Northern Territory Climate

Adelaide Floodplains, NT. Photo credit: Peter Eve/Tourism NT

Northern Territory Climate

Australia at its most majestic can also mean Australia at its most dangerous. Staying safe in the Northern Territory means understanding when to visit.

Top End

From Darwin down to around Katherine the climate is tropical. You won’t find any of the regular seasons; just wet and dry.

The wet season is November – April. Dry is May – October
We’d recommend visiting the Northern Territory’s Top End in the dry season. It’s cooler and less humid, although even June and July (the coolest months) still average around 30°C
The dry season heralds bushfires. Some ‘cool burns’ are started deliberately to help the land regenerate
During the wet season the landscape changes to lush greens, and long-dried riverbeds spring back to life BUT humidity is as high as 80% and storms can make travelling much trickier
Many roads become flooded. Sites are often unreachable without a helicopter. Unless you have a tinnie (small boat) on the back of your vehicle – which many Territorians do – you’ll find you often have to double back

Red Centre

In the Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, and Uluru/Kata Tjuta regions there’s little rain at any time of year. If you’re visiting these parts of the Northern Territory you’ll find the regular seasons exist, but not quite as you know them.

In winter, overnight temperatures can drop below freezing. In summer, daytime temperatures soar above 40°C
Make sure you check conditions before going out into the bush or camping

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Northern Territory

Phew, What Scorcher!

Measuring temperature in Australia is a bit tricky. Experts suspect the country’s highest temperatures are never actually recorded because they’re in such remote, inhospitable areas.

The highest verified temperature was a whopping 50.7°C, recorded in Oodnadatta in South Australia in 1960. That’s 123° Fahrenheit. Ouch.