page_title: Climate of Sydney
section_title: Drought
hierarchical_section_title: Climate of Sydney / Drought
caption_attribution_description: English: Smoke from bushfires around Sydney, January 1994
context_page_description: The climate of Sydney is humid subtropical, shifting from mild and cool in winter to warm and hot in the summer, with no extreme seasonal differences as the weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, although more contrasting temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. Despite the fact that there is no distinct dry or wet season, rainfall peaks in the first half of the year and is at its lowest in the second half. Precipitation varies across the region, with areas adjacent to the coast being the wettest. The city receives around 20 thunderstorms per year.
  Sydney has 109.5 clear days and 127.2 cloudy days annually, with the monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 53% in January to 72% in August. Sydney's heat is predominantly dry in spring, but usually humid in the summertime, especially late summer – However, when temperatures soar over 35 °C, the humidity is generally low as such high temperatures are brought by searing winds from the Australian desert. On some hot summer days, low pressure troughs increase humidity and southerly busters decrease temperatures by late afternoon or early evening.
context_section_description: Sydney's climate appears to be becoming drier; The city has had fewer rain days in recent years than shown in the long-term climate table above. In summer, Sydney can go for long periods without rainfall. The other phenomenon that arises from these long, dry and hot periods is bushfires, which occur frequently in the areas surrounding the city. Water supply is a recurring concern for the city during drought periods. In 2005 the reservoirs reached an all-time low. However, water levels since then have recovered in 2013.
  Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, notably in 1994 and 2001–02 — these tend to occur during the spring and summer. Heatwaves, which are regularly occurring in recent years, would usually lead to water restrictions and a high risk of bushfires, which sometimes bring a smoky haze to the city. Smog is noticeable on hot days, even without bushfires.
  The years 2009 and 2010 had dry conditions, according to Bureau of Meteorology. On 23 September 2009, a dust storm that started in South Australia and inland New South Wales blanketed the city with reddish orange skies early in the morning. Originating from the north-eastern region of South Australia, the dust storm lifted thousands of tons of dirt and soil which were then dumped in Sydney Harbour and the Tasman Sea. It stretched as far north as southern Queensland and it was the worst dust storm in 70 years. During that year, Sydney experienced a number of warm winter days, dry gusty winds and another milder dust storm.
  In 2011, Sydney had the driest February in 30 years with only 18 mm (0.71 in) of rain falling, which is well below the average of 118 mm (4.6 in). Some of the western suburbs recorded the lowest total February rainfall on record. In September 2013, the combination of dry weather, warm temperatures and strong winds brought early-season bushfires. Major bushfires impacted western Sydney and the Blue Mountains, resulting in some evacuations, closed roads, and destroyed homes. The summer of 2013-14 was the driest in 72 years. The precipitation of December 2013 and January 2014, inclusively, only added up to 48.4 mm (1.91 in), which is only a quarter of a typical amount for December and January. Observatory Hill only received 17 mm (0.67 in) of rain in January.
  September 2017 was the driest on record, with the gauge receiving only 0.2 mm (0.0079 in) of rain. Furthermore, in that year, the city received less than half of its long-term average rainfall between July and December. In the late morning and early lunchtime of 22 November 2018, a dust storm, stretching about 500 kilometres, swept through Sydney due to a low pressure trough and cold front that picked up dry soil in drought-ridden areas of far western NSW that week. Milder compared to the 2009 storm, the effect of the dust was still apparent across iconic locations such as the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge.
  Furthermore, 2018 in Sydney has been one of the driest in a century, with the Greater Western Sydney farming region being the worst affected. Due to the widespread bushfires in December 2019, which even affected the western periphery of the city, the Sydney metropolitan area suffered from dangerous smoky haze for several days throughout the month, with the air quality being 11 times the hazardous level in some days, even making it worse than New Delhi's, where it was also equalled to "smoking 32 cigarettes." 2019 was one of Sydney's warmest in 161 years and the driest since 2005, which had a few days of raised dust and as well as declining dam levels. Rainfall in December was just 1.6 millimetres at Observatory Hill, overthrowing the record low of 2.8 millimetres recorded for the month in 1979.
caption: Smoke from bushfires around Sydney, January 1994.
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