains goes from March to the mid April. Jungalk is the hot start of a dry period and runs from the middle of April to end of May.

Malaparr is the middle of the dry season which is cooler and runs from June to end of August. Worrwopmi is the humid time and goes from September to end of October. Finally The Wakaringding is the humid period when rains (first rains) begin to fall. It usually lasts from November to the end of December. All these seasons show the different kinds of weather experienced in Australia.

The varying weather of Australia

Australia being a big country has significantly varying weather in different parts. Activities therefore vary depending on which weather is being experienced in a particular place at a particular time. You could be enjoying yourself on the white sand beaches during the hot summers or heavily dressed as you enjoy skiing in the snow. You could also be wiping sweat from your brow during the high humidity period which comes just before the onset of the rainy season where you have you have to carry an umbrella around.

The northern territory has regions that are tropical and experience high temperatures and high humidity as well. These regions also experience seasons which are either wet or dry.

The central part of Australia has desert regions that are dry and have high temperatures during the day. They also have low amounts of rainfall. The south on the other hand has temperate regions that have moderate amounts of rainfall. The temperatures vary between hot and cold.

Temperatures in this country vary according to the season. Generally the range goes between the highs of around 50degrees Celsius and lows of below zero degrees Celsius. Even though the low temperatures in Australia get to sub zero, they do not compare to the other continents which can be said to be have extreme lows.  The reason why this is so, is partly due to the fact that Australia lacks very high mountains which would mean more places with high altitude. The high altitude areas would have much lower temperature than the low lying areas. Also the presence of oceans around the country influences the weather making it warmer. Warm winds are blown inland from the oceans making the temperature inland rise.


The Tropical Regions of Australia

These regions are found in the northern part of the country. Included are the parts northern of Western Australia together with the northern as well as central parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory. The weather experienced in the tropics of Australia has two seasons which are very different from each other. These are the dry and wet seasons.

The dry season usually spreads out through six months. These are the months of May to October. This is also the period when the autumn and winter seasons occur. Daytime experiences clear skies. The temperatures are considerably lower compared to those experienced in the wet season and they average 20 degrees Celsius.

The wet period on the other hand also runs for around six months but during spring time and summer. This is from the month of December to March. The temperatures are higher than those of the dry season due to the high humidity brought about by the rain. The temperature ranges from 30 to 50 degrees.  The heavy rainfall experienced during the wet season is responsible for the frequent flooding that occurs during this period.

Between the two seasons there is a time when high levels of humidity are experienced. This period is referred to as the ‘build up’. The build up lasts from three to four months. During this period of high humidity, people eagerly wait for the onset of the rains so as to get a relief from the constant sweltering that  and discomfort that is experienced throughout the day and night without a break. When the rains finally come, they are welcomed with a huge sigh of relief as they bring about a cooling effect in the atmosphere.
 

The Dry and temperate regions of Australia

The regions that are the driest in Australia are mostly in central Australia. They stretch from the central to the southern of Western Australia, going through some parts in the southern of Northern Territory. The larger parts of South Australia and the regions in the far west of Queensland and New South Wales as well as the parts in the north western of Victoria also have dry weather.

High Temperatures during the day and low temperatures at night characterize the desert regions in Australia. Temperatures vary from the highs of 40 degrees Celsius during the summer to the lows of 16 -24 degrees Celsius during the winter. The night temperatures have a variance of between 19 to 0 degrees Celsius. The Dry regions usually get little rainfall. As a matter of fact the central of Australia is normally under a drought.

The temperate regions lie on the south-eastern coast going down south from Tasmania to large parts of Victoria as well as New South Wales ending in the southern part of Queensland. The temperate regions also spread to the parts that are in the southern most of South Australia and to the south-western of Western Australia.

Weather in this region keeps on changing all year round. The average temperature is 30 degrees Celsius during summer time and 15 degrees Celsius during winter. Heat waves and droughts are quite common during summer. The winters are normally wet and cold though can be said to be mild when compared to the conditions experienced at winter time in most European countries.

The occurrence of snow in the temperate regions is quite rare and none is experienced in the regions that have tropical and dry climates. The Great Dividing mountain ranges have regular snow during the winter because of the high altitude around.