Wettest Cities in Australia
Australia is famous as the driest continent, but some of its cities defy that reputation entirely. These tropical and subtropical hotspots sit in the path of monsoon systems, cyclones, and easterly trade winds that dump thousands of millimetres of water annually. For these places, water management isn't about rationing. It's about coping with abundance.
This ranking uses annual total rainfall recorded across each location. We also break down rain days (how often it rains, rather than how much) and patterns, so you can see which places have relentless wet seasons versus those with concentrated downpours.
Cairns, Australia's wettest major city, receives more rainfall in a single month than Alice Springs gets in a year. This monsoon-driven wet season brings not just volume but relentless daily rains, with Cairns experiencing over 150 rain days annually. The combination makes it one of the most water-rich places in the Southern Hemisphere, creating lush rainforests and supporting aquaculture industries.
Full Rankings
Click any column header to re-sort. Data from Open-Meteo Historical Weather API (2024).
| Rank | City | State | Annual Rain | Rain Days | Wettest Month | Avg/Day |
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Understanding the Rankings
Total annual rainfall is the primary metric here: it shows how much water actually falls throughout the year. Cairns averages 2,849mm, nearly three times the Australian average and more than most temperate-zone cities. But quantity alone tells only half the story. Cairns also experiences 160+ rain days, meaning wet weather is frequent, not sporadic.
This is in stark contrast to places like Alice Springs, which might occasionally see intense rain but experiences rain on fewer than 40 days annually. Cairns' rains are relentless and consistent, driven by tropical moisture and the summer monsoon.
The wettest cities cluster along the northeast coast (tropical Queensland), parts of the southeast (Tasmania), and southwestern regions affected by southern ocean systems. These water-rich zones support rainforests, hydroelectric power, and agricultural productivity that drier regions simply cannot match.
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About This Data
All weather data comes from the Open-Meteo Historical Weather API, which combines official weather station observations with reanalysis models to provide accurate data for any location in Australia. Data shown here is from the 2024 calendar year. Production rankings will use 10 to 30-year normals to smooth out year-to-year variation.
This page ranks cities by annual total rainfall in millimetres. 'Rain days' counts calendar days with at least 0.1mm of measurable precipitation. 'Wettest month' is the calendar month with the highest average rainfall.