Cape Sorell is a weather station located 19 m above sea level. Its records go back to 1901: 23 years of temperature are available up to 2025, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Over the whole series (23 years) the annual mean temperature there is 12.8 °C; the 1961–1990 and 1991–2020 reference periods are not documented well enough for a comparison. The warmest year of the series is 2023 (13.6 °C) and the coldest 1958 (11.8 °C). The last complete year, 2025, ranks 6 out of 23, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2025, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.19 °C per decade. The station ranks 109 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1901
The first ten years of the series (1957–1966) average 12.3 °C; the last ten (2014–2025) average 13.4 °C, a difference of +1.1 °C. All of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999; the warmest is 2023 (13.6 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 13.4 °C (2023) and bottoms out at 12.3 °C (1966).
Annual rainfall since 1901
On average 1279 mm of rain falls per year over the 98 documented years. The wettest year, 1968, received 1997 mm; the driest, 2015, only 794 mm, which is 2.5 times less. Over 1991–2020, July is on average the wettest month (138 mm) and February the driest (50 mm). Between 2005 and 2025, 1 years out of 20 exceeded the series average.
Records at Cape Sorell
- Warmest year: 13.6 °C, in 2023
- Coldest year: 11.8 °C, in 1958
- Driest year: 794 mm, in 2015
- Wettest year: 1997 mm, in 1968
- Warmest month: 17.6 °C, in January 1961
- Coldest month: 8.5 °C, in July 1958
- Wettest month: 326 mm, in May 1968
- Hottest day: 33.5 °C, on 3 February 2025
- Coldest day: 1.4 °C, on 15 July 1966
- Heaviest rain in one day: 78.0 mm, on 24 June 1996
1.8 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 32.1 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2025
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.19 °C per decade between 1961 and 2025, about +1.2 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.00 °C per decade: the station ranks 109 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 Cape Sorell 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 Cape Sorell?
Over the whole series (23 years), the annual mean temperature at Cape Sorell is 12.8 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Cape Sorell?
Since records began in 1901, the warmest year at Cape Sorell is 2023, at 13.6 °C on average. The coldest is 1958 (11.8 °C).
Is the climate at Cape Sorell getting warmer?
Yes: at Cape Sorell, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.19 °C per decade between 1961 and 2025, +1.2 °C in total. 10 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Neighbouring stations