The Weather in Victoria

Perhaps the most frequently asked question I receive about Victoria is what is the weather like. This is an awkward question to answer for as far as I'm concerned, good weather is nothing more than a state of mind and no matter where you go people will complain about it. Victoria's weather goes something like this:

Melbourne:

Melbourne has a very mild climate, despite what people might tell you. I live in an inner suburb and in winter a night below 4°C will rate a mention in the news as "Boy, wasn't it a cold one last night?". Complain about a cold night like this to someone in Ballarat and they will laugh at you. Try someone from northern Europe or America and they'll be rolling around on the floor. "Call that a cold winter's night?" It all depends on what you're used to.

And then of course there's the great comparison of Sydney and Melbourne weather. For the record books, both Sydney and Melbourne have similar numbers of rainy days per year, similar numbers of sunny days per year and Sydney has a significantly higher rainfall than Melbourne.

The Rest of Victoria:

You name it, Victoria has it, from deserts to rainforests and alpine snowfields. The weather moves from west to east and is about a day behind Adelaide's weather. The Great Dividing Range which runs like a spine through the middle of Victoria has a tremendous influence on the weather. From it's westerly end near the Grampians, it often splits the weather into north and south. You can start at the south end of the Grampians in rain and be in blazing sunshine by the time you hit the northern end. In general it is dryer, warmer and sunnier north of the Great Dividing Range.

As for the seasons, summer is the hottest, driest season, winter is the coldest and wettest and spring and autumn are just downright unpredictable with all sorts of weather. In the Alpine regions it can snow any time of the year although most snow falls between June and October with patches often lasting on higher peaks into the new year.

To find out more about the weather in a particular area, check my climate data page.