Wonthaggi is a weather station located 52 m above sea level, 1 km from Wonthaggi. Its records go back to 1912: 44 years of temperature are available up to 2017, along with rainfall and a comparison with two reference normals. Closed series: the records of this station end in 2017. Over 1991–2020 the annual mean temperature there is 14.5 °C, noticeably higher than over 1961–1990 (14.0 °C): a difference of 0.6 °C. The warmest year of the series is 2014 (15.5 °C) and the coldest 1986 (13.4 °C). The last complete year, 2017, ranks 4 out of 44, from warmest to coldest. Over 1961–2017, the annual mean temperature changes by +0.25 °C per decade. The station ranks 45 out of 227 stations, from the fastest rise to the slowest.
Annual mean temperature since 1912
The first ten years of the series (1969–1978) average 14.0 °C; the last ten (2006–2017) average 14.9 °C, a difference of +0.9 °C. Of the ten warmest years in the series, 8 fall after 1999. The warmest is 2014 (15.5 °C). The ten-year running mean peaks at 14.9 °C (2017) and bottoms out at 13.8 °C (1987).
Annual rainfall since 1912
On average 939 mm of rain falls per year over the 92 documented years. The wettest year, 1995, received 1379 mm; the driest, 1914, only 563 mm, which is 2.4 times less. The 1991–2020 normal (970 mm per year) is 71 mm (7.9 %) above the 1961–1990 one (899 mm). Over 1991–2020, August is on average the wettest month (110 mm) and January the driest (51 mm). Between 1997 and 2017, 10 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 | 18.0 °C | 19.0 °C | +1.0 °C | 48 mm | 51 mm | +3 mm |
| February | 18.7 °C | 19.3 °C | +0.6 °C | 33 mm | 52 mm | +19 mm |
| March | 17.3 °C | 17.8 °C | +0.5 °C | 61 mm | 54 mm | −7 mm |
| April | 14.9 °C | 15.2 °C | +0.3 °C | 73 mm | 74 mm | +1 mm |
| May | 12.6 °C | 12.8 °C | +0.2 °C | 100 mm | 96 mm | −4 mm |
| June | 10.1 °C | 10.8 °C | +0.7 °C | 89 mm | 98 mm | +9 mm |
| July | 9.5 °C | 10.2 °C | +0.7 °C | 102 mm | 105 mm | +3 mm |
| August | 10.4 °C | 10.8 °C | +0.4 °C | 101 mm | 110 mm | +9 mm |
| September | 11.6 °C | 12.2 °C | +0.6 °C | 82 mm | 103 mm | +21 mm |
| October | 13.2 °C | 13.7 °C | +0.5 °C | 89 mm | 86 mm | −3 mm |
| November | 14.9 °C | 15.5 °C | +0.6 °C | 62 mm | 77 mm | +15 mm |
| December | 16.5 °C | 17.2 °C | +0.7 °C | 59 mm | 64 mm | +5 mm |
The largest temperature change is in January (+1.0 °C) and the smallest in May (+0.2 °C); over the year the mean difference is +0.6 °C, and 12 months out of twelve are warmer than before. For rainfall, the largest difference is in September (+21 mm) and the smallest in March (−7 mm).
Records at Wonthaggi
- Warmest year: 15.5 °C, in 2014
- Coldest year: 13.4 °C, in 1986
- Driest year: 563 mm, in 1914
- Wettest year: 1379 mm, in 1995
- Warmest month: 21.5 °C, in February 2001
- Coldest month: 7.9 °C, in July 1982
- Wettest month: 249 mm, in June 1952
- Hottest day: 45.0 °C, on 7 February 2009
- Coldest day: −2.2 °C, on 28 July 1968
- Heaviest rain in one day: 117.5 mm, on 3 February 2005
2.1 °C separate the warmest year of the series from the coldest. Between the hottest and the coldest day on record, the range reaches 47.2 °C.
Temperature trend over 1961–2017
The regression line of annual mean temperature changes by +0.25 °C per decade between 1961 and 2017, about +1.4 °C over the whole period. That is faster than the median of the 227 stations (+0.19 °C per decade), by 0.06 °C per decade: the station ranks 45 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 Wonthaggi 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 Wonthaggi?
Over 1991–2020, the annual mean temperature at Wonthaggi is 14.5 °C. It was 14.0 °C over 1961–1990, a difference of +0.6 °C.
What is the warmest year ever measured at Wonthaggi?
Since records began in 1912, the warmest year at Wonthaggi is 2014, at 15.5 °C on average. The coldest is 1986 (13.4 °C).
Is the climate at Wonthaggi getting warmer?
Yes: at Wonthaggi, the annual mean temperature rises by 0.25 °C per decade between 1961 and 2017, +1.4 °C in total. 8 of the 10 warmest years in the series fall after 1999.
Towns near this station
Neighbouring stations