Australia as a whole was 1.89°C above the long-term average in September, which made it the fourth-warmest September on record.

In a clear signal of the warming climate, it was also the 20th year in a row of above-average September temperatures nationwide.

The warm overall Setpember average may come as a surprise to some people, as several cold temperature records were set during September 2024. They included:

• Canberra dipped to –6.9°C on September 16, its lowest spring temperature in 101 years of records.
• Adelaide had its coldest spring morning in 137 years of records on September 17, with a low of 1.3°C.
• It's not often you see a cold record (for any month) outside of winter, but the Eyre Peninsula town of Cleve, SA, shivered through its coldest night on record when it reached –0.4°C on September 17. Indeed it was the first subzero night on record for the town of 1000 residents.

There were also snowfalls just west of Sydney on the Central Tablelands in a cold outbreak late in the month while Tasmania saw heavier and more frequent snowfalls during September than in any month of the 2024 winter.

So September was not without its chilly moments, but overall, maximum temps nationwide were 1.9°C above the long-term average, while minimum temps were 1.88°C above average.

Image: Temperature anomalies Australia-wide during September. Almost all areas were warmer than usual, except for some smallish areas of southern mainland Australia and Tasmania (indicated by light green). Source: BoM. 

Weatherzone's outlook for October 2024 is for the likelihood of above-average maximums and minimums for most of Australia, while in terms of rainfall, eastern Australia and parts of the NT could also see slightly above-average totals.

Image: September mean temperature anomaly Australia-wide (1910 to 2024). Source: BoM.