NSW just got through its coldest and wettest summer in a decade

It was a relatively cold and wet summer for NSW residents, with temperatures breaking decade-long records thanks to La Nina

Forget ice blocks and sunburn, many Sydneysiders were grabbing their jumpers and umbrellas this summer, with NSW experiencing its coldest and wettest summer in a decade.

The average NSW temperature for the summer of 2020-21 was the coldest on record since 2011 when the average temperature reached a relatively cool 23.2 degrees, according to data from the Bureau of Meteorology.

And with daytime temperatures below average in most of the state, warm sunny days were few and far in between.

Coogee locals Grace, Max, Lily and Ava Dean brave the cool weather at the beach on Saturday. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Night time temperatures were also below average in the South-West and Riverina regions but there was some warmer weather in the northern regions where nightly temperatures were above the average.

And after years of tough drought conditions, locals had plenty of puddles to jump in with the state’s summer rainfall reaching its highest average since 2011.

“(There was) above average summer rainfall across most of the state except for the far southwest. Widespread rainfall in inland areas, particularly in January, from moist air drawn down from the tropics,” a BOM spokesman said.

La Nina conditions were blamed for the relatively wet season. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

The spokesman said La Nina conditions were responsible for the extremely wet summer with the summer of 2011-2012 also being a La Nina event.

“La Niña conditions are often favourable for increased rainfall over much of eastern Australia during summer. Many sites had their wettest December day or month on record … and for much of the northeast December 2020 was the wettest since national records began in 1900.”

But despite the cooler summer NSW still had the occasional sweltering day, with temperatures soaring to 48 degrees on December 1 in Brewon, near Walgett, marking the second-highest ever recorded December temperature in the state’s history.

But temperatures cooled by mid-December when a slow-moving pressure system caused heavy rainfall in the northeast coast, leading to the lowest temperature of the summer in Perisher Valley, which reached -6 degrees on December 11.

Coogee dad Chris Dean with daughter Lily after a swim. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

Coogee dad Chris Dean said his kids, Grace, Max Lily and Ava, had to miss out going to the beach this summer because of the cooler temperatures.

“We didn’t get down to the beach as much as would have. Christmas was very wet so during school holidays the kids were stuck inside more than they would have been otherwise. We haven’t felt as many warm or sunny days this summer,” Coogee dad Chris said.

“One week over the holidays was quite hot but the other weeks were quite mild.”

“We like to catch waves in with our boogie boards and sometimes we go out far (but) we didn’t go to the beach much because it was cold,” nine-year-old Ava added.

Originally published as NSW just got through its coldest and wettest summer in a decade