Margaret River enjoys a Mediterranean-style
climate.
Summer falls from December-February, Autumn from March-May, Winter from June-August,
and Spring from September-November.
Summer can arrive slowly and in cool years it's not
really good beach and swimming weather until around Christmas. The average
December day hovers around a maximum 25C, but evenings can be chilly, down
around 12C. There is a rule among locals that it's best to have a jumper
in the car at all times. January and February are the hottest months with
the highest temperatures up toward the 40C mark, but seldom higher. You can
expect only five days in January and February to be over 35C, and about 16
when the maximum exceeds 30C.
The chart is in degrees celsius. The green columns are the
average maximum temperatures for each month. The red columns are the hottest
temperatures experienced in the month.
Autumn is a beautifully settled time. The strong winds
of summer abate and days and evenings can be quite balmy. Maximum temperatures
in March linger around 26C and by the end of Autumn are down around 20C.
May is the month when it all cracks up, the warm weather disappears and winter
comes a rushing. Around the last week of the month you can expect the first
of the squalls that have the farmers talking about the 'break in the season'.
The chart is in degrees celsius. The green columns
are the average minimum temperatures and the blue columns are the coldest
days in the months.
Winter means rain, lot of it. In the three months of
winter Margaret River records more than 600mm of rain, just over half the
year's total. It rains on at least 20 days of each of the winter months.
The other 30-odd days can be sunny and crisp, a real bonus for tolerating
all that rain. But winter is not necessarily a time to stay away. The average
temperature is around 16C with the average minimum down around 8C. On the
coldest days the temperature can get down around 1-2C. There are a lot of
comforts to be found for those who don't mind ducking the showers.
Rainfall measured in mm. The figures have been collated
over a 70 year period.
Spring can come quite quickly, but often there are
false starts, and just when you thought the winter rains had stopped, they
blast back and wash away those early sunny Spring days. Expect the maximum
temperatures to be around 20C and the minimum about 9C. Early spring days,
when there is no cloud cover, can be splittingly cold with temperatures plunging
down around 4C. But after the torrents of rain everything is ready for the
warmth and you can just about see the grass grow. And then there are the
wildflowers!