Climate and average weather in Wollongong

In Wollongong, the summers are warm, showery, and partly cloudy and the winters are mild, breezy, and mostly clear.

Best: late July to early June

Over the course of the year, the temperature in Wollongong typically varies from 12°C to 23°C, and is rarely below 10°C or above 26°C. February is the hottest month of the year, while July is the coldest.

Based on the travel score, the best time of year to visit Wollongong for warm-weather activities is from late July to early June.

Hottest
Feb
23°
Coldest
Jul
12°
Wettest
Jun
123 mm
Driest
Sep
59 mm
Rain / yr
1041 mm
123 wet days
Daylight
9.7–14.3 h
shortest–longest
Elevation
29 m
34.4°S
Clearest
Aug
35% cloud

Wollongong is city in New South Wales, Australia.

Density
410/km²
people per km²
Founded
1834

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

Wollongong 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 July to early June.

Temperature through the year

Average highAverage lowShaded bands: 10–90% of days

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

Temperatures in Wollongong stay fairly even through the year, without a distinct hot or cool season. The warmest month is February, with an average high of 23°C and low of 20°C; the coolest is July, with an average low of 12°C and high of 16°C.

Days typically run about 3°C warmer than nights year-round.

10°15°20°25°30°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Avg high (°C)Avg low (°C)
Jan2320
Feb2320
Mar2219
Apr2018
May1815
Jun1614
Jul1612
Aug1613
Sep1714
Oct1915
Nov2017
Dec2119

Average hourly temperature in Wollongong

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 February afternoons, near 23°C, and coldest before dawn in July, near 12°C.

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

Wollongong 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
Jan23° / 20°8410.7146.7
Feb23° / 20°11612.313.36.4
Mar22° / 19°11013.812.36.3
Apr20° / 18°9511.611.26.3
May18° / 15°989.910.26.1
Jun16° / 14°12310.59.75.3
Jul16° / 12°668.19.95.4
Aug16° / 13°636.710.75.8
Sep17° / 14°597.611.86.2
Oct19° / 15°739.712.96.3
Nov20° / 17°8510.613.86.2
Dec21° / 19°7211.414.36.4

Chance of rain

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

Wollongong gets about 1041 mm of precipitation a year. On a typical day the chance of rain is often wet, but that rises and falls sharply with the seasons.

The wetter season lasts 3.8 months, from around Jan 12 to May 6, peaking in March at about 45% chance on a given day. The drier stretch runs the rest of the year, bottoming out around Aug 6.

June is the wettest month by volume, with 123 mm over about 11 wet days; September is the driest, with 59 mm.

0%10%20%30%40%50%60%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecwetterdriermostly drysome rainoften wetvery wetMar 7 · 45%Aug 6 · 19%
Rain on a day (%)Rain days
Jan3511
Feb4412
Mar4414
Apr3812
May3410
Jun3311
Jul268
Aug237
Sep268
Oct3210
Nov3511
Dec3711

Monthly rainfall

Over a full year, Wollongong collects about 1041 mm of rain across 123 wet days — roughly 87 mm in an average month.

It doesn’t fall evenly. June is the wettest month with 123 mm, while September is the driest at just 59 mm. The three wettest months alone bring about 33% of the year’s total.

0255075100125150JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec841161109598123666359738572
Rainfall (mm)Rain days
Jan8411
Feb11612
Mar11014
Apr9512
May9810
Jun12311
Jul668
Aug637
Sep598
Oct7310
Nov8511
Dec7211

Clouds and sunshine

ClearMostly clearPartly cloudyMostly cloudyOvercast

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

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

The clearer part of the year begins around June 18 and lasts for 4.0 months, ending around October 17. The clearest month is August, when the sky is clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy 77% of the time on average.

The cloudier part of the year begins around October 18 and lasts for 5.3 months, ending around March 28. The cloudiest month is November, 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 9 · 78%Nov 12 · 51%clearmostly clearpartly cloudymostly cloudyovercastcloudierclearercloudier
Clearer (%)Cloudier (%)
Jan5644
Feb5446
Mar6040
Apr6634
May6634
Jun6436
Jul7327
Aug7723
Sep7327
Oct6337
Nov5248
Dec5347

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 14 h 18 min of light; the shortest, around June 11, only 9 h 42 min — a swing of roughly 4 h 36 min.

