Climate and average weather in Grafton

In Grafton, the summers are humid, hot, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild and mostly clear.

Best: late March to early November

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Grafton typically varies from 8°C to 29°C, and is rarely below 3°C or above 33°C. January is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Grafton for warm-weather activities is from late March to early November.

Hottest
Jan
29°
Coldest
Jul
Wettest
Dec
115 mm
Driest
Jul
27 mm
Rain / yr
841 mm
105 wet days
Daylight
10.1–13.9 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
7 m
29.7°S
Clearest
Aug
28% cloud

Grafton is city in New South Wales, Australia.

Air quality: WHO Ambient Air Quality Database. Density & description: Wikidata (CC0), GeoNames.

Grafton weather by month, at a glance

The whole year in one picture — sky, rain, humidity, temperature and travel score. Click any band to jump to its full chart.

Each stripe is one measure across the whole year, stacked so a single day reads top to bottom. The sky band runs overcast grey on top down to clear blue at the base — more blue means sunnier — followed by the rainfall curve, the humidity band, a temperature strip that tints each stretch of the year by how warm its average high is, and the travel-score line at the foot. Scan straight down any date to read that day across every measure at once; the score climbs highest around late March to early November.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

Daily average highs and lows in Grafton, from 1991–2020 of climate data. The shaded bands show the range most days fall in — 10th to 90th percentile.

The hot season lasts 4.3 months, from November 12 to March 23, with daily high temperatures above 26°C. The hottest month of the year in Grafton is January, with an average high of 29°C and low of 20°C.

The cool season lasts 2.8 months, from May 25 to August 16, with daily high temperatures below 21°C. The coldest month of the year in Grafton is July, with an average low of 8°C and high of 19°C.

Days typically run about 10°C warmer than nights, with the widest day–night swing (around 13°C) in August.

10°20°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2920
Feb2820
Mar2718
Apr2415
May2211
Jun199
Jul198
Aug218
Sep2311
Oct2514
Nov2716
Dec2818

Average hourly temperature in Grafton

A compact picture of the whole year, hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled average temperature. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

Read left to right for the day of the year and top to bottom for the hour of the day; the color is the modeled temperature, cool blues through to hot reds on the same scale as the other charts. A vertical slice is a single day's swing — coolest just before dawn, warmest in the mid-afternoon — while a horizontal slice follows one hour across the seasons. The darker overlay marks night and the lighter one the twilight around sunrise and sunset. Colors run warmest on January afternoons, near 29°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near C.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM

Grafton weather by month

Every month at a glance. Click a month for its detailed page.

MonthHigh / Low (°C)Rainfall (mm)Wet daysDaylight (hours)Travel score
Jan29° / 20°11412.513.75.5
Feb28° / 20°11411.813.15.7
Mar27° / 18°9913.212.26.3
Apr24° / 15°478.811.37.3
May22° / 11°566.610.57.4
Jun19° / 586.110.17.1
Jul19° / 274.210.37.5
Aug21° / 364.410.97.9
Sep23° / 11°325.611.88.1
Oct25° / 14°617.912.77.4
Nov27° / 16°8411.213.56.4
Dec28° / 18°11512.513.95.9

Chance of rain

How likely it is to rain on a typical day, and how that shifts across the wetter and drier seasons.

Grafton gets about 841 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is some rain, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 5.7 months, from around Oct 26 to Apr 15, peaking in February at about 46% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 5.

December is the wettest month by volume, with 115 mm over about 13 wet days; July is the driest, with 27 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdrierwettermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetFeb 25 · 46%Aug 5 · 9%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan4013
Feb4412
Mar4113
Apr309
May227
Jun196
Jul144
Aug144
Sep196
Oct268
Nov3711
Dec4013

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Grafton collects about 841 mm of rain across 105 wet days — roughly 70 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. December is the wettest month with 115 mm, while July is the driest at just 27 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 41% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec114114994756582736326184115
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan11413
Feb11412
Mar9913
Apr479
May567
Jun586
Jul274
Aug364
Sep326
Oct618
Nov8411
Dec11513

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

How often the daytime sky is clear, partly cloudy or overcast.

In Grafton, the average share of the sky covered by clouds shows significant seasonal variation over the course of the year.

