{"id":771895,"date":"2026-07-01T10:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771895\/"},"modified":"2026-07-01T10:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-01T10:47:11","slug":"sydneys-warmest-june-on-record","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/771895\/","title":{"rendered":"Sydney’s warmest June on record"},"content":{"rendered":"

The first month of winter 2026 was exceptionally warm for eastern Australia, with Sydney registering its warmest June in records dating back to 1859.<\/p>\n

The mean temperature at Sydney\u2019s Observatory Hill weather station during June \u2013 calculated by combining daily minimum and maximum temperatures throughout the month \u2013 was 16.07\u00b0C. This was 2.9\u00b0C above the long-term average and the city\u2019s warmest June on record, beating 15.66\u00b0C from 1991.<\/p>\n

June\u2019s abnormal warmth was felt broadly across Australia’s eastern states. When combining temperatures across Queensland, New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory, Victoria and Tasmania, the mean temperature during June was 16.17\u00b0C. This was 2.17\u00b0C above the 1961-1990 average and the second warmest start to winter in records dating back to 1910. The only warmer June was 1996, which had a mean temperature anomaly of +2.26\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

\"Mean<\/p>\n

Image: Mean temperatures in eastern Australia during June from 1910 to 2026. Source: Bureau of Meteorology.<\/p>\n

Melbourne, Brisbane and Canberra all had one of their top five warmest Junes on record in 2026.<\/p>\n

Why was June so warm?<\/p>\n

Temperatures ran well above average in June due to a lack of strong cold fronts sweeping over Australia. This absence of early-winter fronts was associated with a prolonged and strong positive Southern Annular Mode (SAM)<\/a> event, which saw high pressure systems become a dominant synoptic feature over the Australian region, shielding the country from cold air masses. These highs also promoted more humid easterly wind over eastern Australia, which helped increase overnight minimum temperatures.<\/p>\n

In addition to the positive SAM, eastern Australia was also flanked by above average sea surface temperatures in the Tasman and Coral Seas during June. This warm water helped insulate the country\u2019s eastern states and keep air temperatures higher than normal. At times, sea surface temperatures were more than 3\u00b0C above average in parts of the Tasman Sea.<\/p>\n

\"Sea<\/p>\n

Image: Sea surface temperature anomalies in the Tasman Sea on June 29, 2026. Source: Bureau of Meteorology.<\/p>\n

The background influence of climate change also played a role in June\u2019s abnormal warmth. Eastern Australia\u2019s mean temperature in June has increased by around 1.5\u00b0C since 1910<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where were the warmest and coldest places in Australia during June?<\/p>\n

The first month of winter 2026 featured a mix of temperature extremes across the country. The coldest place in Australia during June was -9.5\u00b0C at Liawenee in Tasmania on June 26. The warmest place was 34.9\u00b0C at Yampi Sound, WA on June 3.<\/p>\n

Here are the highest and lowest in each state and territory during June 2026:<\/p>\n

Hottest<\/p>\n


\nNSW\/ACT: 27\u00b0C at Mungindi
\nVIC: 23.4\u00b0C at Lakes Entrance
\nQLD: 34.5\u00b0C at Weipa
\nSA: 31.9\u00b0C at Oodnadatta
\nWA: 34.9\u00b0C at Yampi Sound
\nNT: 34.8\u00b0C at Bradshaw
\nTAS: 20.8\u00b0C at Campania <\/p>\n

Coldest<\/p>\n


\nNSW\/ACT: -8.3\u00b0C at Perisher Valley
\nVIC: -4.5\u00b0C at Mount Hotham Airport
\nQLD: -2.8\u00b0C at Injune
\nSA: -1.8\u00b0C at Yunta
\nWA: -2.0\u00b0C at Norseman
\nNT: -0.3\u00b0C at Alice Springs
\nTAS: -9.5\u00b0C at Liawenee <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The first month of winter 2026 was exceptionally warm for eastern Australia, with Sydney registering its warmest June…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":771896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-771895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=771895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/771895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/771896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=771895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=771895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=771895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}