Average Sunshine a Year in Australia's Cities

The yearly averages for the number of sunny days and hours of sunshine at large cities in Australia are listed here.

All the data are long-term historical averages of weather data collected during 1991 to 2020.

Sunny and Cloudy Days

Sunny Days data here represent the average number of days in a year when the sky is mostly clear. This includes the days that cloud covers up to one-quarter of the sky when measured at 9 am and 3 pm local time. Cloudy Days are average annual totals of when cloud covers 75 percent or more of the sky at those two times.

Days of sun and cloud annually

City	Sunny	Cloudy
Adelaide, South Australia	91	136
Ballarat, Victoria	54	140
Bendigo, Victoria	110	106
Bundaberg, Queensland	121	86
Cairns, Queensland	97	132
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	111	114
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	131	111
Darwin, Northern Territory	119	119
Hobart, Tasmania	44	174
Launceston, Tasmania	53	161

Average number of days in a year with sun or cloud

City	Sunny	Cloudy
Mackay, Queensland	127	95
Maitland, New South Wales	90	125
Melbourne, Victoria	48	180
Newcastle, New South Wales	84	137
Perth, Western Australia	149	95
Rockhampton, Queensland	125	91
Sydney, New South Wales	110	127
Toowoomba, Queensland	107	110
Townsville, Queensland	112	105

Total Hours of Sun

Another way to look at how much sunshine a city gets is to measure the number of hours with bright sunshine. Only some of Australia's large cities have records for the total hours of sun.

Average hours of bright sunshine a year

City	Day	Annual
Adelaide, South Australia	8	2774
Cairns, Queensland	8	2774
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory	8	2847
Coffs Harbour, New South Wales	8	2774
Darwin, Northern Territory	9	3103
Mackay, Queensland	8	2993
Melbourne, Victoria	7	2373
Perth, Western Australia	9	3212
Sydney, New South Wales	7	2628
Townsville, Queensland	9	3139