Burrinjuck Dam is a weather station located 390 m above sea level. Its records go back to 1909: 35 years of temperature are available up to 2019, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2019. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 15.8 °C, clearly higher than over 1961–1990 (14.9 °C): a difference of 0.9 °C. The warmest year of the series is 2005 (17.0 °C) and the coldest 1966 (13.8 °C). The last complete year, 2011, ranks 13 out of 35, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2019, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.42 °C per decade. The station ranks 4 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1909
The first ten years of the series (1965–1977) average 14.4 °C; the last ten (1995–2011) average 15.9 °C, a difference of +1.4 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 4 fall after 1999. The warmest is 2005 (17.0 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 15.5 °C (1998) and bottoms out at 14.4 °C (1974).
Annual rainfall since 1909
On average 926 mm of rain falls per year over the 109 documented years. The wettest year, 1956, received 1685 mm; the driest, 2006, only 358 mm, which is 4.7 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (901 mm per year) is 70 mm (7.2 %) below the 1961–1990 one (971 mm). Over 1991–2020, June is on average the wettest month (98 mm) and April the driest (44 mm). Between 1999 and 2019, 8 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 | 22.3 °C | 23.9 °C | +1.6 °C | 70 mm | 64 mm | −6 mm |
| February | 22.5 °C | 23.2 °C | +0.7 °C | 55 mm | 61 mm | +6 mm |
| March | 19.9 °C | 20.4 °C | +0.5 °C | 57 mm | 67 mm | +10 mm |
| April | 15.4 °C | 16.2 °C | +0.8 °C | 81 mm | 44 mm | −37 mm |
| May | 11.4 °C | 12.1 °C | +0.7 °C | 95 mm | 61 mm | −34 mm |
| June | 8.3 °C | 9.2 °C | +0.9 °C | 75 mm | 98 mm | +23 mm |
| July | 7.1 °C | 7.9 °C | +0.8 °C | 109 mm | 96 mm | −13 mm |
| August | 8.6 °C | 9.0 °C | +0.4 °C | 107 mm | 90 mm | −17 mm |
| September | 10.9 °C | 12.0 °C | +1.1 °C | 92 mm | 87 mm | −5 mm |
| October | 14.2 °C | 15.5 °C | +1.3 °C | 91 mm | 71 mm | −20 mm |
| November | 17.3 °C | 18.4 °C | +1.1 °C | 72 mm | 85 mm | +13 mm |
| December | 20.4 °C | 21.5 °C | +1.1 °C | 67 mm | 77 mm | +10 mm |
The largest temperature change is in January (+1.6 °C) and the smallest in August (+0.4 °C); over the year the mean difference is +0.9 °C, and 12 months out of twelve are warmer than before. For rainfall, the largest difference is in June (+23 mm) and the smallest in April (−37 mm).
Records at Burrinjuck Dam
- Warmest year: 17.0 °C, in 2005
- Coldest year: 13.8 °C, in 1966
- Driest year: 358 mm, in 2006
- Wettest year: 1685 mm, in 1956
- Warmest month: 26.6 °C, in January 2006
- Coldest month: 5.7 °C, in July 1966
- Wettest month: 384 mm, in March 1950
- Hottest day: 45.6 °C, on 31 January 2020
- Coldest day: −7.0 °C, on 20 July 1997
- Heaviest rain in one day: 162.4 mm, on 11 January 1974
3.2 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 52.6 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2019
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.42 °C per decade between 1961 and 2019, about +2.4 °C over the whole period. That is faster than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.23 °C per decade: the station ranks 4 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 Burrinjuck Dam 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 Burrinjuck Dam?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Burrinjuck Dam is 15.8 °C. It was 14.9 °C over 1961–1990, a difference of +0.9 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Burrinjuck Dam?
Since records began in 1909, the warmest year at Burrinjuck Dam is 2005, at 17.0 °C on average. The coldest is 1966 (13.8 °C).
Is the climate at Burrinjuck Dam getting warmer?
Yes: at Burrinjuck Dam, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.42 °C per decade between 1961 and 2019, +2.4 °C in total. 4 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Neighbouring stations