Climate averages 1991–2020
Cairns weather
in December.
A hot, wet month: one of the warmest and the 9th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
December is a hot month in Cairns: daytime highs average 29.7°C and nights cool to about 24.4°C. By daytime temperature it is one of the warmest months of the year.
Expect about 142 mm of rain on roughly 16 days, which makes December a wet month (the 9th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 13 h 07 min on an average December day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Townsville (283 km away). In December its highs average 30.9°C, 1.2°C warmer than Cairns, with 88 mm of rain.
Among the 32 cities listed in Australia, Cairns ranks 4th of 32 for the warmest December highs and 30th of 32 for the driest December (rainfall, lowest first). The mean December high of those 32 cities is 26.0°C; Cairns is 3.8°C warmer than that mean.
From December to January, average highs stay level at 29.7°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 142 mm to 245 mm.
The annual picture
December in context
Monthly rainfall
Average total · mmAverages from hourly ERA5 reanalysis data. Actual weather varies from year to year. How these numbers are calculated
Every month, side by side
Cairns climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 29.7°C24.8°C | 24.8°C | 245 | 21.2 | 13.013 h |
| February | 29.6°C24.9°C | 24.9°C | 256 | 20.9 | 12.713 h |
| March | 28.7°C24.2°C | 24.2°C | 206 | 17.9 | 12.212 h |
| April | 27.3°C22.9°C | 22.9°C | 94 | 12.7 | 11.712 h |
| May | 25.6°C21.2°C | 21.2°C | 41 | 9.5 | 11.311 h |
| June | 24.2°C19.5°C | 19.5°C | 27 | 7.0 | 11.111 h |
| July | 23.5°C18.6°C | 18.6°C | 27 | 5.9 | 11.211 h |
| August | 24.3°C18.7°C | 18.7°C | 23 | 5.5 | 11.512 h |
| September | 26.3°C20.2°C | 20.2°C | 14 | 4.1 | 12.012 h |
| October | 27.7°C21.8°C | 21.8°C | 31 | 6.5 | 12.512 h |
| November | 29.0°C23.3°C | 23.3°C | 57 | 10.4 | 12.913 h |
| December, selected | 29.7°C24.4°C | 24.4°C | 142 | 16.1 | 13.113 h |
Rainfall is the average of the 30 separate monthly totals. A rain day is a local calendar day with at least 1 mm of precipitation. Daylight is the calculated sunrise-to-sunset length, not measured sunshine.
Compare places
December in nearby cities
- Townsville in DecemberAustralia · 283 kmHigh 30.9°C · Low 24.3°C · 88 mm rain
- Mackay in DecemberAustralia · 591 kmHigh 28.0°C · Low 24.1°C · 117 mm rain
- Sunshine Coast in DecemberAustralia · 1319 kmHigh 27.0°C · Low 21.0°C · 117 mm rain
- Caloundra in DecemberAustralia · 1334 kmHigh 26.9°C · Low 21.0°C · 117 mm rain
- Toowoomba in DecemberAustralia · 1343 kmHigh 27.3°C · Low 16.2°C · 103 mm rain
- Brisbane in DecemberAustralia · 1390 kmHigh 28.3°C · Low 20.0°C · 110 mm rain
- Logan City in DecemberAustralia · 1410 kmHigh 27.7°C · Low 20.1°C · 104 mm rain
- Gold Coast in DecemberAustralia · 1461 kmHigh 26.1°C · Low 20.8°C · 109 mm rain
Read the numbers correctly
Climate, not a promise.
These patterns help compare months. They cannot tell you the weather on a specific day of your trip.
Sources, method and limitsHow these numbers are made (what the highs, lows and rain days mean, the sources and the model cell used for Cairns) is explained once on the Cairns year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.