Geography and Climate
Wyndham is on the eastern side of Cambridge Gulf, an inlet of Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Timor Sea. It is surrounded by the Durack, Pentecost and King rivers to the south, Forrest River to the west and Ord River to the north. Much of the land around Wyndham is inhospitable, and includes the Bastion Range and the mudflats of the Cambridge Gulf. The Bastion Range is the site of the 28-square-kilometre (11 sq mi) Wyndham Important Bird Area, identified as such by BirdLife International because it holds the largest known population of endangered Gouldian Finches.
Despite being in the tropics, Wyndham experiences a steppe climate (Köppen climate classification BSh), with the wet season from late November to March and the dry season from April to early November. The hottest month is November with an average maximum temperature of 39.5°C (103.1°F), and the coolest month is June with an average maximum of 31.0°C (87.8°F). The annual average maximum temperature is 35.6°C (96.1°F,), one of the highest in Australia. In 1946, Wyndham recorded 333 consecutive days of temperatures over 32°C (90°F).
Large rain events do occur in Wyndham, such as on 4 March 1919 when 12.5 inches (318 mm) of rain were recorded over a 24-hour period, followed by another 4.6 inches (117 mm) the next day.
| Climate data for Wyndham | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Average high °C (°F) | 36.9 (98.4) |
36.0 (96.8) |
35.9 (96.6) |
35.8 (96.4) |
33.5 (92.3) |
31.0 (87.8) |
31.2 (88.2) |
33.5 (92.3) |
36.7 (98.1) |
38.8 (101.8) |
39.4 (102.9) |
38.2 (100.8) |
35.57 (96.03) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | 31.6 (88.9) |
30.9 (87.6) |
30.7 (87.3) |
29.7 (85.5) |
27.1 (80.8) |
24.3 (75.7) |
24.1 (75.4) |
26.1 (79) |
29.7 (85.5) |
32.3 (90.1) |
33.3 (91.9) |
32.6 (90.7) |
29.37 (84.87) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 26.3 (79.3) |
25.9 (78.6) |
25.4 (77.7) |
23.6 (74.5) |
20.6 (69.1) |
17.5 (63.5) |
16.9 (62.4) |
18.8 (65.8) |
22.8 (73) |
25.8 (78.4) |
27.1 (80.8) |
27.0 (80.6) |
23.14 (73.64) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 186.0 (7.323) |
203.9 (8.028) |
163.2 (6.425) |
35.9 (1.413) |
8.4 (0.331) |
3.9 (0.154) |
3.1 (0.122) |
0.0 (0) |
4.0 (0.157) |
22.8 (0.898) |
54.7 (2.154) |
151.0 (5.945) |
827.7 (32.587) |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology | |||||||||||||
Read more about this topic: Wyndham, Western Australia
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