Climate
Wet season storm.
Christmas Island lies at the southern edge of the equatorial low pressure belt that moves north and south of the equator during the course of the year. This confers a typical tropical, equatorial climate with a wet and a dry season.
The wet season is from December to April when the north-west monsoon blows. For the rest of the year south-east trade winds bring slightly lower temperatures and humidity, and much less rain. The mean annual rainfall is 2154.0 mm. During the monsoon, heavy downpours lasting several days, and periods of humid calm weather are punctuated by gusty north-westerly winds. In years of significant El Nino activity in the Pacific Ocean, rainfall on the Island tends to be relatively low. Cyclones and cyclonic swells from the north-west sometimes affect the Island during the wet season. Humidity and temperatures vary little with ranges from 80-90%, and temperatures of average maximum 28° Celsius in March/April. The average minimum falls to 22° Celsius in August/September.
The following charts provide an indication of rainfall, temperatures and relative humidity for the Christmas Island region. Data for the charts was sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology.
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