12 AM4 AM8 AM12 PM4 PM8 PM12 AMJanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Daylight (h)Sunrise (AM)Sunset (PM)
Jan14.06:048:08
Feb13.36:337:49
Mar12.36:587:14
Apr11.27:226:31
May10.27:465:59
Jun9.78:055:48
Jul9.98:055:59
Aug10.77:396:22
Sep11.86:576:44
Oct12.96:157:08
Nov13.85:477:37
Dec14.35:448:01

Sunny days

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

Wollongong averages about 14 sunny days a month — counting the days the sky stays clear or mostly clear — with a clear seasonal swing between 10 and 20 days.

The sunnier stretch runs 4.1 months, from around Jun 9 to Oct 12. The sunniest month is August, with roughly 19 sunny days (bright).

The greyest month is November, down near 10 sunny days — about 46% fewer than the August peak.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecgreyersunniergreyergloomymixedbrightbrilliantAug 920 daysNov 2510 days
Sunny daysSky
Jan12Mixed
Feb11Mixed
Mar13Mixed
Apr14Mixed
May15Bright
Jun15Mixed
Jul18Bright
Aug19Bright
Sep17Bright
Oct13Mixed
Nov10Mixed
Dec11Mixed

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 Wollongong, how humid it feels changes dramatically over the year.

The more humid part of the year lasts 5.2 months, from around November 14 to April 20. The muggiest month is January, when the air feels humid, muggy or worse about 73% of the time.

The most comfortable stretch runs from around April 21 to November 13, and June 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%JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecJun 15 · 100%Jan 30 · 20%oppressivemuggyhumiddrycomfortablehumidcomfortablehumid
Dry (%)Comfortable (%)Humid (%)Muggy (%)Oppressive (%)
Jan91829395
Feb61632387
Mar132535252
Apr33352840
May6628600
Jun909000
Jul973000
Aug964000
Sep8316100
Oct59291200
Nov36322750
Dec182634210

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 Wollongong is steady company: average speeds sit near 20 km/hbreezy — in every month of the year, with no meaningful windy or calm season.

0510152025JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccalmlight breezebreezyJun 15 · 22 km/hApr 12 · 19 km/h
Wind speed (km/h)Feels
Jan20breezy
Feb20light breeze
Mar19light breeze
Apr19light breeze
May20light breeze
Jun21breezy
Jul21breezy
Aug21breezy
Sep20breezy
Oct20light breeze
Nov20breezy
Dec20light breeze

Hazard calendar for Wollongong

In seasonPeak

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

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

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

Best time to visit Wollongong

TravelBeach/poolTemperatureCloudsPrecipitation

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

Around early August, Wollongong 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 Wollongong for general outdoor tourist activities is from late July to early June, with a peak score in the second week of January.

0246810JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebest timetravel scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 8 · 6.8

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
Jan6.7good
Feb6.4good
Mar6.3good
Apr6.3good
May6.1good
Jun5.3fair
Jul5.4fair
Aug5.8good
Sep6.2good
Oct6.3good
Nov6.2good
Dec6.4good

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 Wollongong for hot-weather activities is from mid December to late March, with a peak score in the last week of January.

024681012JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbest timebeach/pool scoretemperaturecloudsprecipitationJan 26 · 5.1

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 Wollongong, 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 February (highs near 23°C), the essentials are light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. In the cold season around July (highs near 16°C), pack a warm layer, rain gear and a windbreaker.

Light clothing
Warm layer
Winter coat
Rain gear
Sun protection
Windbreaker

In February, Wollongong sees daytime highs around 23°C and nights near 20°C. Worth packing: light clothes, rain gear and sun protection. About 12 days see rain.

Sea temperature near Wollongong

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 22 km away) is warmest in February at about 23°C and coldest in August near 18°C.

It's comfortable for a long swim from Nov 18 to Jun 4 — about 6.5 months when the water holds above 20°C.

