Is the Australian winter 2024 colder than normal?

5 August 2024

It depends how you define normal. Winter this year, or certainly in July, and absolutely since the recent Sudden Stratospheric Warming event, has felt distinctly chillier. But the bad news is, no this winter, when compared to the long term average, isn’t all that much cooler than “normal”.

Despite the relatively cool conditions, most capitals have still recorded temperatures comfortably above the long-term average, and all except for Melbourne and Adelaide were colder in 2022.

2022 seems a long time ago, as I don’t recall the winter of 2022 feeling cooler than this year. The thing is though, we’ve become accustomed to warmer winters, because you know why, so when a normal winter comes along, or one that is closer to statistically normal, it feels colder.