…from somebody who moved to Brisbane eight years ago from a little country called England.
Time for another reprint of one of my Australia and New Zealand magazine articles, this one appeared in their September edition. As we are now seeing temperatures steadily rising here in Brisbane, we’ve already had a few 30°C plus days, the timing of this article here is perfect. Just to remind you though, we are only halfway through spring right now.
So what happens in summer? Will it really get too hot? Here’s the article.
Bad weather?
When my wife and I first talked about moving to Australia my first thought was “Ooh, that’s a hot country, isn’t it? That would be nice.” And let’s face it, when you’ve lived in the UK and put up with the cold, dark, damp, grey, drizzly and did I mention cold winters for almost half a century as I had, ‘hot’ becomes a quite attractive option.
Fast forward to now and I have escaped the cold, dark, damp, grey misery known as UK winters and I’m happily enjoying the subtropical delights of Brisbane.
But now that I am here, and I’ve been here a while, people who don’t live in Brisbane say to me “I couldn’t live in Brisbane, it’s too humid.” This is a viewpoint that makes me laugh like a drain inside my head, because laughing like a drain out loud is way too embarrassing. That’s a different matter though, what’s important here is why this statement gives me so much amusement.
As someone who spent many years in the UK, I think I know what bad weather is and humidity doesn’t come on top of my list.
For me, suffering five or six weeks of a year when the weather is ‘humid’ simply doesn’t compare to my previous experiences of ‘bad weather’. From where I’m standing, or sitting, this is what I experience during those apparently intolerable five or six weeks.
The weather is hot, sometimes very hot. The sky is often the most beautiful blue you’ve ever seen and there isn’t a cloud to be found. The only downside is that, well, you get a little sweaty when you do anything energetic, like reading a book.
Things can get incredibly sweaty if you do something even more strenuous, like perhaps digging a hole with a shovel. But then that’s something I always try and avoid in my life and anyway, doing the same thing in the cold, dark, damp, grey, drizzle of the UK isn’t much fun either.
So for me, if ‘humid’ is Brisbane’s bad weather, I’ll take it. I remember all too well what the alternative is.
My five or six weeks may be different to other people’s idea of humid though. In particular my wife; she tells me her hair is frizzy for around 12 weeks of the year during the humid period and she doesn’t like it. I tell her that her hair looks wonderful, frizzy or not, but it makes no difference, she still doesn’t like it. What we do like though, that’s both of us, are the benefits of living in Brisbane.
I’ve not worn a coat in this city ever. On the final day of autumn this year, in other words the day before winter began, my wife took part in a charity 35 kilometre beach walk not far south from here. People were swimming in the sea.
Back at the accommodation, I was keeping an eye on my daughter who was in the swimming pool with eight other kids.
Meanwhile, the next day, many other parts of Australia had snow.
So not all of Australia is hot all the time, but I love the climate we have here in Brisbane. It’s not for everyone though, which is why we have Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart.
How’s the serenity… I mean humidity today? Have you got the aircon on yet?
Ha ha, I have the feeling you have been biding your time David, waiting for this moment? Yes, it’s fair to say the humidity around South East Queensland around now has gone slightly beyond the bounds of what I feel is comfortable by some small distance.
It may surprise you to know though that so far during this hot spell I have only put my air-conditioning on twice, once in my office one afternoon when, I’m told, it was so stinking hot that Energex had to limit electricity on the AC circuit to 50% to prevent the grid from overloading. The second time for my bedroom on an evening a few nights ago when it was still a stinking hot and humid 28°C outside at gone midnight.
Other than those two occasions, its windows and doors open {with Crimsafe) and the fans on full pelt all the time for me. Clearly we are in the middle of those five or six weeks I spoke about where it gets uncomfortably humid, except that this year that period of time may stretch to 8, 10 or even 12 weeks the way things are going.
My daughter though, she’s had the air-conditioning on almost 24/7 in her bedroom and spare room and it’s like a fridge in there, but it is how she likes it. Each to their own.
Yes, it’s hot and humid in Brisbane. You won’t catch me moving to Melbourne anytime soon though.
This is truly a matter of taste and the way your particular body deals with the changing weather.
Some people have bodies that deal with humidity very well, and the Brisbane conditions cause them hardly any discomfort at all.
And there re very many such people.
That is so true Warwick, and it does appear that my tolerance for humidity is higher than average, which is very apparent from some of the comments here.
Okay, now try living in Brisbane without AC, then come talk about how the heat doesn’t bother you…lol
Spacegod, it might surprise you to learn that in the five years or so I’ve lived in my current house, I have only put the air-conditioning on, maybe, 12 times or less. Probably closer to 7 or 8 times. I have Crimsafe on all the windows, so I am a windows open type of person along with ceiling fans on in every room when it gets hot. I much prefer it, never have liked the feel of air-conditioning. And when it has gone on, it hasn’t been for me, it’s usually my daughter asking for it to go on.
I use the ‘AC’ system far more in the winter as a heater for when it gets cold.
I went through this site end to end some time ago, but never spent that much time in the comments. Looks like I missed some comedy gold further down the thread. Must have been a taxing day for our man Bob although it sounds like you just started laughing and probably continued long into the night with how frequent Mr Beck was on.
Being a bit of a weather boffin I remember the first time my Mum and Dad took us to Florida. After a few trips to Spain I thought I knew what hot was, but the humidity felt totally different. If anyone’s bothered, the only useful way to measure it is using the “dew point”. The dew point is the temperature at which the air would be 100% saturated (fog would develop essentially) and the higher that value is, the more oppressive it will feel. The percent humidity is a lot less reliable and often exaggerated. You could learn that it’s 100% humidity in Manchester but if it’s only 10 degrees, then the dew point is also 10 and the airport might be closed but no-one will be out on the patio cracking the margaritas open!