16°18°20°22°24°JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDeccoolrefreshingwarmcomfortable to swim
Sea temperature (°C)Comfort
Jan23Refreshing
Feb23Refreshing
Mar23Refreshing
Apr22Refreshing
May21Refreshing
Jun20Cool
Jul19Cool
Aug18Cool
Sep18Cool
Oct19Cool
Nov20Cool
Dec21Refreshing

UV index (midday) in Wollongong 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 Wollongong peaks around January 1 at about 12 (extreme) — sunscreen, a hat and midday shade are essential. It bottoms out near June 18 at about 2 (moderate).

The index reaches 3 or more — the level where the WHO recommends sun protection — in 10 months of the year.

025710JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecExtremeVery highModerateVery highExtremeJan 1UV 12Jun 18UV 2
UV index (midday)Level
Jan12Extreme
Feb12Extreme
Mar9Very high
Apr6High
May3Moderate
Jun2Moderate
Jul3Moderate
Aug4Moderate
Sep5High
Oct8Very high
Nov10Very high
Dec12Extreme

Average hourly UV index in Wollongong

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 6.5 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)
Jan96.5
Feb8.56
Mar74.5
Apr5.50
May2.50
Jun00
Jul00
Aug40
Sep5.50
Oct7.54
Nov8.55.5
Dec96.5

Air quality in Wollongong 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 Wollongong is worst in December — around 32 µg/m³ PM2.5 (moderate), about 4.8× the cleanest month (June, 7 µg/m³).

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

010203040JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecModerateGoodModerateDec 1830 µg/m³Jun 227 µg/m³
PM2.5 (µg/m³)Level
Jan17Moderate
Feb8Good
Mar8Good
Apr9Good
May8Good
Jun7Good
Jul7Good
Aug8Good
Sep11Good
Oct10Good
Nov11Good
Dec32Moderate
Almanac & agriculture

Growing season

Chance of a frost-free dayFrost-free year round

Wollongong 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
Jul1000
Aug1000
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. Wollongong banks about 2,820 degree days a year, and the running total — which growers use to time plantings and predict maturity — climbs fastest around February.

01,0002,0003,000JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Growing degree days (°C·days)
Jan350
Feb323
Mar331
Apr266
May209
Jun147
Jul123
Aug132
Sep167
Oct215
Nov248
Dec308

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.

Wollongong receives about 4.7 kWh/m² a day of solar energy on average — bright — with a clear seasonal swing between 2.4 and 7.1 kWh/m².

The brighter stretch of the year lasts 6.1 months, from around Sep 13 to Mar 18. The brightest month is December, averaging about 6.8 kWh/m² (intense).

The dimmest month is June, down near 2.4 kWh/m² — roughly 64% less than the December peak.

012345678JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecbrighterdimmerbrighterdimmoderatebrightintenseDec 317.1 kWhJun 132.4 kWh
Solar energy (kWh/m²)Level
Jan6.8Intense
Feb5.8Bright
Mar4.8Bright
Apr3.8Moderate
May2.9Moderate
Jun2.4Moderate
Jul2.8Moderate
Aug3.7Moderate
Sep4.9Bright
Oct5.8Bright
Nov6.4Intense
Dec6.8Intense

Where is Wollongong?

Wollongong sits at 34.4°S, 150.9°E, 29 m above sea level, in Australia. The nearest listed city is Wollongong city centre, 0.0 km away.

What Wollongong looks like

Topography around Wollongong

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

Within 3 km, the terrain around Wollongong has only modest variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 140 m around an average of 16 m above sea level; within 16 km, significant variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 578 m; within 80 km, large variations in elevation — a maximum elevation change of 1,069 m.

The land around Wollongong is covered by water (33%), artificial surfaces (32%) and trees (27%) within 3 km, water (50%) and trees (36%) within 16 km, and trees (48%) and water (32%) within 80 km.

3 km
140 m
16 km
578 m
80 km
1,069 m
treesgrasslandartificial surfacesbare terrainwater
Nearby: Wollongong city centre 0.0 km · Engadine 41 km · Cronulla 47 km · Miranda 47 km · Casula 52 km · Prestons 54 km · Hurstville 54 km · Kogarah 55 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 Wollongong (-34.424°, 150.8935°, elevation 29 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).