Bowral (Parry Drive) is a weather station located 690 m above sea level, 2 km from Burradoo. Its records go back to 1963: 42 years of temperature are available up to 2014, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2014. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 13.7 °C, noticeably higher than over 1961–1990 (13.0 °C): a difference of 0.6 °C. The warmest year of the series is 2009 (14.4 °C) and the coldest 1966 (12.0 °C). The last complete year, 2014, ranks 2 out of 42, from warmest to coldest. Over 1963–2014, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.28 °C per decade. The station ranks 30 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1963
The first ten years of the series (1966–1978) average 12.8 °C; the last ten (2003–2014) average 13.8 °C, a difference of +1.1 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 6 fall after 1999. The warmest is 2009 (14.4 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 13.9 °C (2007) and bottoms out at 12.8 °C (1975).
Annual rainfall since 1963
On average 890 mm of rain falls per year over the 51 documented years. The wettest year, 1978, received 1516 mm; the driest, 1982, only 494 mm, which is 3.1 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (841 mm per year) is 95 mm (10.1 %) below the 1961–1990 one (936 mm). Over 1991–2020, February is on average the wettest month (113 mm) and April the driest (46 mm). Between 1995 and 2014, 9 years out of 20 exceeded the series average.
Monthly normals: 1961–1990 against 1991–2020
The table compares, month by month, the mean temperature and the rainfall total of two thirty-year reference periods. The difference column shows what the recent period changes compared with the earlier one.
| Month | Temp. 1961–1990 | Temp. 1991–2020 | Difference | Rain 1961–1990 | Rain 1991–2020 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 19.0 °C | 19.6 °C | +0.6 °C | 85 mm | 74 mm | −11 mm |
| February | 18.9 °C | 19.0 °C | +0.1 °C | 87 mm | 113 mm | +26 mm |
| March | 17.0 °C | 17.0 °C | 0.0 °C | 107 mm | 76 mm | −31 mm |
| April | 13.6 °C | 14.0 °C | +0.4 °C | 101 mm | 46 mm | −55 mm |
| May | 10.1 °C | 10.8 °C | +0.7 °C | 77 mm | 58 mm | −19 mm |
| June | 7.5 °C | 8.3 °C | +0.8 °C | 79 mm | 85 mm | +6 mm |
| July | 6.3 °C | 7.4 °C | +1.1 °C | 45 mm | 46 mm | +1 mm |
| August | 7.7 °C | 8.6 °C | +0.9 °C | 60 mm | 53 mm | −7 mm |
| September | 10.1 °C | 11.5 °C | +1.4 °C | 55 mm | 57 mm | +2 mm |
| October | 13.0 °C | 13.9 °C | +0.9 °C | 80 mm | 60 mm | −20 mm |
| November | 15.3 °C | 16.0 °C | +0.7 °C | 92 mm | 87 mm | −5 mm |
| December | 17.8 °C | 17.7 °C | −0.1 °C | 68 mm | 86 mm | +18 mm |
The largest temperature change is in September (+1.4 °C) and the smallest in December (−0.1 °C); over the year the mean difference is +0.6 °C, and 10 months out of twelve are warmer than before. For rainfall, the largest difference is in February (+26 mm) and the smallest in April (−55 mm).
Records at Bowral (Parry Drive)
- Warmest year: 14.4 °C, in 2009
- Coldest year: 12.0 °C, in 1966
- Driest year: 494 mm, in 1982
- Wettest year: 1516 mm, in 1978
- Warmest month: 21.9 °C, in February 1983
- Coldest month: 5.0 °C, in July 1968
- Wettest month: 464 mm, in March 1978
- Hottest day: 40.0 °C, on 30 January 2003
- Coldest day: −11.2 °C, on 11 July 1971
- Heaviest rain in one day: 162.0 mm, on 20 March 1978
2.4 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 51.2 °C.
Temperature trend over 1963–2014
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.28 °C per decade between 1963 and 2014, about +1.4 °C over the whole period. That is faster than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.09 °C per decade: the station ranks 30 out of 227.
Data source and licence
Data source: Bureau of Meteorology (ACORN-SAT) and NOAA NCEI (GHCN-Daily) (dataset “ACORN-SAT v2 daily (homogenised) + GHCN-Daily”), licence CC BY 4.0; Public domain (NOAA NCEI). Last updated: 29 October 2026.
The data for Bowral (Parry Drive) are shown as the source publishes them; this site does not correct them. A year is kept only if at least eleven months of measurements are available, and a normal is computed only with at least twenty years of data out of its thirty. Temperatures are rounded to 0.1 °C and rainfall to the millimetre. The station is one of 227 stations in Australia: the overview page lets you compare them.
Frequently asked questions
What is the annual mean temperature at Bowral (Parry Drive)?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Bowral (Parry Drive) is 13.7 °C. It was 13.0 °C over 1961–1990, a difference of +0.6 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Bowral (Parry Drive)?
Since records began in 1963, the warmest year at Bowral (Parry Drive) is 2009, at 14.4 °C on average. The coldest is 1966 (12.0 °C).
Is the climate at Bowral (Parry Drive) getting warmer?
Yes: at Bowral (Parry Drive), the annual mean temperature rises by 0.28 °C per decade between 1963 and 2014, +1.4 °C in total. 6 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Towns near this station
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