Marrawah is a weather station located 107 m above sea level. Its records go back to 1971: 42 years of temperature are available up to 2025, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 12.8 °C; the 1961–1990 period is not documented well enough to compare. The warmest year of the series is 1988 (13.8 °C) and the coldest 1978 (11.9 °C). The last complete year, 2013, ranks 3 out of 42, from warmest to coldest. Over 1971–2025, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.15 °C per decade. The station ranks 160 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1971
The first ten years of the series (1972–1981) average 12.5 °C; the last ten (2004–2013) average 13.0 °C, a difference of +0.5 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 7 fall after 1999. The warmest is 1988 (13.8 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 13.0 °C (2009) and bottoms out at 12.4 °C (1979).
Annual rainfall since 1971
On average 1075 mm of rain falls per year over the 48 documented years. The wettest year, 1975, received 1504 mm; the driest, 1982, only 789 mm, which is 1.9 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (1068 mm per year) is 17 mm (1.6 %) below the 1961–1990 one (1085 mm). Over 1991–2020, July is on average the wettest month (145 mm) and January the driest (47 mm). Between 1999 and 2025, 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 | – | 16.3 °C | – | 48 mm | 47 mm | −1 mm |
| February | – | 16.7 °C | – | 39 mm | 48 mm | +9 mm |
| March | 15.6 °C | 15.5 °C | −0.1 °C | 69 mm | 67 mm | −2 mm |
| April | 13.7 °C | 13.5 °C | −0.2 °C | 89 mm | 84 mm | −5 mm |
| May | – | 11.9 °C | – | 112 mm | 109 mm | −3 mm |
| June | – | 10.4 °C | – | 127 mm | 114 mm | −13 mm |
| July | – | 9.9 °C | – | 137 mm | 145 mm | +8 mm |
| August | 9.7 °C | 9.9 °C | +0.2 °C | 128 mm | 139 mm | +11 mm |
| September | 10.5 °C | 10.7 °C | +0.2 °C | 104 mm | 104 mm | 0 mm |
| October | 11.4 °C | 11.6 °C | +0.2 °C | 91 mm | 84 mm | −7 mm |
| November | – | 13.1 °C | – | 73 mm | 67 mm | −6 mm |
| December | 14.4 °C | 14.5 °C | +0.1 °C | 68 mm | 60 mm | −8 mm |
For rainfall, the largest difference is in August (+11 mm) and the smallest in June (−13 mm).
Records at Marrawah
- Warmest year: 13.8 °C, in 1988
- Coldest year: 11.9 °C, in 1978
- Driest year: 789 mm, in 1982
- Wettest year: 1504 mm, in 1975
- Warmest month: 19.1 °C, in February 2007
- Coldest month: 8.4 °C, in July 1982
- Wettest month: 307 mm, in August 2013
- Hottest day: 34.2 °C, on 25 February 1995
- Coldest day: −0.2 °C, on 28 July 1976
- Heaviest rain in one day: 100.6 mm, on 29 November 1977
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 34.4 °C.
Temperature trend over 1971–2025
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.15 °C per decade between 1971 and 2025, about +0.8 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.04 °C per decade: the station ranks 160 out of 227.
The last 24 months against the 1991–2020 normal
Over the last 21 months (November 2024 to September 2026), 14 months out of 15 were warmer than the 1991–2020 normal for the same month; the mean departure is +0.7 °C. The highest departure was in May 2026 (+2.0 °C); the lowest, in December 2025 (−0.9 °C). The last twelve months add up to 1123 mm of rain, which is 105 % of the 1991–2020 annual normal (1068 mm).
| Month | Temperature | Departure from normal | Rain | Normal rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| November 2024 | – | – | 47 mm | 67 mm |
| January 2025 | 17.1 °C | +0.8 °C | 18 mm | 47 mm |
| February 2025 | 17.8 °C | +1.1 °C | 34 mm | 48 mm |
| March 2025 | 17.2 °C | +1.7 °C | 22 mm | 67 mm |
| April 2025 | 14.9 °C | +1.4 °C | 38 mm | 84 mm |
| May 2025 | 12.9 °C | +1.0 °C | 85 mm | 109 mm |
| June 2025 | 10.5 °C | +0.1 °C | 157 mm | 114 mm |
| August 2025 | 10.4 °C | +0.5 °C | 104 mm | 139 mm |
| September 2025 | – | – | 164 mm | 104 mm |
| October 2025 | – | – | 128 mm | 84 mm |
| November 2025 | – | – | 117 mm | 67 mm |
| December 2025 | 13.6 °C | −0.9 °C | 50 mm | 60 mm |
| January 2026 | 16.7 °C | +0.4 °C | 14 mm | 47 mm |
| February 2026 | 16.8 °C | +0.1 °C | 58 mm | 48 mm |
| March 2026 | 15.8 °C | +0.3 °C | 51 mm | 67 mm |
| April 2026 | – | – | 71 mm | 84 mm |
| May 2026 | 13.9 °C | +2.0 °C | 124 mm | 109 mm |
| June 2026 | 11.5 °C | +1.1 °C | 182 mm | 114 mm |
| July 2026 | 10.5 °C | +0.6 °C | 153 mm | 145 mm |
| August 2026 | – | – | 104 mm | 139 mm |
| September 2026 | 11.4 °C | +0.7 °C | 71 mm | 104 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 Marrawah 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 Marrawah?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Marrawah is 12.8 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Marrawah?
Since records began in 1971, the warmest year at Marrawah is 1988, at 13.8 °C on average. The coldest is 1978 (11.9 °C).
Is the climate at Marrawah getting warmer?
Yes: at Marrawah, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.15 °C per decade between 1971 and 2025, +0.8 °C in total. 7 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Neighbouring stations