Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023

Name: Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023
Start: 2023-12-16
End: 2023-12-22
Location: Australia

Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023: 319 records at 285 stations, peak on 20 December 2023. Closed.

Data as of 2026-10-12. Last revised 12 October 2026 (2026-10-12).

Key Facts

Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023 set or tied 319 station records at 285 stations.
It ran from 16 December 2023 to 22 December 2023 (7 days) and its peak day was 20 December 2023.
Status: closed.
Mittagong (Kia Ora) set a daily record precipitation of 84.0 mm (3.3 in) on 20 December 2023.
The busiest day was 20 December 2023 with 164 records.
The oldest broken record in the ranked list had stood for 136 years.

Footprint

16 to 22 December 2023

The area covered by Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023 is outlined, with 20 of the stations that set records marked, coloured by record type. Made with Natural Earth.

Footprint of Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023: stations that set records in the event
Station	Type	Value	Date
Mittagong (Kia Ora)	Record daily precipitation	84.0 mm (3.3 in)	2023-12-20
Mittagong (Beatrice Street)	Record daily precipitation	114.6 mm (4.5 in)	2023-12-20
Moogerah Dam	Record daily precipitation	95.5 mm (3.8 in)	2023-12-21
Foxground Road	Record daily precipitation	82.6 mm (3.3 in)	2023-12-20
Bundarra Post Office	Record daily precipitation	68.8 mm (2.7 in)	2023-12-20
Chichester Dam	Record daily precipitation	108.8 mm (4.3 in)	2023-12-20
Albion Park Post Office	Record daily precipitation	67.0 mm (2.6 in)	2023-12-20
Kenebri (Cumbil)	Record daily precipitation	108.0 mm (4.3 in)	2023-12-21
Somerton (Bective Estate)	Record daily precipitation	51.0 mm (2.0 in)	2023-12-20
Narrabri (Mollee)	Record daily precipitation	59.6 mm (2.3 in)	2023-12-20
Woodhouselee (Leeston)	Record daily precipitation	38.0 mm (1.5 in)	2023-12-20
Wisemans Ferry (Old Po)	Record daily precipitation	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	2023-12-21
Mt Playfair	Record daily precipitation	76.8 mm (3.0 in)	2023-12-21
Braidwood (Wallace Street)	Record daily precipitation	39.8 mm (1.6 in)	2023-12-20
Uralla (Dumaresq St)	Record daily precipitation	44.8 mm (1.8 in)	2023-12-20
Bunnan (Milhaven)	Record daily precipitation	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	2023-12-20
Berambing	Record daily precipitation	73.2 mm (2.9 in)	2023-12-20
Marulan (George St)	Record daily precipitation	52.0 mm (2.0 in)	2023-12-20
Moonan Flat (High St)	Record daily precipitation	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	2023-12-20
Mundubbera	Record daily precipitation	88.0 mm (3.5 in)	2023-12-21

Records per Day

Peak day 164

Records set or tied each day from 16 December 2023 to 22 December 2023. The most in one day was 164 on 20 December 2023.

Top Records by Margin

Margin over the record replaced

Top records of Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023 ranked by margin
Chichester Dam, 12-20	80.6 mm (3.2 in)
Mittagong (Beatrice Street), 12-20	76.2 mm (3.0 in)
Kenebri (Cumbil), 12-21	67.9 mm (2.7 in)
Foxground Road, 12-20	59.2 mm (2.3 in)
Mittagong (Kia Ora), 12-20	50.7 mm (2.0 in)
Moogerah Dam, 12-21	44.2 mm (1.7 in)
Albion Park Post Office, 12-20	43.6 mm (1.7 in)
Mundubbera, 12-21	41.8 mm (1.6 in)
Narrabri (Mollee), 12-20	39.5 mm (1.6 in)
Berambing, 12-20	32.8 mm (1.3 in)
Bundarra Post Office, 12-20	28.2 mm (1.1 in)
Somerton (Bective Estate), 12-20	24.3 mm (1.0 in)
Marulan (George St), 12-20	23.6 mm (0.9 in)
Wisemans Ferry (Old Po), 12-21	22.3 mm (0.9 in)
Uralla (Dumaresq St), 12-20	21.9 mm (0.9 in)

Margin is how far the new value is beyond the record it replaced. Ties are not shown.

Margin Against Age of the Broken Record

319 records plotted by how far they beat the old record (across) and how many years the old record had stood (up). Long standing records beaten by a wide margin sit in the top right.

