Victoria River Downs is a weather station located 89 m above sea level. Its records go back to 1886: 32 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 27.3 °C; the 1961–1990 period is not documented well enough to compare. The warmest year of the series is 1992 (29.5 °C) and the coldest 2011 (25.7 °C). The last complete year, 2025, ranks 5 out of 32, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2025, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.04 °C per decade. The station ranks 221 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1886
The first ten years of the series (1966–1997) average 27.5 °C; the last ten (2014–2025) average 27.6 °C, a difference of +0.1 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 6 fall after 1999. The warmest is 1992 (29.5 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 27.8 °C (2025) and bottoms out at 26.8 °C (2012).
Annual rainfall since 1886
On average 662 mm of rain falls per year over the 125 documented years. The wettest year, 2024, received 1532 mm; the driest, 1928, only 242 mm, which is 6.3 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (791 mm per year) is 115 mm (17.0 %) above the 1961–1990 one (676 mm). Over 1991–2020, February is on average the wettest month (216 mm) and August the driest (0 mm). Between 2002 and 2025, 18 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 | – | 30.6 °C | – | 141 mm | 193 mm | +52 mm |
| February | – | 30.1 °C | – | 169 mm | 216 mm | +47 mm |
| March | – | 29.5 °C | – | 143 mm | 113 mm | −30 mm |
| April | – | 27.7 °C | – | 23 mm | 28 mm | +5 mm |
| May | – | 23.8 °C | – | 10 mm | 5 mm | −5 mm |
| June | – | 21.1 °C | – | 2 mm | 4 mm | +2 mm |
| July | – | 20.7 °C | – | 4 mm | 2 mm | −2 mm |
| August | – | 22.5 °C | – | 1 mm | 0 mm | −1 mm |
| September | – | 27.6 °C | – | 7 mm | 4 mm | −3 mm |
| October | – | 30.5 °C | – | 19 mm | 27 mm | +8 mm |
| November | – | 31.8 °C | – | 68 mm | 56 mm | −12 mm |
| December | – | 31.5 °C | – | 89 mm | 143 mm | +54 mm |
For rainfall, the largest difference is in December (+54 mm) and the smallest in March (−30 mm).
Records at Victoria River Downs
- Warmest year: 29.5 °C, in 1992
- Coldest year: 25.7 °C, in 2011
- Driest year: 242 mm, in 1928
- Wettest year: 1532 mm, in 2024
- Warmest month: 34.1 °C, in December 2018
- Coldest month: 17.5 °C, in June 2011
- Wettest month: 781 mm, in January 1937
- Hottest day: 45.2 °C, on 19 December 1985
- Coldest day: 1.2 °C, on 20 July 1965
- Heaviest rain in one day: 222.3 mm, on 20 February 1927
3.8 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 44.0 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2025
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.04 °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 0.15 °C per decade: the station ranks 221 out of 227.
The last 24 months against the 1991–2020 normal
Over the last 24 months (October 2024 to September 2026), 11 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 October 2025 (+2.3 °C); the lowest, in June 2025 (−1.1 °C). The last twelve months add up to 1085 mm of rain, which is 137 % of the 1991–2020 annual normal (791 mm).
| Month | Temperature | Departure from normal | Rain | Normal rain |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 2024 | 31.0 °C | +0.5 °C | 75 mm | 27 mm |
| November 2024 | 32.2 °C | +0.4 °C | 20 mm | 56 mm |
| December 2024 | 32.9 °C | +1.4 °C | 88 mm | 143 mm |
| January 2025 | 32.1 °C | +1.5 °C | 142 mm | 193 mm |
| February 2025 | 31.3 °C | +1.2 °C | 183 mm | 216 mm |
| March 2025 | 31.2 °C | +1.7 °C | 71 mm | 113 mm |
| April 2025 | 27.7 °C | 0.0 °C | 50 mm | 28 mm |
| May 2025 | 24.6 °C | +0.8 °C | 1 mm | 5 mm |
| June 2025 | 20.0 °C | −1.1 °C | 0 mm | 4 mm |
| July 2025 | 21.8 °C | +1.1 °C | 0 mm | 2 mm |
| August 2025 | 22.2 °C | −0.3 °C | 0 mm | 0 mm |
| September 2025 | 27.8 °C | +0.2 °C | 0 mm | 4 mm |
| October 2025 | 32.8 °C | +2.3 °C | 21 mm | 27 mm |
| November 2025 | 31.8 °C | 0.0 °C | 52 mm | 56 mm |
| December 2025 | 31.6 °C | +0.1 °C | 253 mm | 143 mm |
| January 2026 | – | – | 87 mm | 193 mm |
| February 2026 | – | – | 247 mm | 216 mm |
| March 2026 | – | – | 414 mm | 113 mm |
| April 2026 | – | – | 8 mm | 28 mm |
| May 2026 | – | – | 3 mm | 5 mm |
| June 2026 | – | – | 0 mm | 4 mm |
| July 2026 | – | – | 0 mm | 2 mm |
| August 2026 | – | – | 0 mm | 0 mm |
| September 2026 | – | – | 0 mm | 4 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 Victoria River Downs 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 Victoria River Downs?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Victoria River Downs is 27.3 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Victoria River Downs?
Since records began in 1886, the warmest year at Victoria River Downs is 1992, at 29.5 °C on average. The coldest is 2011 (25.7 °C).
Is the climate at Victoria River Downs getting warmer?
The rise is not clear at Victoria River Downs: the trend is +0.04 °C per decade between 1961 and 2025, +0.3 °C in total over the period.
Neighbouring stations