Tenterfield (Federation Park) is a weather station located 838 m above sea level, 0 km from Tenterfield. Its records go back to 1871: 37 years of temperature are available up to 2025, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Over the whole series (37 years) the annual mean temperature there is 14.7 °C; the 1961–1990 and 1991–2020 reference periods are not documented well enough for a comparison. The warmest year of the series is 1973 (15.8 °C) and the coldest 2003 (13.6 °C). The last complete year, 2014, ranks 10 out of 37, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2025, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.05 °C per decade. The station ranks 217 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1871
The first ten years of the series (1965–1974) average 14.5 °C; the last ten (1993–2014) average 14.7 °C, a difference of +0.2 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 1 fall after 1999. The warmest is 1973 (15.8 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 15.0 °C (1995) and bottoms out at 14.4 °C (1977).
Annual rainfall since 1871
On average 844 mm of rain falls per year over the 145 documented years. The wettest year, 1892, received 1431 mm; the driest, 2019, only 206 mm, which is 6.9 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (762 mm per year) is 208 mm (21.4 %) below the 1961–1990 one (970 mm). Over 1991–2020, December is on average the wettest month (115 mm) and August the driest (32 mm). Between 1997 and 2025, 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 | 20.6 °C | – | – | 125 mm | 100 mm | −25 mm |
| February | 20.2 °C | 20.3 °C | +0.1 °C | 109 mm | 88 mm | −21 mm |
| March | 18.6 °C | 18.5 °C | −0.1 °C | 93 mm | 72 mm | −21 mm |
| April | 15.6 °C | 15.1 °C | −0.5 °C | 66 mm | 36 mm | −30 mm |
| May | 11.9 °C | 11.6 °C | −0.3 °C | 63 mm | 44 mm | −19 mm |
| June | 8.8 °C | 9.0 °C | +0.2 °C | 42 mm | 38 mm | −4 mm |
| July | 7.5 °C | 8.0 °C | +0.5 °C | 62 mm | 36 mm | −26 mm |
| August | 8.9 °C | 9.2 °C | +0.3 °C | 52 mm | 32 mm | −20 mm |
| September | 11.7 °C | 12.4 °C | +0.7 °C | 53 mm | 38 mm | −15 mm |
| October | 15.0 °C | 15.4 °C | +0.4 °C | 92 mm | 76 mm | −16 mm |
| November | 17.3 °C | 17.8 °C | +0.5 °C | 92 mm | 87 mm | −5 mm |
| December | 19.7 °C | 19.3 °C | −0.4 °C | 121 mm | 115 mm | −6 mm |
For rainfall, the largest difference is in June (−4 mm) and the smallest in April (−30 mm).
Records at Tenterfield (Federation Park)
- Warmest year: 15.8 °C, in 1973
- Coldest year: 13.6 °C, in 2003
- Driest year: 206 mm, in 2019
- Wettest year: 1431 mm, in 1892
- Warmest month: 23.0 °C, in January 2017
- Coldest month: 5.7 °C, in July 2007
- Wettest month: 361 mm, in January 2011
- Hottest day: 39.9 °C, on 12 February 2017
- Coldest day: −10.6 °C, on 10 July 2006
- Heaviest rain in one day: 228.6 mm, on 16 July 1876
2.2 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 50.5 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2025
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.05 °C per decade between 1961 and 2025, about +0.3 °C over the whole period. That is slower than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.14 °C per decade: the station ranks 217 out of 227.
The last 24 months against the 1991–2020 normal
Over the last 20 months (January 2025 to September 2026), 9 months out of 12 were warmer than the 1991–2020 normal for the same month; the mean departure is +0.7 °C. The highest departure was in October 2025 (+3.2 °C); the lowest, in February 2026 (−0.4 °C). The last twelve months add up to 509 mm of rain, which is 67 % of the 1991–2020 annual normal (762 mm).
| Month | Temperature | Departure from normal | Rain | Normal rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| January 2025 | – | – | 163 mm | 100 mm |
| February 2025 | – | – | 76 mm | 88 mm |
| March 2025 | – | – | 195 mm | 72 mm |
| April 2025 | – | – | 91 mm | 36 mm |
| June 2025 | – | – | 36 mm | 38 mm |
| July 2025 | 8.2 °C | +0.2 °C | 120 mm | 36 mm |
| August 2025 | 8.8 °C | −0.4 °C | 25 mm | 32 mm |
| September 2025 | 12.3 °C | −0.1 °C | 36 mm | 38 mm |
| October 2025 | 18.6 °C | +3.2 °C | 36 mm | 76 mm |
| November 2025 | 18.9 °C | +1.1 °C | 138 mm | 87 mm |
| December 2025 | 19.7 °C | +0.4 °C | 68 mm | 115 mm |
| January 2026 | 20.9 °C | – | 44 mm | 100 mm |
| February 2026 | 19.9 °C | −0.4 °C | 48 mm | 88 mm |
| March 2026 | – | – | 3 mm | 72 mm |
| April 2026 | – | – | 6 mm | 36 mm |
| May 2026 | 13.2 °C | +1.6 °C | 97 mm | 44 mm |
| June 2026 | 10.3 °C | +1.3 °C | 26 mm | 38 mm |
| July 2026 | 8.6 °C | +0.6 °C | 10 mm | 36 mm |
| August 2026 | 9.5 °C | +0.3 °C | 28 mm | 32 mm |
| September 2026 | 13.3 °C | +0.9 °C | 5 mm | 38 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 Tenterfield (Federation Park) 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 Tenterfield (Federation Park)?
Over the whole series (37 years), the annual mean temperature at Tenterfield (Federation Park) is 14.7 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Tenterfield (Federation Park)?
Since records began in 1871, the warmest year at Tenterfield (Federation Park) is 1973, at 15.8 °C on average. The coldest is 2003 (13.6 °C).
Is the climate at Tenterfield (Federation Park) getting warmer?
The rise is not clear at Tenterfield (Federation Park): the trend is +0.05 °C per decade between 1961 and 2025, +0.3 °C in total over the period.
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