December is warm or hot almost everywhere in Australia in December. Tasmania experiences the coolest temperatures, with average December highs in Hobart of 68°F (20°C). Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, and Sydney can experience heat waves with temperatures over 105°F (40°C).
Australia is known for having a hot Christmas, with temperatures often exceeding 40ºC in parts of the country and beaches often busy throughout the holiday period.
The hottest months in Australia are therefore December, January and February. In these months, you might like to head south to escape the heat. The coldest months are June, July and August - a perfect time to explore up north.
In Australia, Christmas comes in the towards the beginning of the summer holidays! Children have their summer holidays from mid December to early February, so some people might even be camping at Christmas. Because it's so hot at Christmas time in Australia, there are quite often massive bush fires across the country.
In Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, hot and sunny conditions will prevail as the kids tear open Santa's packages, while Sydney, Canberra and Hobart can expect cloudy but clearing conditions. Those in Brisbane and Darwin can expect some showers with high humidity, as expected at this time of the year.
This is because of the tilt of the earth. Australia is situated in the southern hemisphere and during the month of December, there will be the summer season in the southern hemisphere and the winter season in the northern hemisphere.
In 2006, a snowstorm hit the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales and Victoria, arriving on Christmas morning and bringing nearly 12 in (30 cm) of snow in higher areas.
The most common verbal greeting is a simple “Hey”, “Hello”, or “Hi”. Some people may use Australian slang and say “G'day” or “G'day mate”. However, this is less common in cities. Many Australians greet by saying “Hey, how are you?”.
Santa Claus goes by lots of names, depending on where you are in the world. In Australia and other English-speaking countries, he's usually called Father Christmas, Santa Claus, or sometimes just “Santa” for short.
Liawenee is the coldest permanently-inhabited place in Australia.
Marble Bar, Western Australia
It holds the record for the highest average monthly maximum temperature, which is 41.5°C in December. Marble Bar also holds the record for the longest hot spell with 160 consecutive days (31st October 1923 to 7th April 1924) above 37.8°C or 100°F.
The highest temperature ever recorded in Australia is 50.7 °C (123.3 °F), which was recorded on 2 January 1960 at Oodnadatta, South Australia, and 13 January 2022 at Onslow, Western Australia. The lowest temperature ever recorded in Australia is −23.0 °C (−9.4 °F), at Charlotte Pass, New South Wales, on 29 June 1994.
Australia's capital cities are also prone to some serious holiday heat around Christmas. Perth currently holds the record for the highest Christmas Day temperature in an Australian capital city, after reaching a sweltering 42.8ºC on December 25 in 2021.
Christmas 2021 was the hottest Christmas on record in the United States, according to the National Weather Service. A weather service observation station in Rio Grande Village in Texas recorded a high temperature of 94 degrees on Saturday, Christmas Day.
Is December a good time to visit Australia? Yes. December is the start of the summer season in Australia and the weather remains to be clear for the most part of the country. You can explore the continent without too much hassles.
Flip-flops are also called thongs (sometimes pluggers) in Australia, jandals (originally a trademarked name derived from "Japanese sandals") in New Zealand, and slops or plakkies in South Africa and Zimbabwe. In the Philippines, they are called tsinelas.
Santa Claus is associated with Saint Nicholas, who is the patron saint of children. The Americanized name Santa Claus dates back to 1765—75, and it originally comes from the Dutch name Sinterklaas. The last bit of the Dutch name, Klaas, is short for Niklaas, or Nicholas.
roo – kangaroo
They had to have a dedicated slang term for kangaroos too, didn't they? After all, the kangaroos are Australia's most popular animals.
"Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi" is a cheer or chant often performed at Australian sport events. It is a variation of the Oggy Oggy Oggy chant used by both soccer and rugby union fans in Great Britain from the 1960s onwards. It is usually performed by a crowd uniting to support a sports team or athlete.
The wintertime holiday is associated with things like snow, cold, warm fires and anything else you associate with the winter season. But did you know that we Australians celebrate Christmas in July? It's pretty confusing if you really think about it, but Australians get to celebrate Christmas twice a year.
We can accurately forecast if snow is likely on any given Christmas Day up to five days beforehand. Since 1960, around half of the years have seen at least 5% of the network record snow falling on Christmas Day. This means we can probably expect more than half of all Christmas Days to be a 'white Christmas'.
Most: Fairbanks, Alaska
It also has a 100% chance of snow on Christmas Day.