The Sydney city (New South Wales) Australia has a temperate climate with warm summers and cool winters, and rainfall spread throughout the year. The weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, and more extreme temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. The warmest month is January, with an average air temperature range at Observatory Hill of 18.6–25.8 °C (65–78 °F). An average of 14.6 days a year have temperatures of more than 30 °C (86.0 °F). The maximum recorded temperature was 45.3 °C (113.5 °F) on 14 January 1939 at the end of a four-day heatwave across Australia.Sydney in winter, temperatures rarely drop below 5 °C (41 °F) in coastal areas. The coldest month is July, with an average range of 8.0–16.2 °C (46–61 °F). The lowest recorded minimum at Observatory Hill was 2.1 °C (35.8 °F).
The average annual rainfall, with moderate to low variability, is 1,217 mm (48 in), falling on an average 138 days a year. Snowfall was last reported in the Sydney City area in 1836. However, a July 2008 fall of graupel, or soft hail, mistaken by many for snow, has raised the possibility that the 1836 event was not snow, either.
The city is not affected by cyclones. The El Nino Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the oscillation.
The city is prone to flash flooding from rain caused by East Coast Lows (a low pressure depression which deepens off the state usually in winter and early spring which can bring significant damage by heavy rain, cyclonic winds and huge swells).