Climate averages 1991–2020
Sydney weather
in January.
A warm, moderately wet month: the warmest and the 7th driest of the year.
Long-term climate patterns, not a forecast for a particular trip.
January is a warm month in Sydney: daytime highs average 25.6°C and nights cool to about 19.5°C. By daytime temperature it is the warmest month of the year.
Expect about 73 mm of rain on roughly 9 days, which makes January a moderately wet month (the 7th driest of the 12 months). Daylight, from sunrise to sunset, lasts about 14 h 07 min on an average January day.
The nearest other city in this atlas is Central Coast (51 km away). In January its highs average 25.7°C, about as warm as Sydney, with 78 mm of rain.
Among the 32 cities listed in Australia, Sydney ranks 25th of 32 for the warmest January highs and 15th of 32 for the driest January (rainfall, lowest first). The mean January high of those 32 cities is 27.2°C; Sydney is 1.7°C cooler than that mean.
From January to February, average highs fall by 0.6°C to 25.0°C, and monthly rainfall rises from 73 mm to 93 mm.
The annual picture
January 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
Sydney climate table
| Month | Average highHigh / low | Average low | Rainfall mm/month | Rain days ≥1 mm/day | Daylight hours/dayDaylight h/day |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January, selected | 25.6°C19.5°C | 19.5°C | 73 | 9.3 | 14.114 h |
| February | 25.0°C19.5°C | 19.5°C | 93 | 10.5 | 13.313 h |
| March | 23.6°C18.2°C | 18.2°C | 81 | 11.7 | 12.312 h |
| April | 21.5°C15.3°C | 15.3°C | 77 | 10.5 | 11.311 h |
| May | 18.7°C12.4°C | 12.4°C | 79 | 9.6 | 10.410 h |
| June | 16.4°C10.4°C | 10.4°C | 97 | 10.1 | 9.910 h |
| July | 15.9°C9.1°C | 9.1°C | 56 | 7.8 | 10.110 h |
| August | 17.1°C9.4°C | 9.4°C | 53 | 6.4 | 10.911 h |
| September | 19.4°C11.5°C | 11.5°C | 50 | 6.7 | 11.912 h |
| October | 21.3°C13.8°C | 13.8°C | 59 | 8.1 | 12.913 h |
| November | 22.6°C15.8°C | 15.8°C | 72 | 9.2 | 13.914 h |
| December | 24.2°C17.8°C | 17.8°C | 60 | 8.7 | 14.414 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
January in nearby cities
- Central Coast in JanuaryAustralia · 51 kmHigh 25.7°C · Low 20.1°C · 78 mm rain
- Wollongong in JanuaryAustralia · 68 kmHigh 24.8°C · Low 19.2°C · 84 mm rain
- Blue Mountains in JanuaryAustralia · 83 kmHigh 23.6°C · Low 12.8°C · 126 mm rain
- Newcastle, Australia in JanuaryAustralia · 117 kmHigh 26.1°C · Low 20.2°C · 76 mm rain
- Maitland in JanuaryAustralia · 130 kmHigh 29.0°C · Low 19.3°C · 66 mm rain
- Canberra in JanuaryAustralia · 247 kmHigh 26.7°C · Low 14.3°C · 48 mm rain
- Tuggeranong in JanuaryAustralia · 261 kmHigh 26.7°C · Low 14.3°C · 72 mm rain
- Coffs Harbour in JanuaryAustralia · 436 kmHigh 26.5°C · Low 20.8°C · 160 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 Sydney) is explained once on the Sydney year overview and on the Sources, method and limits page.