The clearer part of the year begins around March 29 and lasts for 6.6 months, ending around October 16. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 84% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 17 and lasts for 5.4 months, ending around March 28. The cloudiest month is December, when it is overcast or mostly cloudy 48% of the time.

0%100%10%90%20%80%30%70%40%60%50%50%60%40%70%30%80%20%90%10%100%0%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 7 · 90%Dec 11 · 50%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5347
Feb5446
Mar6238
Apr7030
May7030
Jun7030
Jul8020
Aug8416
Sep7822
Oct6634
Nov5545
Dec5248

Daylight, sunrise and sunset

DaylightNight

Hours of daylight through the year, with sunrise and sunset times.

The gold band is daylight — sunrise runs along its lower edge, sunset along the upper — so it widens toward summer and pinches toward winter, with night the dark area above and below. The longest day, around January 1, brings about 13 h 54 min of light; the shortest, around June 10, only 10 h 06 min — a swing of roughly 3 h 48 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan13.76:067:49
Feb13.16:317:35
Mar12.26:517:05
Apr11.37:106:27
May10.57:296:00
Jun10.17:455:52
Jul10.37:466:02
Aug10.97:256:20
Sep11.86:486:37
Oct12.76:116:55
Nov13.55:487:19
Dec13.95:487:41

Sunny days

How many genuinely sunny days each month brings — days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — banded into plain-language zones.

Grafton averages about 14 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 9 and 23 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 5.9 months, from around Apr 17 to Oct 13. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 21 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is February, down near 9 sunny days — about 56% fewer than the August peak.

051015202530JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 723 daysFeb 279 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan10Mixed
Feb9Mixed
Mar11Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May16Bright
Jun17Bright
Jul21Bright
Aug22Bright
Sep18Bright
Oct14Mixed
Nov10Mixed
Dec9Mixed

Humidity comfort

DryComfortableHumidMuggyOppressiveMiserable

Share of days at each humidity comfort level, based on the dew point — the measure that tracks how muggy it actually feels.

Humidity comfort is graded by the dew point — the temperature at which the air would be fully saturated — because it tracks how muggy it actually feels far better than relative humidity does. A low dew point feels dry and crisp; a high one feels sticky and oppressive no matter the reading on a humidity gauge.

In Grafton, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.2 months, from around November 6 to April 12. The muggiest month is February, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 93% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 13 to November 5, and August is the most comfortable month — the air is dry or comfortable 100% of the time.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%80%90%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecAug 1 · 100%Feb 3 · 6%oppressivemuggydrycomfortablehumidhumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan110304612
Feb17354414
Mar21646323
Apr19443070
May6328810
Jun8513200
Jul945100
Aug946000
Sep8018200
Oct49341520
Nov203334130
Dec62138324

Wind

Average wind speed through the year, banded into plain-language speed zones so a number reads as 'breezy' or 'calm' without knowing the scale.

This is the average sustained wind speed at the standard 10 metres above open ground — the steady flow a weather station reports, not the sharper gusts that come and go, which can run half again as fast. It's the number that says whether a place is generally breezy or calm.

Wind in Grafton is steady company: average speeds sit near 9 km/hcalm — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

051015JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezeOct 14 · 9 km/hMay 22 · 8 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan9calm
Feb9calm
Mar9calm
Apr8calm
May8calm
Jun9calm
Jul9calm
Aug9calm
Sep9calm
Oct9calm
Nov9calm
Dec9calm

Hazard calendar for Grafton

In seasonPeak

When the seasonal hazards worth planning around — the rainy season, tropical-cyclone risk and dust haze — are active through the year.

Grafton sits in the South Indian Ocean cyclone belt; the season peaks January–March.

Grafton's rainy season runs October–March, when most of the year's rain falls.

Cyclone
Rainy season
Jan
Feb
Mar
Apr
May
Jun
Jul
Aug
Sep
Oct
Nov
Dec

Best time to visit Grafton

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

To characterize how pleasant the weather is in Grafton throughout the year, we compute two travel scores — one for general sightseeing, one for beach and pool weather.

Around early April, Grafton is still near the start of its best-weather window — great conditions with the peak-season crowds not yet at full swing.

Inferred from the travel-score curve; month-by-month visitor numbers are a planned addition.