So what is the average dew point in Brisbane during the summer months? For Jan and Feb it’s 19 degrees. For London, 12. So London cannot claim any points for trading its temperatures for any sense of higher humidity
By way of comparison, Tampa Florida in August has a dew point averaging 24, quite a bit more uncomfortable (for me anyway). Of course certain days can reach extremes now and then but if you live somewhere long term then the averages are what count. I’m pretty happy with what we have here in Brisbane. Your mileage may vary.
Ah, I’d forgotten about S Beck, so I’ve just had a reread to remind myself, and it’s still funny the second time around. The comments, over the years, have been what I’ve loved most about this website. They’ve been hugely entertaining, often very funny, whether they intend it to be or not and on occasions, vicious or nasty. Great fun though, all the same.
Yes, dew point, that’s the all-important number to help measure how humidity place is going to be, and I had a go at trying to explain it in an article called The Australian Climate: Humidity Explained.
Thing is, even though I wrote that after doing some research, I still don’t fully understand it. All I do know is that the higher the dew point number, the more uncomfortable and stifling the heat. But like yourself, I am mostly very comfortable here in Brisbane and humidity doesn’t really bother me for the most part of the year. I’ve been to Florida as well, definitely more humid than it is here in Brisbane. I’ve never been to Cairns or Darwin in the summer, but I get the feeling that that might be too humid for me as well.
Thanks for your comments, Bob
Hi Bob
Interesting discussion here on places to live in Australia and what influence the climate and weather has in people’s decision making criteria. From an Australian residents point of view many now consider Sydney and Melbourne too expensive, hence they are looking at other major capitals and secondary cities to buy into which are more affordable . I guess being able to get a job or starting a business along with affordable housing, lifestyle, connectivity to relatives and climate are all important factors. For that reason if one is looking at properties under 500k you have Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth and then you have the secondaries such as Central Coast and Lake Macquarie region, Ballarat, Geelong and Bendigo. In Brisbane for example you could buy into Petrie or in Adelaide you could buy at Hallet Cove near the beach. Where would you go?
Well this one is easy for me to answer, it would be Brisbane. I’m in Brisbane now, been living here for 11 years and I love it. But I prefer my weather on the warm side, so the climate here in Brisbane suits me down to the ground.
If I wanted four seasons though, with a hot summer and a cold winter, I’d probably choose Hobart. It’s a small but quite trendy little city, and Tasmania itself is just beautiful; hilly, lots of gorgeous countryside and lakes, rivers and ocean everywhere.
The winters would be too cold for me though, I’ve been spoilt by Brisbane. You are right about Sydney and Melbourne, not only are they both expensive, but for me, a little too overcrowded these days too.
For 4 seasons I’d choose Adelaide, affordable and easy to get around and the summer is dry and winter is cold. Bias opinion, I grew up there and lived there until 33yo. Honestly I’d skip the capital and go to the southern section of the Flinders Ranges or Barossa Valley absolutely beautiful.
We moved to Brisbane and I am loving the weather.
Yes, I love the weather in Brisbane here too. I’ve only been to Adelaide once for one week, and we did drive up into the Adelaide Hills, but didn’t actually keep driving until we got to the Barossa Valley and that was a mistake for sure.
Next time I get down that way I will definitely check out the places you mention and I also quite fancy a road trip around the Yorke Peninsula up to Port Augusta. Given that we can’t travel abroad for the foreseeable future, maybe that’s something I’ll be doing sooner rather than later.
Sorry mate it’s more 4 – 5 months year in Brisbane that s why people finally waking up and leaving. Esp with little or no rain. It’s Western qld I feel sorry for.. god bless
Humidity is hugely subjective, and from my point of view, I would strongly disagree with Brisbane being too humid for 4 to 5 months a year. I’m not saying it doesn’t feel too humid for you for that period of time, but it certainly doesn’t for me.
Take this January for example, mostly it’s been hot and sunny, there’s been very little rain, and temperatures have been as high as 32° to 34° on some days. For me, it’s not been humid though, just hot. I can still sleep through the night without the AC on, just the ceiling fan on high and one very thin cotton sheet.
I’m not waking up in a puddle of sweat either.
So far this summer I reckon we’ve had about a week or so when it has been a bit humid, more humid than I would like it to be, without it feeling uncomfortable, but that is all.
Everyone is different though and we are all entitled to our opinions.
I know I couldn’t live in Singapore, or Hong Kong, and I probably couldn’t live in Darwin or Cairns because of the humidity, but Brisbane is just fine for me.
Here in Southern Ontario,Canada, we have been getting hotter summers than before.Usually about 30 but with what we laughingly call the Humidex it goes up to 40 a lot of the time. Now, you wouldn’t think that Canada could be hot but, believe me, it can be oppressive. Of course we have no Spring or Autumn so, we can go from +30 to minus 10 in a weekend and that’s the season changed. My Brother in Law and his wife travelled thru Canada when on a round the world trip and apart from trying to drink Canada dry of beer, the pair of them would put in a jacket and a cardigan if the temperature dropped below 30.
Both countries have their good and bad points, weather wise but I would rather have 30 and 40 degrees of heat than 3 feet of snow and the wind driving that same snow at 50 MPH straight in my face.
30° down to -10 in a day? Crikey, that is a turnaround in the weather. I thought Melbourne was changeable when I was there one day when it was 36°C, then when I got up the next day I looked outside my hotel window, it was brilliant sunshine again. Lovely, I thought.
