Australia’s mean temperature was more than 1.2°C above average in 2025, making it the country’s 4th warmest year in more than a century of records.

Measuring national temperature in Australia

Australia's national average temperature is measured by combining observations from 112 weather stations spread across the country. These weather stations, which extend from coast to coast and include every state and territory, make up the Australian Climate Observations Reference Network – Surface Air Temperature (ACORN-SAT) dataset.

ACORN-SAT is the official dataset for monitoring Australia’s average temperatures over time, and it has reliable temperature observations dating back to 1910.

How did 2025 compare to other years?

Australia’s mean annual temperature in 2025 was 21.8°C, which was 1.23°C above the 1961-1990 average.

This was Australia’s 4th highest annual mean temperature since records commenced in 1910, falling behind temperature anomalies of:

+1.51°C in 2019

+1.45°C in 2024

+1.35°C in 2013

Abnormally warm annual temperatures were experienced across almost all of Australia in 2025, with the exception of a few places in northern Australia. Some areas of southern Australia had their warmest year on record.

Rainfall was mixed across Australia in 2025, with above average rain over large areas of northern and eastern Australia and below average rain in much of the south and southeast.

South Australia had its driest year since 2019, while annual rainfall was in the lowest 10 percent of historical records for parts of SA, WA, Victoria and southern NSW. By contrast, some areas in northeast Qld and eastern NSW had their wettest year on record.

Image: Annual rainfall deciles in 2025. Red shading shows areas that saw below average rain in 2025, while blue shaded areas had a wetter than average year. Source: Bureau of Meteorology.

Australia’s weather extremes in 2025

Like all years, 2025 included a range of extreme weather events in Australia, with intense heat, harsh cold and plenty of heavy rain and thunderstorms.

The highest temperature officially recorded in Australia during 2025 was 49.3°C at Geraldton, WA on January 20. This was the lowest annual peak temperature since 2021 and fell well below the country’s maximum temperature record of 50.7°C.

Several states set new highest daily maximum temperature records for individual months in 2025. This included:

48.7°C at Oodnadatta on February 12, a new February record for SA

47.5°C at Birdsville on February 12, a new February record for Qld

46.1°C at Birdsville on October 21, a new October record for Qld

44.9°C at Wanaaring on October 21, a new October record for NSW

Australia’s lowest temperature in 2025 was -13.2°C at Thredbo on August 18. Other locations that dropped to -10°C or lower in 2025 included Perisher Valley (-11.6°C), Cooma (-10°C) and Goulburn (-10°C).

The year’s heaviest daily rainfall occurred in Qld, where a rain gauge near Paluma received 745.2 mm in the 24 hours ending at 9am local time on February 3.

Other notable weather events in 2025 included:

Summer snow at both ends of the year, in February and December

Tropical Cyclone Alfred hitting southeast Qld

Atmospheric gravity waves off Australia’s northwest coast

A toxic algal bloom off SA

Major flood in western Qld

Waterfalls on Uluru

Heavy snow in northern NSW

Giant hail in southeast Qld

Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre turning pink

7.7 million lightning strikes in one week

Aurora Australis visible from as far north as Qld

Tornadic thunderstorm in Perth

Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina passes near Darwin