The travel score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 18°C and 28°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Grafton for general outdoor tourist activities is from late March to early November, with a peak score in the third week of September.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 17 · 8.2

The travel score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

Travel score (0–10)Rating
Jan5.5fair
Feb5.7good
Mar6.3good
Apr7.3good
May7.4good
Jun7.1good
Jul7.5ideal
Aug7.9ideal
Sep8.0ideal
Oct7.4good
Nov6.4good
Dec5.9good

The beach/pool score favors clear, rainless days with daytime highs between 24°C and 34°C. Based on this score, the best time of year to visit Grafton for hot-weather activities is from early September to early May, with a peak score in the last week of September.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationSep 28 · 7.0

The beach/pool score (filled area), and its constituents: the temperature score (red line), the cloud cover score (blue line), and the precipitation score (green line).

What to pack for Grafton, by month

EssentialRecommendedOptional

Month by month, what's worth putting in the bag — from the temperature range, rain chance, sun and wind. Tap a month for a quick packing note.

For a warm-season trip around January (highs near 29°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 19°C), pack a warm layer.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In January, Grafton sees daytime highs around 29°C and nights near 20°C. Pack light clothes and sun protection. Worth having: rain gear. About 13 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Grafton

Average ocean temperature at the nearest coast, month by month, banded into swim-comfort zones — the other half of the beach question.

The sea at the nearest coast (about 43 km away) is warmest in February at about 26°C and coldest in August near 20°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Aug 27 to Aug 9 — about 11.4 months when the water holds above 20°C.

18°20°22°24°26°28°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swimcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan25Warm
Feb26Warm
Mar25Warm
Apr25Warm
May23Refreshing
Jun22Refreshing
Jul20Refreshing
Aug20Cool
Sep20Refreshing
Oct21Refreshing
Nov22Refreshing
Dec24Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Grafton by month

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Clear-sky midday UV index through the year, shaded by the WHO exposure levels — how much sun protection each month calls for.

Under clear skies, the midday UV index in Grafton peaks around January 18 at about 13 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 4 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — every month of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highModerateHighVery highExtremeJan 18UV 13Jun 18UV 4
UV index (midday)Level
Jan14Extreme
Feb13Extreme
Mar11Extreme
Apr7Very high
May5Moderate
Jun3Moderate
Jul4Moderate
Aug5High
Sep7High
Oct9Very high
Nov11Extreme
Dec13Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Grafton

LowModerateHighVery highExtreme

Modeled clear-sky UV for every hour of every day — when in the day sun protection actually matters.

The whole year hour by hour: each column is a day, each row an hour, and the color is the modeled clear-sky UV index — the midday peak scaled down as the sun sits lower in the sky. Darker overlays mark night, lighter ones the civil-twilight hours around sunrise and sunset.

UV falls off far faster than brightness as the sun drops, so even in January the burn window is concentrated in the middle of the day: about 9 hours a day reach index 3 (protection recommended), and 7 hours reach 6 or more. Mornings and late afternoons stay comparatively gentle year round.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec12 AM2 AM4 AM6 AM8 AM10 AM12 PM2 PM4 PM6 PM8 PM10 PM12 AM
UV ≥ 3 (h/day)UV ≥ 6 (h/day)
Jan97
Feb8.56.5
Mar7.55.5
Apr6.53.5
May4.50
Jun2.50
Jul3.50
Aug50
Sep6.52.5
Oct7.55
Nov8.56
Dec97

Air quality in Grafton by month

GoodModeratePoorUnhealthyVery unhealthy

Average fine-particle pollution (PM2.5) through the year — so you can see which months the air is worst, not just the yearly average.

Air quality in Grafton is worst in November — around 37 µg/m³ PM2.5 (poor), about 8.5× the cleanest month (April, 4 µg/m³).

Modeled monthly averages (CAMS reanalysis, 2015–2024).

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecGoodModerateNov 1635 µg/m³Apr 205 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan8Good
Feb7Good
Mar7Good
Apr4Good
May5Good
Jun5Good
Jul6Good
Aug18Moderate
Sep17Moderate
Oct15Moderate
Nov37Poor
Dec16Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Grafton is frost-free year round — even the coldest nights rarely reach freezing, so there is no start or end to the growing season.