So I went out for the day in T-shirt and shorts, the highest it got was 16°C. I thought that was bad enough, but it’s nothing though compared with 30° down to absolutely freezing.
Not sure where your brother-in-law and his wife normally live, but it must be somewhere very hot to put jacket and jumpers on at that temperature. Yes, both countries have their good and bad points, but I will take the hot one over the cold one all day long.
PS. Loved your subliminal advert for Canada Dry 🙂
In my opinion, Brisbane has a horrible, oppressive climate, and it doesn’t even have a decent winter. Although places like North Queensland and Darwin are worse in terms of heat and humidity, Brisbane is only marginally better. Personally, I prefer a cool to cold climate, such as is found in many parts of New Zealand. It’s nice to have a decent winter because the summers in Brisbane are far too protracted.
Some people like hot weather, and some people don’t. You clearly don’t, I obviously do. Everybody is different, which is great, because otherwise the world would be a boring place.
When you say Brisbane doesn’t have a decent winter, I assume you’re saying it doesn’t get cold enough for you, because for me, I absolutely love Brisbane’s winters, I think they’re great. I don’t like cold.
As I say though, we all like different things and there’s nothing wrong with that.
It’s like a religious kind of mentality.
It gives a feeling of comfort. You want to justify that life decision by needing to over exaggerate the negatives and ignore the positives on one side and ignore the negatives and only convince yourself of the positives on the other to give yourself comfort that the decision you made feels justified.
You idiot article writer.
Unfortunately, this is another sad example of a typical moaner British person. Exaggerate all the bad things to make it seem much worse than it is and IGNORE EVERY GOOD THING AND ALL THE GOOD THINGS, while the rest of the world makes themselves seem better than what they are so it creates an unfair widened gap between the truth from both ends. Brits moan and put everything down unfairly, while everybody else bigs themselves up and makes themselves sound much better than what they are to create that unfair widened gap. OHH dear, this preson is obviously a highly uneducated religious person that has to justify making something in life sound better than it is and something else that they are comparing it to sound much worse than it is just so they can justify their decision based on a highly distorted and exaggerated feeling that seems comforting to them to justify their decision.
Unfortunately, this is another sad example of a typical moaner British person. Exaggerate all the bad things to make it seem much worse than it is and the rest of the world makes themselves seem better than what they are so it creates an unfair widened gap between the truth from both ends. Brits moan and put everything down unfairly, while evrybody else bigs themselves up and makes themselves sound much better than what they are to create that unfair widened gap. OHH dear, this preson is obviously a highly uneducated religious person that has to justify making something in life sound better than it is and something else that they are comparing it to sound much worse than it is just so they can justify their decision based on a highly distorted and exaggerated feeling that seems comforting to them to justify their decision.
My my, S Beck, golly gosh, where to begin?
In the space of less than one hour, you have posted eight comments on this page (all nicely spaced out), pretty much each of them is the same kind of rant as them all, and you have also sent me four additional direct emails with exactly the same rants you have put here online.
Have you any idea how much you have moaned in amongst all this? Yet you think it is me who is the moaner? That’s funny!
But of course, I’m not just a moaner am I, I’m also ‘a highly uneducated religious person’ and an ‘idiot article writer’. Fortunately for me, you know why I am doing this. It is ‘to justify making something in life sound better than it is and something else that they are comparing it to sound much worse than it is just so they can justify their decision based on a highly distorted and exaggerated feeling that seems comforting to them to justify their decision’.
You use the word ‘justify’ three times, along with ‘something’ and ‘decision’ twice in the same sentence, but in your opinion I am the idiot writer?
Talking of idiots, let’s look at your claim about when it’s 37°C in the UK. In particular, when exactly is it 37°C in the UK? You sound as though you have experienced these kinds of high temperatures there, so I have to ask, were you in Faversham in Kent on 10 August 2003?
Because that is the place and the date of the UK’s highest ever recorded temperature of 38.5°C.
I was in the UK that day, south-east England, and yes, it was hot. I remember it well because for the one and only time ever in all the 49 years I lived in that country, it did just managed to get to 100°F, which is 37.7°C.
So I assume you are talking about THAT day? Because it’s the only day on record that I can find where some places in the UK reached 37°C.
I was also in southern England for the hottest summer on record in 1976. Here’s what that looked like; ‘For 15 days, temperatures exceeded 32C every day in parts of the country. The mercury maxed out at a sweltering 35.9C, recorded in Cheltenham.’ Source…
http://www.theweek.co.uk/93046/what-is-the-highest-uk-temperature-on-record
Sounds like every single summer I’ve lived through in the 10 years I’ve been here in Brisbane, except that max temperature needs to be upped to 38 – 40°C +.
Thanks for the entertaining comments you’ve posted on this page today S Beck, you’ve certainly given me a good laugh. It’s the sort of laugh I would let out when seeing an angry, aggressive pedestrian, shouting and abusing somebody else while shaking their fist, and then walking into a lamppost because they are just not looking where they are going.
Melbourne’s climate for example is disgusting. This from people who actually live there. Cold and unpredictable most of the year. You have to wear winter clothing most of the year and get four sesons in one day.
Ok ok… time to chillax a bit. I’ll take it some things are often a bit overly contrasted, but that’s probably also part of the point if you’re running a website that talks about the differences that moving countries brings.
