Cairns weather
 

We are thinking of spending the last fortnight of next December (Christmas and New Year) in Cairns (Dec,09) - parents,five "children" aged 21-13)and renting a house.Are we likely to spend most of our time inside looking out at pouring rain,or will we be able to go out and about,see the sights, and go on boat trips to snorkel/dive?

Its a bit early for heavy monsoonal rain, this usually comes later around Feb, March. You might get the odd tropical shower, or an isolated thunderstorm, enough to keep the rainforests green, but it dissipates quickly. Maximum temps will be in low 30's, sometimes a bit higher, it will be humid and probably don't need to remind you to rent a house with a pool.

December is one of the very best months to snorkel and dive the reef in FNQ, the persistent and often strong SE trade winds of winter and often a lot later have gone, even if its raining on coast there's only a one in ten chance it will be raining on reef.

Also best time of year for local tropical fruits, go to Rusty's market in Cairns city on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday morning and see the huge range available.

One thing about when it does rain in tropical regions in Summer, you can usually be assured it will not be like a cold winter rain and it is even thought of as a refreshing cooling off gift of nature, especially when the days have been warmer and humid - you could be damp from sweat, so being wet from rain is no big deal.

Thank you - that sounds good. At least the plans haven't fallen at the first hurdle. Must remember about Rusty's.

We were in Cairns/Port Douglas area from Christmas Day to December 29. We had one full day of rain, but as previously posted, it was a very warm summer day...with rain. Some downpours, some drizzle, some sun - all in the one day. We had another day when it was cloudy most of the day and then the downpours started again...we were whitewater rafting on the Tully River (a 90-minute drive from Cairns) and managed to get terrible sunburns despite the clouds and rain.

Temps were in the mid 30s Celsius, 90s Fahrenheit and very humid.

Oh yes, cloud cover doesn't prevent sunburn. The thing, is in this area it can be pouring on one side of the road and sunshine on the other, and Tully and Babinda, both south of Cairns, are the wettest towns in the country.

We were hotel based in Cairns last december 27th evening to 31st early morning.
We had a rainy driving day on 27th from Airlie Beach to Cairns. On 28th we were scheduled for the Outer Barrier Reef Cruise from Port Douglas. It was cloudy all day long so maybe we did not enjoy the colours of the reef as its best but at least it did not rain. The forecast for the next two days were not encouraging but surprisingly they were partly wrong. The next day 29th was better than forecasted, mostly sunny or only partly cloudy. We had no plans for that day so in the morning we jumped on the 10:30am departure cruise to Green Island as last minute bookers and we had a great time. Again the 30th was forecasted as cloudy + rain but, instead, thanks God, we had another almost sunny day to the Low Isles from Port Douglas. It started raining only at the very end of the trip, coming back to the harbour to get the bus back to Cairns.
We found the weather better in Airlie Beach, 650km south of Cairns, gateway to the Whithsundays Islands, from 23rd to 26th and temperature was also better. In Cairns it was hotter and also more humid but the Barrier Reef cruise was still better than the one in Whithsundays so I would say you can have great holidays in Cairns despite the rainy season. After all during our stay in Cairns also the weather south along the QLD coast had become worst, including Brisbane. On 31st early morning it was raining a lot in Cairns but we flew witht the 5:30am flight to Brisbane where we found an awesome sunny day with 34 grades C !!

Hi,

We stayed in PD from the 11th December 2007 for a week - lovely sunny weather all week.

Mark

Fabio,
With all due respect, a one off experience is just that and extrapolation from that would be very risky. Glad you enjoyed the weather in Brisbane.

jcrob, you could get anything except a blizzard but if you want certainty stay in a locked room in fort Knox. If you want to know your chances consult the http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ site.

I don't hink the Bureau people are going to claim too much of a crystal ball twelve months out Salturarius and Fabio's account is in fact a great example of what generally to expect for Cairns that time of year.

Certainly there can be variations, less rain or heavier rain, a very early cyclone or low depression if unlucky, and reasonably high humidity to be assured whatever the externt of rain.

The type of yearly variations you can expect to get anywhere and for Cairns, as you say it will be at the other end of the spectrum from Blizzard conditions.

