Riverview Observatory is a weather station located 40 m above sea level, 10 km from Pymble. Its records go back to 1905: 15 years of temperature are available up to 2011, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2011. Over the whole series (15 years) the annual mean temperature there is 17.6 °C; the 1961–1990 and 1991–2020 reference periods are not documented well enough for a comparison. The warmest year of the series is 2001 (18.0 °C) and the coldest 1966 (17.0 °C). The last complete year, 2001, ranks 1 out of 15, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2011, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.10 °C per decade. The station ranks 203 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1905
Of the ten warmest years in the series, 1 fall after 1999. The warmest is 2001 (18.0 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 17.4 °C (1971) and bottoms out at 17.4 °C (1971).
Annual rainfall since 1905
On average 1129 mm of rain falls per year over the 87 documented years. The wettest year, 1950, received 2116 mm; the driest, 1957, only 614 mm, which is 3.4 times less. Between 1973 and 2011, 10 years out of 20 exceeded the series average.
Records at Riverview Observatory
- Warmest year: 18.0 °C, in 2001
- Coldest year: 17.0 °C, in 1966
- Driest year: 614 mm, in 1957
- Wettest year: 2116 mm, in 1950
- Warmest month: 25.0 °C, in February 1998
- Coldest month: 10.8 °C, in July 1968
- Wettest month: 622 mm, in June 1950
- Hottest day: 45.4 °C, on 18 January 2013
- Coldest day: −1.7 °C, on 26 July 1968
- Heaviest rain in one day: 289.8 mm, on 28 March 1942
1.0 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 47.1 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2011
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.10 °C per decade between 1961 and 2011, about +0.5 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.09 °C per decade: the station ranks 203 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 Riverview Observatory 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 Riverview Observatory?
Over the whole series (15 years), the annual mean temperature at Riverview Observatory is 17.6 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Riverview Observatory?
Since records began in 1905, the warmest year at Riverview Observatory is 2001, at 18.0 °C on average. The coldest is 1966 (17.0 °C).
Is the climate at Riverview Observatory getting warmer?
Yes: at Riverview Observatory, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.10 °C per decade between 1961 and 2011, +0.5 °C in total. 1 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Towns near this station
Neighbouring stations