Cardwell Marine Pde is a weather station located 4 m above sea level, 1 km from Cardwell. Its records go back to 1888: 53 years of temperature are available up to 2022, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2022. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 24.2 °C, practically the same as over 1961–1990 (24.3 °C). The warmest year of the series is 1973 (25.3 °C) and the coldest 1982 (23.4 °C). The last complete year, 2014, ranks 34 out of 53, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2022, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.02 °C per decade. The station ranks 224 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1888
The first ten years of the series (1958–1968) average 23.9 °C; the last ten (2003–2014) average 24.2 °C, a difference of +0.3 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 2 fall after 1999. The warmest is 1973 (25.3 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 24.6 °C (1978) and bottoms out at 23.8 °C (1968).
Annual rainfall since 1888
On average 2096 mm of rain falls per year over the 132 documented years. The wettest year, 1950, received 4088 mm; the driest, 1915, only 900 mm, which is 4.5 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (2068 mm per year) is 15 mm (0.7 %) below the 1961–1990 one (2083 mm). Over 1991–2020, February is on average the wettest month (491 mm) and August the driest (24 mm). Between 2001 and 2022, 7 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 | 27.6 °C | 27.6 °C | 0.0 °C | 395 mm | 426 mm | +31 mm |
| February | 27.4 °C | 27.5 °C | +0.1 °C | 445 mm | 491 mm | +46 mm |
| March | 26.7 °C | 26.8 °C | +0.1 °C | 406 mm | 340 mm | −66 mm |
| April | 25.1 °C | 25.1 °C | 0.0 °C | 215 mm | 172 mm | −43 mm |
| May | 23.0 °C | 22.9 °C | −0.1 °C | 115 mm | 91 mm | −24 mm |
| June | 20.4 °C | 20.9 °C | +0.5 °C | 40 mm | 36 mm | −4 mm |
| July | 19.6 °C | 19.7 °C | +0.1 °C | 23 mm | 37 mm | +14 mm |
| August | 20.7 °C | 20.5 °C | −0.2 °C | 29 mm | 24 mm | −5 mm |
| September | 22.5 °C | 22.5 °C | 0.0 °C | 33 mm | 52 mm | +19 mm |
| October | 24.6 °C | 24.4 °C | −0.2 °C | 57 mm | 65 mm | +8 mm |
| November | 26.4 °C | 25.9 °C | −0.5 °C | 117 mm | 126 mm | +9 mm |
| December | 27.3 °C | 27.2 °C | −0.1 °C | 208 mm | 208 mm | 0 mm |
The largest temperature change is in June (+0.5 °C) and the smallest in November (−0.5 °C); over the year the mean difference is 0.0 °C, and 4 months out of twelve are warmer than before. For rainfall, the largest difference is in February (+46 mm) and the smallest in March (−66 mm).
Records at Cardwell Marine Pde
- Warmest year: 25.3 °C, in 1973
- Coldest year: 23.4 °C, in 1982
- Driest year: 900 mm, in 1915
- Wettest year: 4088 mm, in 1950
- Warmest month: 29.0 °C, in December 1976
- Coldest month: 17.2 °C, in July 2007
- Wettest month: 1836 mm, in January 1981
- Hottest day: 41.8 °C, on 30 December 1984
- Coldest day: 2.8 °C, on 15 July 1963
- Heaviest rain in one day: 527.1 mm, on 24 January 1934
1.9 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 39.0 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2022
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.02 °C per decade between 1961 and 2022, about +0.1 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.17 °C per decade: the station ranks 224 out of 227.
The last 24 months against the 1991–2020 normal
Over the last 12 months (November 2024 to September 2026), 3 months out of 7 were warmer than the 1991–2020 normal for the same month; the mean departure is 0.0 °C. The highest departure was in June 2026 (+0.4 °C); the lowest, in September 2026 (−0.6 °C). The last twelve months add up to 3131 mm of rain, which is 151 % of the 1991–2020 annual normal (2068 mm).
| Month | Temperature | Departure from normal | Rain | Normal rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2024 | – | – | 147 mm | 126 mm |
| December 2024 | – | – | 534 mm | 208 mm |
| January 2025 | – | – | 474 mm | 426 mm |
| August 2025 | – | – | 8 mm | 24 mm |
| January 2026 | 27.5 °C | −0.1 °C | 636 mm | 426 mm |
| February 2026 | 27.7 °C | +0.2 °C | 484 mm | 491 mm |
| March 2026 | 26.7 °C | −0.1 °C | 570 mm | 340 mm |
| April 2026 | – | – | 129 mm | 172 mm |
| May 2026 | 22.7 °C | −0.2 °C | 34 mm | 91 mm |
| June 2026 | 21.3 °C | +0.4 °C | 48 mm | 36 mm |
| August 2026 | 20.6 °C | +0.1 °C | 32 mm | 24 mm |
| September 2026 | 21.9 °C | −0.6 °C | 35 mm | 52 mm |
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 Cardwell Marine Pde 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 Cardwell Marine Pde?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Cardwell Marine Pde is 24.2 °C. It was 24.3 °C over 1961–1990, a difference of 0.0 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Cardwell Marine Pde?
Since records began in 1888, the warmest year at Cardwell Marine Pde is 1973, at 25.3 °C on average. The coldest is 1982 (23.4 °C).
Is the climate at Cardwell Marine Pde getting warmer?
The rise is not clear at Cardwell Marine Pde: the trend is +0.02 °C per decade between 1961 and 2022, +0.1 °C in total over the period.
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