Unless we get hit with the new Ice Age or Cosmic Storms - http://news.ninemsn.com.au/slideshow...ame=solarstorm and whatever either means to the tropical north, I'd have a wager on one next year getting something like Fabio experienced.

referring to my previous post here, when we arrived in Cairns on 27th evening it was raining and as we checked-in at the hotel I asked the lady whether the outer barrier reef cruise could have been cancelled the next day due to bad weather. She replied: no, they never cancel cruises as it usually rains in the late afternoon till night during the rainy season. She was right. In the 4 days we had wet evenings and nights while during the day it changed from sunny to partly cloudy to cloudy.

Saltuarius
I am not able to find out what risk could be extrapolated from my experience. I did not mean to encourage or discourage anyone to come to Cairns in that period giving a fixed statement but I just reported our experience. Of course the same week next december might also be different or better or worse. Who knows?

Fabio,
I hope I did not upset you; seems I upset Bushranger. I know your report was just that; a report of your experience.

I find it most annoying when people make statements about weather or climate without much experience or recourse to data. It is even worse when they refer to one as the other! With some extreme weather around at the moment the area is awash with nonsensical statements and many which are just plain wrong. It is also awash with water.

I know that it was wet when you left Cairns. Cairns Aero recorded 55.4 mm of rain in the 24 hours overlapping your departure, 9 am to 9 am. Many areas around here have experienced that sort of rainfall per hour in the last day. Cairns has had 276 mm in the 23 hours to 8am this morning.

Last December Cairns had nine days with more than 1mm of rain and eleven without any trace of precipitation. It had close to its mean rainfall of 180mm but much more than the median of 130mm.

For jcrob (who hopefully has already viewed the statistics) and others who might have an interest. What you can expect in Cairns during December:- 7.7 hours of sunshine per day. 10 days with 1mm or more rain, rainfall as above, a minimum temperature of 23.4 and a maximum of 31.4 C.

September has the lowest relative humidity but the highest mean 3pm wind speed. If you dislike humidity but don’t mind a little wave activity as you return from the reef that is the time of year to visit. To work out your personal favourite time go to http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averag...w_031011.shtml

really not upset at all !! thanks for your comments !

when we left EU on 21st dec we were aware of the rainy season in northern QLD but could not change the period due to Xmas school vacation of our 2 kids. On top, stingers are also an issue in this period. jcrob seems to have the same period limitation due to school holidays, at least for the ones closer to 13. If I could I would have come in another period but we were anyway happy to leave our cold winter. No complains for the weather. As I wrote, at the end it was even better than expected. The only down side was that 5:30am flight Cairns to Brisbane on 31st, departed during heavy rain and after take off we had so strong turbolences that the crew had to sit again with seat belts fasten, then people started screaming all together very very loud and my 7 yrs old daughter was very scared and started crying. Thanks God it lasted just a few neverending minutes.

but also these flight turbolences are not a statement on the weathr from my side. They could have occurred anywhere else in the world !!

Turbulence is to be expected for the next few days as we have a monsoon trough and convergence zone causing some severe weather here at the moment. Many closed roads due to local flooding, landslips and fallen branches.

I have just been to the Lounge and realised that I have missed quite a bit of Australian turbulence there too.

Thanks all. It looks like there's nothing we can't manage. Fabio, you are right - we are in northern Europe, and confined to school holidays, and thought Christmas in Australia might, for once, be an adventure. And maybe spend New Year's Eve in Sydney.

jcrob, I find that the northern Europeans are less put off by rain than Aussies who have this outdoorsman image of themselves. A friend who deals with tourists tells me that they want to go out even in strong winds and heavy rains but the Australians will cancel if there is the threat of a shower.

Unofficial reports of over 400mm from the Port Douglas area today.

Author: Vaguerius
Date: 01/11/2009, 07:53 pm
"jcrob, I find that the northern Europeans are less put off by rain than Aussies who have this outdoorsman image of themselves. A friend who deals with tourists tells me that they want to go out even in strong winds and heavy rains but the Australians will cancel if there is the threat of a shower."
I suppose with that name, vague posts and ideas of spilled apple carts will all have a sameness.