Charters Towers is a weather station located 290 m above sea level, 4 km from Charters Towers. Its records go back to 1910: 81 years of temperature are available up to 2023, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2023. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 23.5 °C, noticeably higher than over 1961–1990 (22.8 °C): a difference of 0.7 °C. The warmest year of the series is 2016 (24.9 °C) and the coldest 1941 (21.4 °C). The last complete year, 2021, ranks 5 out of 81, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2023, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.18 °C per decade. The station ranks 129 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1910
The first ten years of the series (1910–1927) average 22.3 °C; the last ten (2010–2021) average 23.7 °C, a difference of +1.5 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 7 fall after 1999. The warmest is 2016 (24.9 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 23.9 °C (2021) and bottoms out at 22.2 °C (1930).
Annual rainfall since 1910
On average 651 mm of rain falls per year over the 31 documented years. The wettest year, 2000, received 1287 mm; the driest, 1993, only 262 mm, which is 4.9 times less. Over 1991–2020, January is on average the wettest month (152 mm) and September the driest (9 mm). Between 2004 and 2023, 11 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 | 27.4 °C | 27.7 °C | +0.3 °C | – | 152 mm | – |
| February | 26.8 °C | 27.4 °C | +0.6 °C | – | 144 mm | – |
| March | 25.8 °C | 26.1 °C | +0.3 °C | – | 73 mm | – |
| April | 23.3 °C | 23.8 °C | +0.5 °C | – | 25 mm | – |
| May | 20.4 °C | 20.9 °C | +0.5 °C | – | 24 mm | – |
| June | 17.2 °C | 18.0 °C | +0.8 °C | – | 20 mm | – |
| July | 16.4 °C | 17.4 °C | +1.0 °C | – | 21 mm | – |
| August | 18.2 °C | 18.8 °C | +0.6 °C | – | 15 mm | – |
| September | 21.0 °C | 22.1 °C | +1.1 °C | – | 9 mm | – |
| October | 23.9 °C | 24.7 °C | +0.8 °C | – | 17 mm | – |
| November | 26.2 °C | 26.7 °C | +0.5 °C | – | 59 mm | – |
| December | 27.1 °C | 28.0 °C | +0.9 °C | – | 78 mm | – |
The largest temperature change is in September (+1.1 °C) and the smallest in January (+0.3 °C); over the year the mean difference is +0.7 °C, and 12 months out of twelve are warmer than before.
Records at Charters Towers
- Warmest year: 24.9 °C, in 2016
- Coldest year: 21.4 °C, in 1941
- Driest year: 262 mm, in 1993
- Wettest year: 1287 mm, in 2000
- Warmest month: 30.5 °C, in December 2001
- Coldest month: 12.7 °C, in July 1932
- Wettest month: 431 mm, in February 2009
- Hottest day: 44.4 °C, on 8 December 1932
- Coldest day: −5.2 °C, on 17 July 1918
- Heaviest rain in one day: 186.2 mm, on 11 January 1998
3.5 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 49.6 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2023
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.18 °C per decade between 1961 and 2023, about +1.1 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.01 °C per decade: the station ranks 129 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 Charters Towers 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 Charters Towers?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Charters Towers is 23.5 °C. It was 22.8 °C over 1961–1990, a difference of +0.7 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Charters Towers?
Since records began in 1910, the warmest year at Charters Towers is 2016, at 24.9 °C on average. The coldest is 1941 (21.4 °C).
Is the climate at Charters Towers getting warmer?
Yes: at Charters Towers, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.18 °C per decade between 1961 and 2023, +1.1 °C in total. 7 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Towns near this station
Neighbouring stations