Australian Weather

02 Sep 2025, 6:07AM UTC

An exceptionally wet August caused Sydney to register its wettest winter in almost two decades, with the city nearly doubling its average rainfall for the season. While winter started out with a drier-than-average June, rain started picking up in July and became torrential in August. The city’s monthly rainfall totals for winter 2025 were: June: 18.6 mm (long-term average: 132.5 mm) July: 159.0 mm (long-term average: 97.7 mm) August: 389.6 mm (long-term average: 79.9 mm) Sydney’s seasonal total came in at 567.2 mm, which is well above the city’s long-term winter average of 310.1 mm. This made it Sydney’s wettest winter since 2007 and its 14th wettest winter in 167 years of records. Last month’s 389.6 mm was also Sydney’s 3rd wettest August on record, beaten only by 470.6 mm in 1986 and 482.6 mm in 1998. Image: Sydney’s monthly rainfall over the past 12 months, as of 9am AEST on September 2. It’s no surprise that Warragamba Dam had to spill water towards the end of winter to release some of the water that had built up in Lake Burragorang, Sydney’s main water supply reservoir. At the start of spring, Warragamba Dam was sitting at 99% capacity. Sydney also had a cool winter by modern standards. Despite a seasonal mean temperature that was close to 1°C above the long-term average, Sydney experienced its coolest winter in 10 years. Most other areas in eastern NSW also had a wetter-than-average winter, while rainfall west of the Great Dividing Range was more hit and miss throughout the season. Image: Observed rainfall deciles in NSW during winter 2025. Source: Bureau of Meteorology. Looking ahead, forecast models predict above average rainfall over most of NSW during spring, partially in response to a developing negative Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD). This increased rain and cloud cover may also suppress daytime temperatures over parts of the state, increasing the likelihood of near to below-average temperatures this spring.

01 Sep 2025, 1:07AM UTC

Heavy snowfalls in the last week of winter have led to a snow base exceeding two metres in the highest parts of the Australian alpine region for the first time since 2022. For the first time in three years, ski lifts will keep spinning well into September at the New South Wales and Victorian resorts, with the highest ski areas now very likely to make it through to the traditional closing on the first weekend in October (the long weekend in NSW). How much snow is there exactly? Image: The base station of Perisher’s Olympic T-bar had to be dug out before it could be reopened on Sunday after last week’s blizzard. Source: Steve Smith. Since 1954, Hydro-electric operator Snowy Hydro has manually measured the snow depth at three NSW locations, with regular updates every week or so. Image: Snow depth comparison of 2024 and 2025 (to date) at Spencers Creek, NSW. Source: Snowy Hydro. Snowy Hydro is currently reporting a depth of 220.4cm this Monday, September 1, at Spencers Creek – its highest snow measuring site at an elevation of 1830m, roughly halfway between the two major NSW ski resorts of Perisher and Thredbo. Image: A natural cornice (overhanging snow and ice) caused by strong westerly winds on August 31, 2025, in the NSW Snowy Mountains. Source: Steve Smith. While Victoria has no direct equivalent of Snowy Hydro's independent measurements, Mt Hotham is reporting a base of 159cm this Monday, while Falls Creek reports an average depth of 143cm. On both sides of the Murray River, the September snowpack in the Australian high country in 2025 makes a welcome contrast from the disappointing seasons of 2023 and 2024, when the peak snow depth occurred in July, the snowpack deteriorated in unseasonably warm conditions in August, and ski lift operations wound up in September. Be sure to keep checking the Weatherzone snow page for the latest forecasts, live cam images and much more until the end of the 2025 Australian snow season.