I’m replying in particular to your comment about Melbourne, because hey, I’m actually living there; so I don’t need to believe stuff from other “people who actually live there”, because I can check it myself. Regarding winter clothing, that depends on what you call winter clothing. We’re in the middle of the winter here now, and I often find myself going out still in just a sweater (not during the night though, but certainly often at noon). “Most of the year” I’m wearing “spring” type of clothing. Also, “four seasons in a day” only really happens on “some” days; it’s not an everyday thing for sure. Four seasons in a day is also a great thing on several of those days. I certainly love taking of my coat or sweater if there’s a warmer couple of hours in winter, you know. I also love an intense, *but short*, pour down in the middle of a hot day. I’ll happily shelter for 10 minutes, and nature is amazingly refreshed after those 10 minutes.
And comparing to West European areas, I can also do that safely, because I lived in Belgium up to 4 years ago. I’ll tell you the difference: sunshine. Autumn and winter in Belgium are long, consistently grey, dark, damp, wet times of the year. And winter means *actually freezing*. Winter here, on most days, is amazingly bright and sunny. Freezing happens just a few times, and only at night when it does. And yeah, “people living here” will then tell you stories about a “polar vortex” (actual headlines). …which goes to show that everything is very relative. So well… time to chill.
The person who wrote this article is obviously highly exaggerating and obviously is describing Scotland and Northern Ireland in the winter. Southern England is certainly not damp, drizzly, gloomy or cold. It is mild and dry in the winter in the Southern UK and sunny, very dry and very warm and hot in the summer.
Typical exaggerated worst example description of the worst parts of the UK in the winter, not an accurate description of the UK winter as a whole whotsoever.
Hi,
So I would just like to point out to some of the uneducated Australians out there that because of the high humidity of the UK, when it is like for example 37 Celcius in the UK it feels much more like 47 Celcius because of the very high humidity levels in the UK.
So just to give an example, 40 Celcius, low humidity won’t feel as hot as say 35 Celcius high humidity.
Regards.
The high humidity of the UK? Wow you write like only the UK gets humidity at all yet you can’t seem to grasp that Brisbane and the north of Australia is quite close to the equator and receives those levels of humidity and temperatures consistently for half the year. While in the UK 38°C is the highest ever recorded and temperatures at that level is so rare yet over here in Australia it isn’t even considered a hot day.
Someone from the UK will consider winter in Australia to be mild and find summer to be unbearable until they get used to it. A Australian would find winter in the UK unbearable and a UK summer to be very mild. The UK has warm days sure but it has a very mediterranean climate and warm days are normal. Because Australia is a very large place we have many climates and the north is considered has a monsoon climate, very tropical, very humid and hot.
In regards to the many other comments of you attacking Australians calling us ‘uneducated’ and to the writer of the article a ‘idiot’, if you don’t like what he and us wrote, go make your own website, he is entitled to write whatever he likes it is his website and you need to go learn some manners. Good Day.
After 3 years in Melbourne we couldn t stand that terrible cold anyway and we decided to move to Brisbane. Humidity????? Well if there is humidity in Brisbane in summer (which is pretty normal) you can t compare with humidity in Melbourne over the long endless winter (which lasts over 9 months). The other 3 months are terrible anyway with this endless wind 24 hours a day and raining all the time. My house was freezing mould everywhere and I have never experienced such a terrible feeling in my life, my house wasn t an exception. Thank God we moved to Queensland, Brisbane has the best weather ever. Don t be scared if you like summer just move to Brisbane you wont regret it.
10 years I’ve lived in Brisbane now, I’ve been to every other major city in Australia except Canberra so far, never been tempted to move away from here.
I absolutely love the Brisbane weather, it has spoilt me, I don’t think I could put up with anywhere cooler than this again. The humidity very rarely bothers me, but I’ll take it all day long over being cold.
Welcome to Brisbane Kelly, great to hear that you love it here, Melbourne is history as are your winter coats.
Hi Bob,
After reading all those comments, I have to reply with my short story. The UK weather is just depressing- full stop. Even when it is nice in the summer and you are outside on a village green pub drinking beer, you know that this is a brief reprieve from the dark dank gloom that usually greets you whilst the sun is up between 9 am and 3 pm. I moved to NZ in 2006, left on Valentines day, and I have the memory of not seeing the sun for 3 months before I left. It was a horrible wet dark long winter. Here in Nelson, it was almost too hot in the summers sometimes at first for my wife. I have no idea what the met service use for their reading but they seriously need calibrating. It could be 28-30 degrees but the official temp is 24. Anyhow, the winter here can be cold and cloudy, but at least still twice as good as the U.K. Is Brisbane too intolerable if inside with AC during the day and out for exercise in morning and evening? Seems like a simple adaptation to the weather. At least its not grey and dark for 3 months.
I think swapping the grey of the UK for the sunshine here in Australia, and by the sounds of it, New Zealand, is one of the biggest bonuses of moving down under. I swear the weather in the UK used to make me a little depressed.
Since living here the sunshine has put a smile on my face on a regular basis, not just for a few weeks year. As I’ve said above, some people hate the humidity of Brisbane, but I’ll take it all day long; better than grey and drizzle.
Thanks for letting us know what it’s like in New Zealand, I’ve still not visited yet, but I will soon. It’s on my list.
I’m American & utterly heat-intolerant. I’d love to have the weather UKers have they always complain about. I don’t like bright sunny days (eyes are photophobic causing me to have to wear sunglasses all the time outside) I LOVE overcast days. I love cold, I love rain. If I had a place to do it I’d love to walk around naked in the rain. I wear shorts & tees on sunny 6C & up days (converting for you here, we use F lol). I was in Arizona in January (a so-called “dry heat”) when it got to 26C. Still uncomfortable but humid climates are horrible. I would love to have your gray cold wet UK weather all the time. I’m sad when our rain periods end & it gets sunny and hot again.
