This summer went from extremely hot to intensely humid in some parts of the country, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with South Australia experiencing some of the sharpest swings of the season.
Nationally, the 2025-26 season was the wettest in nearly a decade, with rainfall 32% higher than average across the country, according to the bureau’s summary, the wettest since 2016-17.
It was also the eighth hottest summer on record in Australia, 1.1°C above the 1961-1990 average.
Only one summer in the 20th century was hotter, said Qian Zhou, a climatologist at the bureau. That was in 1997-98, a season when temperatures were 1.11°C warmer than average.
Aside from that year, nine of the ten hottest summers have occurred since 2012-13.
“The late January heatwave was particularly severe, with 62 stations recording their highest daily maximum temperature between January 26 and 31,” the BoM summary said.
The highest maximum temperatures on record were in South Australia, which experienced its fourth hottest summer, with 50°C recorded in Andamooka on 29 January and Port Augusta on 30 January.
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The heat of January was followed by the rain of February.
“Summer rainfall was heavily concentrated in February in much of the country, especially in southern Australia,” Zhou said. Several rain-producing weather systems contributed to the outcome, he said, especially last week’s persistent tropical depression.
South Australia’s February rainfall was 356% above average, Zhou said, the state’s second wettest after 2011. Large parts of the state’s northeast had their highest-ever rainfall in February after a very dry January.
February rainfall was above average in all states and territories except Tasmania, which was 17% below average.
“The change between dry and wet conditions was quite notable,” said Associate Professor Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, with heatwaves and fires followed by rain and flooding.
Australia’s summers are always severe weather seasons, he said, “and we should expect some of these types of extreme weather events to get worse as we continue to warm the planet.”
“We know that heat and fires are getting worse with climate change. And in some parts of Australia, extreme rainfall events are also becoming more intense.”
Summer nighttime temperatures across Australia were the fifth warmest on record, according to the BoM, and the warmest ever experienced in some inland areas of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, based on average minimum temperatures.
Three north-west WA towns recorded their hottest summer nights ever recorded: 35.8°C at Paraburdoo Aero on January 7 (also the highest minimum temperature nationally this summer); 32.3°C at Rosebourne on December 26; and 28.9°C in Shark Bay on January 21.
Others in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia also recorded their hottest nights. The Gluepot reserve, about 270 kilometers northeast of Adelaide in South Africa, recorded 32.6°C on January 9. In Paterson, New South Wales, the temperature was 28.8°C on December 22. Mount Buller ski slope in Victoria set a new record low of 21.2°C on January 28.
Despite the rain, some areas in southern Australia continued to suffer from rainfall deficiencies, Zhou said.
According to the BoM, above-average rainfall is likely to continue through autumn in northern Australia, with drier conditions in the south. Warmer than usual days and nights were expected across most of the country, along with an increased fire risk in parts of WA, SA, NSW and Victoria.