0%25%50%75%100%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecfrost-free year round
Frost-free chance (%)Frost nights
Jan1000
Feb1000
Mar1000
Apr1000
May1000
Jun1000
Jul990
Aug990
Sep1000
Oct1000
Nov1000
Dec1000

Growing degree days

Degree days (base 10°C)Frost-free shaded

Growing degree days tally heat above 10°C: each day adds however many degrees its average temperature runs over that threshold, and cold days add nothing. Grafton banks about 3,306 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around January.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan436
Feb384
Mar377
Apr283
May200
Jun125
Jul105
Aug138
Sep215
Oct293
Nov344
Dec405

Solar energy

Average daily shortwave solar energy reaching the ground, banded into brightness zones so the number means something at a glance.

Solar energy is how much sunlight actually reaches the ground each day, measured in kilowatt-hours per square metre (kWh/m²) — the combined effect of how long the sun is up, how high it climbs, and how much cloud gets in the way. It's the raw fuel a solar panel has to work with: for scale, 1 kWh/m² a day is dim and wintry, while 7+ is desert-bright.

Grafton receives about 4.9 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 3.0 and 6.7 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.3 months, from around Sep 8 to Mar 18. The brightest month is December, averaging about 6.5 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 3.0 kWh/m² — roughly 54% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 306.7 kWhJun 133.0 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.4Intense
Feb5.6Bright
Mar4.8Bright
Apr4.2Bright
May3.4Moderate
Jun2.9Moderate
Jul3.3Moderate
Aug4.2Bright
Sep5.2Bright
Oct5.8Bright
Nov6.3Intense
Dec6.4Intense

Where is Grafton?

Grafton sits at 29.7°S, 152.9°E, 7 m above sea level, in Australia. The nearest listed city is Coffs Harbour, 71 km away.

Topography around Grafton

How much the land rises and falls, and what covers it, within 3, 16 and 80 km of Grafton.

Within 3 km, the terrain around Grafton has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 33 m around an average of 5 m above sea level; within 16 km, only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 178 m; within 80 km, very significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,436 m.

The land around Grafton is covered by grassland (58%) within 3 km, trees (46%) and grassland (43%) within 16 km, and trees (65%) and water (20%) within 80 km.

3 km
33 m
16 km
178 m
80 km
1,436 m
treesgrasslandcroplandartificial surfaceswaterwetland
Nearby: Coffs Harbour 71 km · Byron Bay 132 km · Armidale 152 km · Banora Point 173 km · Palm Beach 181 km · Robina 185 km · Warwick 185 km · Nerang 192 km

Australia travel facts

Travel advisory
Level 1
Exercise Normal Precautions
Power plugs
Type I
230 V · 50 Hz
Prices
≈ 90% of US
price level, 2025
GDP per capita
$65,130
2025
Happiness
6.9 / 10
World Happiness, 2025
Homicide rate
0.9
per 100k, 2023
Road deaths
4.9
per 100k/yr, 2019
Income group
High
World Bank
Religion
none 38%Roman Catholic 20%Protestant 18%other Christian 4%

Sources: World Bank, US State Department, World Happiness Report, WHO/UNICEF, EF EPI, CIA World Factbook.

Data sources

Temperature, precipitation, cloud, humidity, wind and solar figures are a 1991–2020 climatology for Grafton (-29.681°, 152.9339°, elevation 7 m), computed from hourly ERA5 reanalysis — contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information. Sun figures are astronomical calculations, not observations. City data © GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. Map outlines from Natural Earth (public domain); interactive map © Google. Tropical-cyclone seasons are the published climatological basin seasons (NOAA National Hurricane Center / regional warning centres). Sea temperatures are the NOAA OISST v2.1 1991–2020 monthly climatology (public domain), sampled at the nearest ocean point. UV index is derived from CAMS (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service) clear-sky UV data — contains modified Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service information. Monthly air-quality (PM2.5) seasonality is from the CAMS EAC4 reanalysis (Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service), scaled to the WHO annual mean where available. Topography is sampled from the Copernicus DEM GLO-90 elevation model (© ESA/Airbus) and ESA WorldCover 2021 land cover (CC BY 4.0).