Another thing that irritates me is my fellow Americans cheer like crazy for hot sunny forecasts, but these people dodge being outside in what they celebrate and park their lazy butts in air-conditioned environments. Idk why they’re happy about what they actively avoid.
Well, yes, everybody is different, which is great news, otherwise we’d all want to live in the same country and/or climate. If we all wanted to live in a hot country, Russia would be deserted.
The only time it gets to be 6°C here in Brisbane, which isn’t very often, I am tucked up in my nice warm bed. The last thing on my mind would be to put some shorts and a tee on to go for a stroll in the park 🙂
Horses for courses though, as they say.
Interesting, Uruguay is very humid too, I wanted to read about humidity in other countries and I found your blog. If you mentioned a word or if you didn’t mention something, people will just get you for that, geesh.
Yes, I see what you mean. Sometimes you can’t win either way 🙂
The Truth about Humidity and the Weather in Brisbane…interesting, so why don’t you tell us again about your 5-6 week theory on humidity Bob. I am currently at 10-11 weeks of living in Satan’s crotch and only about half way through the sticky season. Say hi to Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny for me you Idiot!
What an obnoxious comment, well done! By the way, the humidity in Brisbane on the very day you posted this comment was 57%, in Sydney it was 80%, Canberra 71% and Perth 62%.
Of course, up in Darwin it was even higher, 85%.
Sounds to me as though you need to man up Steve.
Bobinoz,
I suggest you learn what the dew point temperature is and how it’s relative to the percentage figures you’re quoting. I’ve read a few of your posts and you’re giving many people misleading information regarding humidity and how it effects some cities in Australia.
The article above simply explains that I prefer the humidity in Brisbane to the cold in the UK. I don’t claim to know anything about the technicalities of humidity. I know I’ve written other posts about humidity, and I know that in one of them (at least) I have mentioned that I do not understand it, it’s a complex subject. I have even admitted I don’t know what a dew point temperature is.
Then you come along and have a little dig at me.
Here’s a question for you; have you ever thought it might be better to share your knowledge and educate and help people rather than pick holes? You seem to be implying you know all about this stuff, but apparently you want to keep it to yourself.
Not very helpful, is it?
Of course, your comment is almost certainly in response to my answer to Steve, but he was impolite which was why I answered as I did. By and large people who comment on this website like to help people, you and Steve seem to have missed that point.
As soon as someone remotely opposes your views or opinions in your little ”safe haven” of a website you become unnecessarily defensive and need several paragraphs explaining yourself. Maybe we’ve all missed the bit where this website is a shrine dedicated to you.
I was planning to write a paragraph briefly explaining the subject at hand (humidity in Australia) but after reading your insecure response it really leaves people wondering how you’re going to respond to anything at all.
Good luck to you, mate.
I had been reading these comments on here and figured at the very least you could come back and explain the dew point temperature but instead you come back with another have a go at Bob post. What’s the point, Discussion is an exchange of knowledge; an argument an exchange of ignorance. I would have loved to have had your knowledge and understood the rationale behind humidity by you defending your have a go at Bob (and yes its his site. Clue is in the title) If you could have defended your arguments in a rational way. Otherwise, all you have is an opinion.
Mark, I’ve written so many articles and post on this website I can’t even remember the half of it. Turns out though, that in 2010 I did explain what the dew point temperature is, you can read about it in my post The Australian Climate: Humidity Explained.
It’s the same post I linked to earlier in this comment thread, I should have read it to the end because whilst the article starts with me saying humidity is complex and I don’t understand it, by the end of it I do explain dew point.
So we don’t need this guy’s help, he can go visit someone else’s website and have a dig there. I think it’s what makes him feel good about himself.
“I was planning to write a paragraph briefly explaining…”
If that was true you, that is how you would have replied.
Good point 🙂
Way too humid in Melbourne for me this summer! Also humid equals flies!!
Not that I’m fussy really, I just prefer 22 degrees, a soft breeze & a blue sky 🙂 which does arrive a fair bit in Melb (for 5 mins before it changes again).
Have found your articles & love your humour & advice. Have lately been dreaming of a slightly cooler climate – was looking North coast Tassy but BOM says humidity 70% year round, yikes! Got any suggestions?
I’m not sure that can be right, I’ve just had a look at the weather in Hobart for this week, bearing in mind it is the middle of summer, and it says the humidity is between 42% and 59% over a seven-day period.
Similarly, I thought Melbourne was more of a dry heat than a humid heat, and in Adelaide it’s even drier. I think without doubt your best option would be Tasmania, which is an absolutely beautiful state, but if that really is too humid for you, maybe try Canada 🙂
Give me the weather in Hobart any day!
Yes I prefer the cooler weather. Hot climates are uncomfortable and way overrated.
Well I had the cooler weather, a.k.a. absolutely freezing sometimes, cold enough to see my own breath, for nearly 50 years in the UK. After over nine years of loving the Brisbane climate, I’m nowhere near ready yet to move back to cold. Not sure I ever will be either.
I’d love to know where you actually lived in the UK, based on your constant need to refer to it as cold, wet, dull etc I’m guessing up North? Stop acting like the UK is constantly horrid and Australia is constantly fantastic. Breaking news everybody, weather in the UK can be quite good at times, and weather in Australia can be crap at times. I guess it’s up to personal preference but I think humidity is one of the worst climates ever, and when it’s humid in Brisbane it’s hardly ever sunny. People there just seem to be waiting for winter (which is really nice to be fair). I just hate people who bash the UK all the time, and put Australia on this pedestal. New Zealand is better!!!
