Help please! I'm getting conflicting information about weather around Townsville in December. I'm considering a home exchange in December 2005. Some guidebooks say it's monsoon season, floods, heavy rains, etc. My "exchangers" say this doesn't start until late January... Anybody know the TRUTH?

Your exchangers are telling the truth if they're talking about recent years. Townsville has just had a particularly dry spell and didn't got any decent rain until March. Townsville is in "dry" tropics, further north the country becomes much greener (Cairns etc) which is "wet" tropics. Even the wet tropics had a dry December just passed.

The rest of Queensland still has not had significent rain - let alone floods/monsoons etc. About the only place that did have good rain was Cairns and that was only very late. Your exchangers are certainly telling the truth both from recent years and earlier years.

Louanne: A while back, I was trying to decide on an exchange in Perpignan, France. Someone suggested to me the website: www.weatherbase.com It was very helpful and told me that the summers were too hot there. We did an exchange in Brisbane one July and were told that Dec/Jan was miserable there. Hot and humid. You would be a lot further North, thus a lot hotter. I'm told that the only time to visit Kakadu is in July and August, because the summers are miserable. You might want to apply that logic/location to Townsend. Of course, it depends on you, your weather tolerance and luck. Best wishes on this home exchange and others to follow. It really is a great way to travel.

I'm sorry. I did not really answer your question. You were more concerned with rain than heat. I was thinking about the latter. I understand it has been relatively dry the last few years which means that they are due for some rain!!

I would not say that December/January in Brisbane is miserable - far from the fact and the truth. It is one thing talking from experience but quite another thing talking from the side of hearsay.
There is a significant difference between going to Kakadu in summer compared with going to Brisbane because Kakadu is far into the tropics whereas Brisbane is not in the tropics at all and some 4 hours flying time from Kakadu. A bit like comparing Miami with say Seattle in summer.
Brisbane is a bit like Los Angeles in summer or San Diego, does not have anywhere near the humidity of Chicago for instance and certainly Miami. Townsville is in the DRY tropics and therefore is not as humid as the wet tropics.
If we could rely on the saying that "we are due for some rain" then everyone would be very happy in being able to work out what to do and where to go most years. Does that apply to the situation that Los Angeles and San Francisco must be "due" for the BIG one and we should not go there? New Zealand should watch it as they are "due" for the big shake, Krakatoa is "due" for another big one and we are all due for climate change.
Louanne Townsville would be hot in summer around 31 or 32 deg C. Its humidity is less than the northern tropics and trying to get some sense from those guide books is like getting the "good oil" from books on how to beat the poker machines.

When it comes to heat and cold one man's meat is another man's poison. To me, In Dec/Jan Brisbane isn't miserable, it's just plain horrible - I've been thoroughly acclimatised to dry conditions now, and the humidity floors me - and the further north I go the horribler it gets. Come to think of it, Sydney in summer is pretty nasty too. Plenty of people revel in it, though, and good luck to them.

Quite true Neil that one man's meat etc etc. Yes there can be days in Brisbane when its too hot but by the same token I have been in Canberra when I thought I would fry to death and also there when I thought I would freeze. However I don't mind people having differing opinions but I do mind them making statements that are not based on having been there and statements that are based on hearsay without using a comparison to give people some guidelines. For all we know annitti may live in Iceland and anything over freezing to her may be stinking hot. I had my doubts when she mentioned that Perpignan, France, would be too hot in summer, its got a Mediterranian climate, can have some hot days but generally speaking is nothing in comparison to most American cities in the summer and yes Neil I have been there to Perpignan in summer and yes Neil I have been in the USA in summer.
The evenings in Brisbane in summer are wonderful, the sub-tropical balmy evenings listening to the crickets and other night noises are a delight and much, much cooler than say anywhere south of Sydney such as Melbourne and Canberra and inland areas.

LizF: I cerainly did not mean to antagonize you. I was just expressing what I thought was common knowledge. We have a good friend who grew up in Brisbane, later moved to Calif., then Florida and she was the one who warned us about the hot, humid weather in Brisbane during Ded/Jan. I figured she would know what she was talking about. We, too had been considering an exchange in Brisbane during the Xmas holidays and she told us it was not the time to visit Brisbane. We, did eventually make it to Brisbane, during July/August where we had pleasant days and very cool evenings. I figure that someone who has spent time in Florida, knows what humidity is all about! By the way, we heard about the hot/humid days in Brisbane's summer from lots of people while visiting Queensland. I take it, that you do not agree. Fine, but asking people for opinions is what this forum is all about! By the way most of what you read about is "heresay" in any newspaper or magazine article. People rely on eyewitnesses and quote them. In this case, I was referring to a good friend and people I met along the way.

As said " there are lies, lies and statistics" but for what its worth here are the stats on the climate for Brisbane.
December/January/February - Summer
Mean temperature: 24.8° C
Max average temperature: 29.2° C
Min average temperature: 20.4° C
Precipitation: averages 150.4mm a month
Wind speed average: 10.9 km/h

March/April/May - Autumn
Mean temperature: 21.1° C
Max average temperature: 25.8° C
Min average temperature: 16.4° C
Precipitation: averages 102.3mm a month
Wind speed average: 9.2 km/h

I will let those of you who have not joined the Worldwide metric Union make the adjustments for F deg.

Let it be also said that I myself am not a fan of Brisbane, its too big, too spread out, too many cars and I myself do not like the humidity - which it does have but that does not stop 3,000 people from the southern parts of Australia and New Zealand from moving up here each week and if I had to choose between living in Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth or Brisbane then Brissy would win hands down. I won't put Sydney into that equasion as that is where I was born and it will always remain my favourite city.
Brisbane can get hot and humid and there are some days like that in summer but I would not put it in the "miserable" range of climates - quite the reverse, most people feel that a few days of discomfort is worth the 11 months of ideal weather. Bundaberg which is 250 miles north ( and hotter) of Brisbane has a similiar climate to Miami in the USA.
For the most time in summer the average humidity is in the range of about 65%, days are warm to hot but usually if you are standing in the shade there is a pleasant breeze and it is not uncomfortable. Just about everywhere is airconditioned and the nights are beautiful because it cools down to about 22 deg C which is ideal.
I hope that this puts "miserable" into perspective.
However back to louanne, if I had the offer of an exchange for January in Townsville I would first ask if they have airconditioning and if not or unless louanne is from Phoenix or Miami, I would try and get an exchange somewhere else which either has aircon or is cooler.

I find it quite fascinating that personal experience often contradicts guidebooks - even Fodors (oops! wrong place to say this). My sense after reading you all is that the isolation, humidity, and risk of heavy rains might scare me away. Australia is HUGE, isn't it? One doesn't really "get it" until getting into serious research. Thanks all. Let me know if you think I'm making a big mistake here.

Louanne, where are you from? What is "warm" to you? While we are trading "personal opinions" here's mine (and it's only my humble opinion).

I live in Brisbane, but my mother was born in Townsville and I still have relatives living there; and have visited a number of times. IMHO it's more pleasant in our winter (mid year). I don't really enjoy it as much in December.

But again, if you are used to heat, and want to go in December, then go for it!

As others have said, heavy rains (IF they come) don't start until late January.