Cairns climate

Name: Cairns
Address: AU

Cairns is warmest in January, with average highs of 29 °C, and coldest in July, when nights average 18 °C. February is the wettest month (264 mm) and September the driest (17 mm). Figures are 1991–2020 climate normals.

Across a full year Cairns averages 1,221 mm of rain and 258 days above 25 °C.

Australia · population 153,075 · 1991–2020 normals

Temperature below 0 °C to above 30 °C Rain band height is that month’s share of the wettest month

Warmest month January 29 °C
Coldest month July 18 °C
Driest month September 17 mm
Wettest month February 264 mm
Least cloud September 45 % cloud
Hottest on record November 41 °C
Coldest on record July 13 °C
Warmest sea February 29 °C

What to expectCairns through the year

Cairns has a clear annual cycle: average daily highs run from 23 °C in July to 29 °C in January, a swing of 6.2 °C in mean temperature across the year.

Counted across a normal year, 258 days a year reach 25 °C, 38 of them reach 30 °C. The warmest reading in the 1991–2020 record is 41 °C, in November.

Rain is strongly seasonal. February averages 264 mm against 17 mm in September — 16 times as much. Planning around the dry months matters more here than planning around temperature.

The sea off Cairns is warmest in February at 29 °C and coldest in July at 24 °C. Sea temperature lags the air by a month or two, which is why late summer swims warmer than early summer at the same air temperature.

Month by month

Month	Avg high	Rainfall	Cloud
January	29.4 °C	245 mm	74 %
February	29.3 °C	264 mm	74 %
March	28.4 °C	219 mm	69 %
April	26.9 °C	100 mm	58 %
May	25.2 °C	47 mm	56 %
June	23.7 °C	28 mm	54 %
July	23.1 °C	29 mm	49 %
August	23.8 °C	25 mm	48 %
September	25.8 °C	17 mm	45 %
October	27.3 °C	36 mm	45 %
November	28.5 °C	61 mm	52 %
December	29.3 °C	150 mm	64 %

Temperature month by month

Month	Avg high	Avg low	Mean	Record high	Record low	Days above 25 °C	Days above 30 °C
January	29.4 °C	24.6 °C	26.6 °C	38.8 °C	21.1 °C	31	10
February	29.3 °C	24.7 °C	26.6 °C	40.9 °C	20.0 °C	28	8
March	28.4 °C	23.9 °C	25.8 °C	35.8 °C	20.7 °C	31	5
April	26.9 °C	22.7 °C	24.4 °C	31.6 °C	16.7 °C	27	0
May	25.2 °C	21.0 °C	22.8 °C	29.1 °C	13.5 °C	17	0
June	23.7 °C	19.4 °C	21.1 °C	28.8 °C	13.0 °C	4	0
July	23.1 °C	18.5 °C	20.4 °C	29.1 °C	12.5 °C	3	0
August	23.8 °C	18.6 °C	20.8 °C	29.3 °C	13.4 °C	7	0
September	25.8 °C	20.0 °C	22.5 °C	31.4 °C	13.6 °C	20	0
October	27.3 °C	21.6 °C	24.0 °C	32.4 °C	16.9 °C	29	1
November	28.5 °C	23.0 °C	25.4 °C	41.2 °C	18.9 °C	30	4
December	29.3 °C	24.2 °C	26.3 °C	36.1 °C	20.2 °C	31	10

Rain, sun and wind month by month

Month	Rainfall	Wet days	Daylight	Cloud cover	Humidity	Wind	Sea temp
January	245 mm	21	13 h/day	74 %	84 %	14 km/h	29.0 °C
February	264 mm	21	13 h/day	74 %	85 %	13 km/h	29.1 °C
March	219 mm	18	12 h/day	69 %	84 %	16 km/h	28.4 °C
April	100 mm	13	12 h/day	58 %	82 %	18 km/h	27.3 °C
May	47 mm	9	11 h/day	56 %	80 %	17 km/h	25.7 °C
June	28 mm	7	11 h/day	54 %	79 %	16 km/h	24.3 °C
July	29 mm	6	11 h/day	49 %	78 %	16 km/h	23.5 °C
August	25 mm	5	12 h/day	48 %	77 %	16 km/h	23.6 °C
September	17 mm	4	12 h/day	45 %	76 %	16 km/h	24.8 °C
October	36 mm	7	12 h/day	45 %	77 %	16 km/h	26.0 °C
November	61 mm	10	13 h/day	52 %	79 %	15 km/h	27.3 °C
December	150 mm	15	13 h/day	64 %	82 %	14 km/h	28.5 °C

Where Cairns ranks

Ranking	Position	Value
Warmest sea temperatures in the world in February	23rd of 50	29 °C
Warmest sea temperatures in the world in January	31st of 50	29 °C
Best beach destinations in the world in September	37th of 50	95/100

Planning a trip? See the best time to visit Cairns.

QuestionsCommon questions about Cairns’s climate

When is the best time to visit Cairns?

That depends on what you want, so the honest answer is a comparison rather than a single month. June, July, August sit closest to 20 °C on average, January is the warmest month and September the driest. The month-by-month table above has the full picture.

How hot does Cairns get?

In January, the warmest month, daily highs average 29 °C. About 38 days a year pass 30 °C. The highest value in the 1991–2020 record is 41 °C.

How cold does it get in winter?

Nights average 18 °C in July, the coldest month. Freezing nights are not part of a normal year here.

Which month is wettest in Cairns?

February, averaging 264 mm over 21 days with rain. The driest month is September with 17 mm. The year as a whole averages 1,221 mm.

Are these figures a forecast?

No. They are 1991–2020 climate normals: the average of thirty years, which describes what a month is usually like in Cairns rather than what any particular week will bring. Individual years can differ substantially from the normal.

Data sources and method

ERA5 / ERA5-Land reanalysis — Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S), ECMWF. Copernicus Licence
Open-Meteo — Open-Meteo.com. CC BY 4.0
NOAA OISST v2.1 — NOAA Physical Sciences Laboratory. Public domain
GeoNames — GeoNames.org. CC BY 4.0

Normal period: 1991–2020
Data point: -16.924°, 145.766° (the coordinates the reanalysis values are taken for)
Dataset version: era5-1991-2020-scores1.1
Last processed: 1 August 2026

Measured values come from ERA5 reanalysis and are reproduced unchanged. Calculated by us: monthly rankings, daylight hours, beach and comfort scores. Full formulas are on the methodology page.

Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026. Neither the European Commission nor ECMWF is responsible for any use that may be made of the Copernicus information or data it contains.