Hi Michael One of my pet funny annoyances is folk in Australia complaining about the weather. I don’t disagree the weather can be good in the UK but its frequently not..They have just had lovely weather for The Grand National days at Aintree in Liverpool (up north as you put it) Not as great weather for Cheltenham races…(down south) Watched both from afar on UK TV. Weather playing a big part in racing for the ‘going’ Whichever way you look at this the weather is undoubtedly better in Australia as in warmer temperatures over the year….I’ve just done a post commenting on the rates in Australia as again they are far cheaper than the UK and mentioned when in 2010 I got in my car three four days running all similarly cold. on one morning the dash registered -17… Now year on year you will expect minus temperatures in UK, its not the norm in Australia. Summer…yes it can be lovely…prior to my children coming along I could take off anywhere with ease with my wife for holidays, when the children arrived I was convinced to buy a caravan. We tried Cornwall 2 years running…The second year with 3+ weeks there when my car was skidding out of the campsite a 4×4 after 3 days we hitched up and caught the Plymouth Santander ferry… That’s the problem with UK in Summer its rarely a great one. It can be but rarely is…Finally look at the pool companies in Australia. So yu a pool specialist would you set up a business in UK or Australia. Its horses for courses again and own preference but Australia is for me undoubtedly better.
It’s a shame you missed my attempt at humour in the above article Michael, and the fact that whenever I mentioned cold, wet and dull, I also threw in the word ‘winter’. And there’s no denying it, UK winters are cold, often wet and often dull. I am not bashing the UK at all, just trying to explain the differences in the weather between where I used to live and where I live now.
For me, I much prefer 5 to 7 weeks of humidity and the weather overall in Brisbane to that of the UK. By the way, being as you are so interested, I did live in the South of England not very far from London.
Let’s be fair, nobody goes to England on holiday for the weather, but they do come to Australia for it. As Mark has also said, is often even worth escaping the UK for Spain to catch some sunshine, when I was a kid we always used to go to France. I have so many memories of UK camping holidays going wrong because of the weather.
And by the way, your statement that it’s hardly ever sunny in Brisbane when it’s humid is completely incorrect. For the record, Brisbane gets on average 2884 hours of sunshine a year compared with London’s 1481. Humidity does not stop the sun shining as much as you think it does. See…
https://www.bobinoz.com/blog/16442/sunny-days-england-versus-australia-compared/
Actually, maybe it’s best that you don’t read that article, you will only get upset with me again 🙂
I’ve actually read a few of your other articles Bob and I will apologise. I found one where you said winters in Brisbane are similar to Summer in the UK and I liked that comment! I got the impression this website was set on making out that the UK is just this terrible place to live and we never see sunshine.
I’m not a fool, I know Australia has much better weather than the UK – my comment above made out that the UK has good weather just as much as Australia has bad weather! I just hate reading comments by people making out that we have terrible weather year round (and then comments making out Australia to be perfect). I know people who have visited Queensland in the Summer planning for this dream holiday, just to be disappointed by rain as Australia is marketed as somewhere that it never rains. When I recommend visiting Queensland in Winter people think I’m crazy!!
Anyway, thanks for the reply. I visited Brisbane a while ago, and perhaps my memory of it never being sunny when humid is a bit foggy and perhaps because I don’t remember actually enjoying the sunshine as it was far too hot outside to then double that factor by sitting in the sun!! Hope you’re happy in Brisbane, my friend lives out there and that’s why I visited, but the UK (and my European holidays in the sun) are more suitable for my preferences! All personal taste at the end of the day!
Then you will just love my annual and relatively meaningless contest comparing Brisbane’s winter weather with London’s summers, a sort of best out of who knows how many, it’s already gone on for what seems forever.
Currently, London are beating Brisbane 5–4. See…
https://www.bobinoz.com/blog/19900/weather-its-brisbanes-winter-versus-londons-summer-again/
For the record, my favourite time in Brisbane is probably March through to May, when the weather is generally 25° to 30° and there is little rain. The height of summer, probably January and February, can be too hot for some people and that is storm season. And yes, I am very happy in Brisbane, but also very glad I had my time in the UK so I could also enjoy holidays in Europe and see that side of the world.
Now I’m enjoying this site. Thanks Michael for coming back the way you have.
Hi Bob,
Horses for courses indeed. By temperature drop i meant that usually early in the morning during winter (my favourite season) when i go to work the temperature can be at single digits.
One thing i forgot to comment is that your website has some really good info about the country that may help anyone who wants to move here. Good work. I think i will have a cold beer now.
Regards
Yes, that is true, it can be very cold first thing in the morning and for those tradies who set off at 6 o’clock in the morning, shorts might not be the best idea. But come late morning, most will wish they did have shorts on.
One thing we do agree on though Anthony, beer is best served cold here. Thanks for the kind words, Bob.
Hi Bob,
Please curb your enthusiasm about the hot weather here in Brisbane. It is simply rubbish. Live a few years here and you will see. It is more than 6 weeks of humidity sometimes it stretches all the way to March. Shorts all year round eh? Even in June July when the temperature drops? But i agree it is a personal choice and if you like that sort of thing then great. One more thing to note that not everyone has Air Con or a swimming pool or both. Heat can be tolerated but humidity takes the energy out of you. In times likes these Canada looks mighty good.
Oh…Tasmania too !!
Regards
As much as I love your reference to ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’, one of my favourite TV shows ever, I’m afraid I can’t go along with it. I’m enthusiastic about Brisbane’s climate simply because I love it, it suits me down to the ground.
Sometimes it is really hot and a bit too humid, like right now. Yesterday it was around 36°C during the day and was still hitting around 28° to 29° at night, so a fair bit clammier than I would like. But I can put up with it and for me it really does only seem to be around five or six weeks a year that it feels like this, all the other time I am just fine with it.
