page_title: Northern Territory
section_title: Climate
hierarchical_section_title: Northern Territory / Geography / Climate
caption_attribution_description: English: Satellite image of fire activity in central Australia.
context_page_description: The Northern Territory is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. It shares borders with Western Australia to the west, South Australia to the south, and Queensland to the east. To the north, the territory looks out to the Timor Sea, the Arafura Sea and the Gulf of Carpentaria, including Western New Guinea and other islands of the Indonesian archipelago.
  The NT covers 1,349,129 square kilometres, making it the third-largest Australian federal division, and the 11th-largest country subdivision in the world. It is sparsely populated, with a population of only 244,761, fewer than half as many people as Tasmania.
  The archaeological history of the Northern Territory may have begun over 60,000 years ago when humans first settled this region of the Sahul Continent. Reportedly the Makassan traders began a relationship with the indigenous people of the Northern Territory around the trading of trepang from at least the 18th century. The coast of the territory was first seen by Europeans in the 17th century. The British were the first Europeans to attempt to settle the coastal regions.
context_section_description: The Northern Territory has two distinctive climate zones.
  The northern end, including Darwin, has a tropical climate with high humidity and two seasons, the wet (October to April) and dry season (May to September). During the dry season nearly every day is warm and sunny, and afternoon humidity averages around 30%. There is very little rainfall between May and September. In the coolest months of June and July, the daily minimum temperature may dip as low as 14 °C (57 °F), but very rarely lower, and frost has never been recorded.
  The wet season is associated with tropical cyclones and monsoon rains. The majority of rainfall occurs between December and March (the southern hemisphere summer), when thunderstorms are common and afternoon relative humidity averages over 70% during the wettest months. On average more than 1,570 mm (62 in) of rain falls in the north. Rainfall is highest in north-west coastal areas, where rainfall averages from 1,800 to 2,100 mm (71 to 83 in).
  The central region is the desert centre of the country, which includes Alice Springs and Uluru (Ayers Rock), and is semi-arid with little rain usually falling during the hottest months from October to March. Seasons are more distinct in central Australia, with very hot summers and cool winters. Frost is recorded a few times a year. The region receives less than 250 mm (9.8 in) of rain per year.
  The highest temperature recorded in the territory was 48.3 °C (118.9 °F) at Finke on 1 and 2 January 1960. The lowest temperature was −7.5 °C (18.5 °F) at Alice Springs on 17 July 1976.
caption: Satellite image of fire activity in central Australia
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