When is autumn in Australia?

Autumn in Australia doesn’t feel like autumn (or fall) in the northern hemisphere. The season is warmer, and the leaves don’t fall. But the Australian autumn runs from March to May.

Trying to apply the traditional northern hemisphere seasons to Australia is largely an exercise in futility. A winter’s day in Sydney or Perth can be warmer than a summer’s day in London.

Autumn in Australia, therefore, is not a straight transposition of autumn in the UK or US. This is particularly the case in northern Australia. Above the Tropic of Capricorn, which passes near Alice Springs and Rockhampton, Australia really doesn’t have four seasons.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Find something AMAZING to do tomorrow

Get queue-skipping, mobile-friendly tickets for the top experiences in Australia (and the rest of the world).

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wet and dry seasons in Australia

The simplistic way to look at the weather in tropical Australia is to divide it into two seasons – the wet and the dry. In tourist hotspots such as Cairns, Airlie Beach, Broome and Darwin, the wet season lasts from around November to around April. In this period, it is hot, humid and rainy.

Tick off 9 Australian bucket list experiences

Take Blue Mountains day tour from Sydney – with kangaroo-feeding at a wildlife park, Scenic World tickets and a Parramatta River cruise.
Snorkel or dive on the Great Barrier Reef from Cairns.
Do Australia’s most spectacular drive on a Great Ocean Road day tour from Melbourne.
Drive along the beach on a 4WD day tour of Fraser Island, the world’s biggest sand island.
Have a dune-top barbecue dinner and stargazing session in the shadow of Uluru.
See penguins on Phillip Island – and more native wildlife at the Moonlit Sanctuary – on a day trip from Melbourne.
Go snorkelling, sandboarding and kayaking on Moreton Island from Brisbane.
Meet gloriously cute quokkas on Rottnest Island near Perth with a ferry and bike hire package.
Kayak with dolphins in Byron Bay.

In the dry season – roughly May to October, but with variance every year – the weather is still warm, but there’s much less rain and humidity about.

But dividing into wet and dry is simplistic. The Aboriginal people who traditionally inhabit the Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territory divide the year up into six seasons, for example.

In the southern half of Australia, there are distinct seasons. This is especially the case in Tasmania, but winters can also get chilly in the mountain regions of Victoria and New South Wales. And, yes, it does snow in Australia.

When is autumn in Australia?

But because the country is in the southern hemisphere, the seasons are flipped. Autumn in Australia is not September to November (or September 21 to December 21 if you’re that way inclined). It’s March to May, which are the spring months in the northern hemisphere. Most Australians stick to this definition, rather than faffing with equinoxes. If being technical about it, the first day of autumn in Australia is March 21.

But autumn in Australia can still be really, really hot. You are rarely going to need more than shorts and a T-shirt in March anywhere in Australia.

Also, Australia never really feels properly autumnal. This is largely because there are very few deciduous trees in Australia. Most, including the ubiquitous eucalypts are evergreen. Leaves don’t turn orange and red. They don’t shed, leaving a carpet on the ground. And the only time you’ll see the whole falling autumn leaves thing is when non-native trees have been planted by settlers. Breenhold Gardens in the Blue Mountains is a good spot for this, as is by the Hawkesbury River in Wisemans Ferry.