By the way, I do have air-conditioning, but even last night as warm as it was I did not use it, we just had the fans on high in all the bedrooms with the windows open. And yes, I do wear shorts all year round, I’m not sure what you are talking about when you mention temperature drops. The lowest I’ve ever known it to be during the daytime here in Brisbane, note I have said daytime, is 15°C. On an average winter day we usually have 20°C, certainly 18° to 22°C.
That’s shorts weather.
After dark though, I have occasionally been known to put on long trousers. I am now in my 10th year living in Brisbane and I’m not changing my mind about the weather. I know it doesn’t suit everyone though, it certainly sounds as though it doesn’t suit you, but for me I’d definitely rather be here than anywhere else. Horses for courses…
I don’t understand how these people can argue with you Bob. Last summer in Manchester, 19°C was described as ‘sweltering’ in the paper, and every patch of grass was covered in topless men, and teenage girls with their bellies hanging out.
Doesn’t make sense to me either 🙂
Anyway, I thought the UK media usually wait until the temperature hits 20°C or above before they start using words like ‘sweltering’. If it gets to 22°C, that’s when The Sun goes with the headline ‘Phew. What a scorcher!’ along with a crowded Southend beach picture.
Bit late to the party, only 1 year but felt the need to contribute
Ha, I laugh in the face of what you Eastern Staters call ‘humidity’.
The real heat and humidity of Australia is without a doubt, Western Australia, particularly the north tropical regions which I have lived for 3 years.
The West is burdened with winds straight off central Australian deserts which bring dry hot conditions throughout W.A
For example, the hottest recorded this year in my town was a mear 44 Celsius and now that it is mid summer, it means tropical humidity around 70-85% all day everyday alongside with temps at 30-40 Celsius.
The weather is unbearable for those not used to it, which is why you will never see a tourist here in the warmer months, only the locals who still work all year round in the weather and know the secrets to surviving.
A few cold beers and a hope to see the approaching thunderstorms bring rain.
The West Australians are the toughest breed you will likely ever meet, and can go hours without water or food and still feel fine.
Adaption is the key, and cold beer helps.
Call that humidity? That sounds like a cool winters day to us here on the east! I don’t even take my puffer jacket and bobble hat off when it’s 44°C here, I like to keep those on until he gets to about 50° and the humidity is around 95%!! And at that point, I might just fancy a small sip of water.
See, that’s what happens when somebody laughs in my face, I just can’t help myself 🙂
Seriously though, I know I have it easy when it comes to humidity here in Brisbane, so what you have to go through up there sounds pretty tough going. I’m not sure I would fancy spending the summer where you live, but then again I wouldn’t want to spend summer in either Darwin or Cairns either, for example.
Cold beer definitely helps though, that’s for sure, I’ve even noticed that down here in Brisbane 🙂
Bob,
It sounds like a nice situation. I do not tolerate “humid” very well and that figures into our decision to move to Geelong. But not as much as our winters. Here in Upstate New York we have had a typical extreme of -28c to 33c since January. We have high humidity for a few days each week in summers and almost no humidity in the winter. We also have lake effect snow (worth a wiki look up) that brought the usual 3 meters of snow this past winter (our record stands at 487cm). I am glad that Australia is capable of accommodating both of us, Bob.
Well, yes, New York does go from one extreme to another in the space of a year, doesn’t it? You won’t be getting -28°C in Geelong that’s for sure, and you won’t have to worry too much about humidity down that way.
Cheers, Bob
There is something that you don’t hear too much about; in Sydney and Brisbane there are wonderful winters.
Sometimes it’s cold, specially at night, but during the day there are wonderful blue skies and golden sun. This lifts your spirits, even if you have to rug up.
In Sydney, and more so in Melbourne, there are cold winds from the south pole; the penguinnian winds. They can be cold; you see people wearing heavy overcoats and padded jackets. But you don’t go for very long without the sun and blue skies.
In Brisbane and Sydney there is almost never any frost; that has to be a good thing. And many Brisbanites, like Bob, wear shorts all the year round. And that’s a good thing.
I grew up on the Darling Downs, west of the mountain range to the west of Brisbane. There were many frosty mornings there.
Now, my description of London weather is that it’s very mild. I remember thinking, when the first winter arrived, “This is very agreeable, not bitter at all..”
But these assessments are subjective. Bob would have had a very different judgment.
If you spend enough winters in London Warwick then I can assure you that you won’t be putting the word ‘not’ in front of bitter. Bitter is the precise description.
Your face freezes, it’s difficult to smile, moving is uncomfortable but you know, deep down, that you have to keep moving otherwise you’ll never move again.
That’s something that’s never happened to me in Brisbane 🙂
Sunshine though, for sure, lifts the spirits, it puts a smile on your face. I think it does good things to that part of your brain that makes you happy.
I’ve spent half my life in christchurch NZ and half in brisbane, but back and forth. I climatised at a young age to the brisbane heat but after a few years stint in bris as an adult, went back to NZ for a year and upon coming back to bris, I can’t seem to climatise back into the humidity and it’s really REALLY bothersome. We’re currently experiencing the hottest summer and February on record with high humidity (85-90%) EVERY day with 30-34 degrees to boot. it’s effecting me so much that I cant control my hydration from sweating consistently throughout the entire days/nights. I don’t have air conditioning and can’t afford it so am sitting I front of a fan the entire day and not working or even have enough energy to wash the dishes some days. I also have sirvere dust allergies and dust mites happen to live only in humidity above 70%. So given the fact I also live in a 3rd floor brick (rough/untreated/not concealed brick-dust haven) unit with a train station below that’s also in construction platform replacement(concrete dust) which goes straight through screen windows. it’s the most awful summe I’ve ever had in my life and I have to move from here ASAP because of my allergies. I have to chose a new property with air con and I’ll be paying three times as much as I’m currently in state housing unit and only pay $95 pw. so if you have very low tolerance to humidity and dust is an issue, make sure not to run into hardship and require gov assistance! be prepared to suffer if that’s the case like us 🙁
Hi Klaud
I feel for you, I really do. I’ve only been here 10 years, but yes, this is the hottest summer we’ve had here in that time for sure. Even so, I’m still coping very well indeed, I’m not suffering any of the problems you are clearly going through.
