Australia lies south of the equator, so its seasons are different from those of the Northern Hemisphere. The southern part of Australia has four seasons. Winters are cool and rainy and last from June to August. Summers are hot and dry and last from December to January.

The northern part of the continent has a tropical climate with only two seasons. The wet season from November to April brings a lot of rain , storms, and floods . The dry season lasts from May to October.

One third of Australia is desert and gets less than 25 cm of rainfall a year. The wettest part of the continent lies in the south and south-east. It gets rain the whole year, sometimes up to 3 metres. Snow only falls in the higher places of the Australian Alps.

Droughts are a big problem in many parts of Australia. In some places, it doesn't rain for many months. This leads to bush fires and a shortage of water.





Bush fire near Sydney

Image : Helitak430, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
 
 
 
 

Floods in Queensland (2010-2011)

Image: Kingbob86 (Timothy), CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons




Words

  • desert = dry area with little or no rainfall
  • drought = when there is dry weather for a long time and plants and animals don't have enough water to survive
  • equator = line around the middle of the earth which divides it in two halves
  • flood = a lot of water covers an area that is normally dry
  • hemisphere = half of the earth
  • humid = wet
  • shortage = not enough