Climate averages 1991–2020

Cairns weather
in March.

A hot, very wet month: the 5th warmest and the 10th driest of the year.

Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.

Average high 28.7°C Daytime mean, March

Average low 24.2°C Night-time mean, March

Rainfall 206 mm 18 days with ≥1 mm

Daylight 12 h Sunrise to sunset, per day

March is a hot month in Cairns: daytime highs average 28.7°C and nights cool to about 24.2°C. By daytime temperature it is the 5th warmest of the 12 months.

Expect about 206 mm of rain on roughly 18 days, which makes March a very wet month (the 10th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 12 h 12 min on an average March day.

The nearest other city in this atlas is Townsville (283 km away). In March its highs average 29.6°C, 0.9°C warmer than Cairns, with 127 mm of rain.

Among the 32 cities listed in Australia, Cairns ranks 5th of 32 for the warmest March highs and 31st of 32 for the driest March (rainfall, lowest first). The mean March high of those 32 cities is 25.1°C; Cairns is 3.6°C warmer than that mean.

From March to April, average highs fall by 1.4°C to 27.3°C, and monthly rainfall falls from 206 mm to 94 mm.

The annual picture

March in context

30-year average

Average highAverage low°C

Monthly rainfall

Average total · mm

Averages 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

1991–2020

Monthly climate averages for Cairns, 1991–2020
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, selected	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	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

March in nearby cities

Distance from Cairns

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 limits

How 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.