The Climate In Alice Springs, Australia
Weather, Annual Temperatures, Monthly Averages, Rainfall... The Best Time To Visit Alice Springs

The climate in Alice Springs, Australia, is supposed to be hot, hot, hot.

Most people find that day temperatures in the high thirties exceed their comfort level by a good measure.

So I guess, yes, for most of the year the Alice Springs climate is a bit hot indeed...

I still wouldn't advise that anyone schedule their visit to Alice Springs around the coolest months of the year. Why? Because Alice Springs will be packed!

The tourist season officially starts in April, and April is bearable. May it gets busy, and from June to August I'd avoid the place. September the town starts to empty and by October the masses have vanished. But it's hot...

Alice Springs Climate - The Best Time To Visit

In my opinion April is an ideal time. Most of the (unpredictable) Alice Springs rainfall happens between December and February. November and March often see rain, too. (Though lets face it, rain in general is a rare occurrence in Alice Springs.)

So, April is a good time because

Alice Springs may be a little bit green (it'll turn into a dust bowl soon enough),
the gorges have enough water to swim in,
and you don't have to share them with too many busloads of other tourists.
The days aren't all that hot any more,
and the nights aren't freezing yet.

May is possibly still okay. You have to ask yourself what will bother you more: the heat or the masses?

If good sunset photos of Ayers Rock are your main goal I suggest September (few clouds in the sky, August is too busy).

September is generally not a bad time. One thing it has over April is that the cold weather of the previous months got rid of the pesky flies...

There is one more thing to keep in mind when planning a visit to Alice Springs: the climate in the part of Australia that you are visiting next.

May is by far the best time to see the tropical north. (Darwin, Kakadu, the Kimberley...)

Travelling the Alice Springs area in April and then heading north works out perfectly. If you do it the other way round, well, then you'll have to compromise somewhere.

Anyway, below I have Alice Springs climate tables that give you some of the monthly climate averages: typical highest and lowest temperatures in Alice Springs, rainfall, number of rainy days and number of cloudy days.

And here is a quick overview: a simple Alice Springs Climate summary of the things that matter.

The Climate In Alice Springs - Summary

June and July have on average the lowest temperatures.
October to March the average daily maximum temperature in Alice Springs is over 30°C.
Campers beware, night frosts are common in June and July, and possible from May to September. Brrr.
August and September have the lowest number of cloudy days. (Let's face it, most people come to Alice Springs for one reason only: to take a sunset picture of Ayers Rock, so they can say they've been there...)
Rain is totally unpredictable.
On average the most rain falls between December and February.
November and March are not far behind.
August and September have the lowest risk of rainfall.
The average number of rainy days per month is 2 - 3 between April and September, and 4 - 6 between October and March.
The average number of tourists in Alice Springs is too high.

Those statements (except for the last one) are 66 year averages of the climate in Alice Springs climate. They mean nothing in any given year!

I repeat, rain is totally unpredictable, and when it rains it pours.

Daily temperature maximums and nightly temperature minimums in Alice Springs can be 12 - 15 degrees above or below the average!

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Alice Springs Climate Averages

The Alice Springs monthly climate averages shown in the tables below have been collected over a period of 66 years (1941 - 2007) at Alice Springs Airport.

All temperatures are in degrees Celcius.

Alice Springs, Australia - Monthly Temperatures

Note the huge difference between the average maximum and minimum temperature and the possible highest or lowest temperature!

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
average daily max	36.3	35.1	32.6	28.2	23.0	19.9	19.6	22.6	27.1	30.9	33.7	35.4
highest daily max	45.2	44.7	42.2	39.9	35.0	31.6	31.6	34.0	38.8	41.7	42.9	44.2
average night min	21.4	20.8	17.4	12.6	8.3	5.1	4.0	6.0	10.2	14.8	17.9	20.2
lowest night min	10.0	8.5	6.1	1.4	-2.7	-6.0	-7.5	-4.1	-1.0	1.3	3.5	9.3

Alice Springs, Australia: Monthly Rainfall And Cloudy Days

This table shows rainfall amounts in mm: the average per month and the highest ever monthly rainfall that has been recorded.

The lowest monthly rainfall ever recorded for any month is zero, so I didn't bother putting that in.

Instead I show the average number of rainy and cloudy days per month.

I think the table shows very well the extreme variations and the unpredictability of rain.

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
average monthly	38.1	42.3	31.9	16.8	19.4	14.5	14.7	9.5	8.3	21.9	26.7	37.5
highest monthly	251	242	357	269	104	101	144	114	60.8	73.4	133	229
rainy days	4.6	4.7	3.2	2.1	3.1	2.7	2.6	2.0	2.2	4.7	5.5	5.8
cloudy days	6.5	6.7	5.1	5.1	7.6	5.5	4.3	3.0	2.9	4.4	5.5	6.9