Has it rained enough in Cairns?
Rain soaked in yesterday, and the ground is still holding it.
Cairns has had 63.6mm of rain in the last 30 days. That is well above the 23.4mm a normal September brings here, and closer to the wettest on record (73.2mm).
Rain reaching the roots · 14 days
3 SeptToday
Rain in Cairns through a normal year
Across a normal year Cairns gets about 1427.3mm of rain, most of it in January (280.9mm) and least in September (23.4mm).
That makes Cairns one of the drier places this site covers in Australia in September — 11th of 12, against Melbourne at the wet end (58.6mm) and Darwin at the dry end (18.8mm).
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Average rainfall by month, 1995–2024
What that means for what you grow
- Pots and hanging basketsWorst hit, and first to suffer. Very little soil, fully exposed, and nothing to fall back on — in this weather they can empty in a day.
- Salad and leafy vegShallow-rooted and quick to bolt once they run dry. First priority of anything in the ground.
- Beds and bordersA long soak that reaches the roots is worth more than a daily sprinkle, which only wets the surface and is gone by lunchtime.
- Established shrubs and treesFine as they are. They draw from far deeper than a dry spell reaches.
Your own garden, not the town average
This page is worked out for Cairns as a whole. Your garden has its own soil, its own shade and its own planting, and the front page will use your exact location instead.
Check my garden