I suspect everyone is different on this one, well, they must be, otherwise no one would live in Darwin 🙂
Even though it is as hot as it is here, I have only ever put my air-conditioning on during the day twice this year. At night, maybe six or seven times. My house is on a bit of a hill and catches some good breezes and all the windows are open all of the time. If I shut myself into a small room though with a very small window, also known as a toilet, it’s not long before I am sweating quite profusely.
Other than that, I’ve not struggled, sorry to hear that you are. Humidity is a personal thing and everyone reacts differently to it. I suppose the only way to find out how you go with it is to give it a try. Thanks for taking the time to let us know how it for you, cheers, Bob
Hi Bob,
I appreciate your point of view. You’ve put it forward with great style.
But liking a particular sort of weather is not a logical thing, like Euclid’s geometry.
You have to understand that there are many people who find hot weather, particularly humid, hot weather, very stressful.
And those same people can find English weather comfortable.
I know. I’ve lived in London for years on end. I never found the winters very disagreeable. But I have had the experience of strolling along London streets, near Saint Paul’s, with an English friend who demanded that we go home because the cold was “intolerable,” even though she was rugged up. And I was quite warm.
I’ve had the experience of swimming about in a harbour beach in Sydney and feeling refreshed and vigorous while my friend begged me to get out of the water “because she was freezing.”
But I find the humidity stressful even in Sydney. I find it stressful even when my friend says it’s wonderful.
I suppose it has something to do with the individual’s body mechanisms.
I don’t think it does much good to say one kind of weather is intrinsically better than the other.
Each person has to decide which is better for herself.
Hmm… this, together with the article, are interesting.
I’m (hopefully) moving to Victoria soon. My parents there have recently been having days topping 30 degrees. Here in the UK, Autumn has definitely begun (not that our summer was much to write home about).
But I digress.
One of the good – and bad – things about moving to Australia is the weather. Yes, it’ll be nice and warm. But what if it’s nice and warm all the time? Won’t we want a bit of variation? I suppose that’s one of the good things about Victoria (and the Melbourne area in general) – it is cooler that a lot of other places in Australia, and there is that variation.
Well, firstly, Warwick, you are absolutely correct. Just like beauty is in the eye of the beholder, so is weather. Not so much in the eye, but throughout the whole body.
Not everybody likes hot weather, some people much prefer cooler climates. It’s probably why some people live in Canada. So I take your point, in my defence my article is about me, (yes, me me me) and I would never attempt to speak on behalf of the whole world 🙂
And, as you can probably see, I really like the Brisbane climate, it suits me down to the ground. Shorts all year round during the day, I don’t really suffer from the humidity stress you mention and it is greatly different from the weather I spent most of my life enduring.
No, I’m not a great fan of the English weather. Don’t get me wrong, I do actually love the four seasons, what I don’t like is that each of them does a lot of cold, dark, grey and with some damp drizzle thrown in.
And now djmcbell, I have great news for you; you’re going to Melbourne, so don’t worry, warm all the time isn’t going to happen. Expect cold, often, and when you least expect it.
I’ve moved from Belgium to Melbourne last year in july, and I must say it’s the perfect upgrade. Belgium’s exactly like the UK: you basically eventually get a depression just because of the weather. I enjoy the upgrade in average temperatures; but I reckon what makes for the most important difference is the amount of sun (light!), not temperature per se. Melbourne definitely has those changes though; 4 seasons in a day actually (you can take that quite literally at times). It’s just perfect (for me 😉 ).
On the recent awesome temperatures: don’t take those as a reference. October’s supposed to have average temperatures of about 20 degrees, and should be the most rainy month of the year. This october is exceptionally hot and dry (and that brings us to one of those other Australian features: bushfires!). It’s just that we have [quote the meteorologists] “a godzilla el niño event” coming up this spring/summer. This october also nicely illustrated Melbourne’s capacity of drastic weather changes. One day we had a max. of 36 degrees, the next day (like, literally the day immediately afterwards) a max. of 16 degrees. Yes, that’s not even all that exceptional. ;-). But still clear blue skies throughout; which makes me not so much care about whether it is 16 or 36 degrees. As long as it’s not -5 and grey rain / mudsnow falling from the skies in several depressing grey cloudy weeks on end, like “back home in Belgium”.
I know exactly what you are saying Thijs, I was in Melbourne a few years ago and when I first arrived, by car, it was around 36°C. A scorcher.
Booked into a hotel, next day looked out of the window, which you could not open, and it was another sunny day. So I went out, T-shirt and shorts. Walked out of the front of the hotel and that’s when the cold hit me.
16°!
Ah, but it was still morning, it will surely get much warmer. No, not really, I should have doubled back and grabbed a warm top. Nevermind.
As you say though, the sunlight, the blue skies, that’s what really makes the difference. I used to love a sunny winter’s day in the UK, you know, when it was 12° but at least still sunny with blue skies, but unfortunately most of the 12° days were grey and dark.
Sunny is good, and there’s plenty of that in Melbourne. Cheers, Bob