Margin against age of the broken record in Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023
Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
51	73
44	82
76	49
59	73
28	96
81	48
68	52
44	68
24	135
40	65
22	108
17	125
7	136
21	82
22	72
19	96
33	68
24	73
42	49
14	120
50	48
19	52
43	28
27	60
15	100
19	96
50	16
51	1
28	52
53	12
22	86
80	12
7	114
7	130
26	68
6	101
8	100
11	88
11	82
5	100
5	120
26	34
55	21
4	133
19	78
25	64
9	86
33	40
13	73
37	16
32	16
13	73
2	100
21	52
26	38
3	96
31	49
26	48
43	4
31	36
38	12
0	130
21	15
40	16
9	73
24	60
23	64
8	82
23	49
1	60
42	4
26	24
38	32
15	53
23	50
21	0
24	20
29	12
6	73
10	68
22	48
39	4
6	73
6	78
30	25
3	82
11	38
36	32
5	68
41	29
29	29
4	73
22	20
24	42
15	49
24	12
37	4
5	76
19	24
40	34
9	64
30	44
51	5
28	24
3	72
19	20
12	53
1	73
19	34
6	60
21	44
15	48
9	52
16	49
29	4
32	12
2	73
17	40
18	12
13	52
13	49
34	12
15	40
25	16
22	25
12	48
34	4
25	29
11	48
10	54
30	5
1	66
2	66
13	52
0	66
18	38
17	36
26	32
14	36
21	34
11	34
22	29
14	33
10	48
16	46
11	49
13	48
19	24
15	36
21	4
19	24
15	20
2	64
13	32
30	20
10	12
23	32
15	33
10	52
17	48
23	4
22	24
14	12
19	32
14	42
12	36
12	41
8	48
22	12
7	32
18	20
15	21
0	54
18	25
11	41
18	6
1	60
6	36
11	48
10	48
11	20
15	32
33	12
8	48
14	24
11	36
16	24
17	29
21	4
15	4
5	34
3	23
26	18
4	42
5	48
4	54
5	48
15	12
13	16
10	24

Compared With Other Events

Station records per event

Station records in Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023 compared with similar events
Extreme rain in United States and Mexico, 23 February to 15 March 2019	2,223 records
Extreme rain in United States, 3 to 19 January 2024	2,133 records
Extreme rain in Australia, 7 to 26 March 2021	2,099 records
Extreme rain in United States and Mexico, 29 September to 19 October 2018	1,970 records
Extreme rain in United States, 19 December 2022 to 13 January 2023	1,941 records
Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023 (this event)	319 records

Every Record Set

20 of 319

Every record set or tied during Extreme rain in Australia, 16 to 22 December 2023, in date order
Date	Station	Record	Value	Margin	Years stood	Significance
2023-12-20	Mittagong (Kia Ora)	Record daily precipitation	84.0 mm (3.3 in)	50.7 mm (2.0 in)	73	72 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-20	Mittagong (Beatrice Street)	Record daily precipitation	114.6 mm (4.5 in)	76.2 mm (3.0 in)	49	64 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-20	Foxground Road	Record daily precipitation	82.6 mm (3.3 in)	59.2 mm (2.3 in)	73	63 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-20	Bundarra Post Office	Record daily precipitation	68.8 mm (2.7 in)	28.2 mm (1.1 in)	96	62 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-20	Chichester Dam	Record daily precipitation	108.8 mm (4.3 in)	80.6 mm (3.2 in)	48	62 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-20	Albion Park Post Office	Record daily precipitation	67.0 mm (2.6 in)	43.6 mm (1.7 in)	68	60 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-20	Somerton (Bective Estate)	Record daily precipitation	51.0 mm (2.0 in)	24.3 mm (1.0 in)	135	59 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Narrabri (Mollee)	Record daily precipitation	59.6 mm (2.3 in)	39.5 mm (1.6 in)	65	55 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Woodhouselee (Leeston)	Record daily precipitation	38.0 mm (1.5 in)	17.2 mm (0.7 in)	125	55 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Braidwood (Wallace Street)	Record daily precipitation	39.8 mm (1.6 in)	21.0 mm (0.8 in)	82	53 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Uralla (Dumaresq St)	Record daily precipitation	44.8 mm (1.8 in)	21.9 mm (0.9 in)	72	52 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Bunnan (Milhaven)	Record daily precipitation	45.0 mm (1.8 in)	19.3 mm (0.8 in)	96	52 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Berambing	Record daily precipitation	73.2 mm (2.9 in)	32.8 mm (1.3 in)	68	52 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Marulan (George St)	Record daily precipitation	52.0 mm (2.0 in)	23.6 mm (0.9 in)	73	52 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-20	Moonan Flat (High St)	Record daily precipitation	46.0 mm (1.8 in)	13.7 mm (0.5 in)	120	51 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-21	Moogerah Dam	Record daily precipitation	95.5 mm (3.8 in)	44.2 mm (1.7 in)	82	64 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-21	Kenebri (Cumbil)	Record daily precipitation	108.0 mm (4.3 in)	67.9 mm (2.7 in)	52	60 of 100 (Major)
2023-12-21	Wisemans Ferry (Old Po)	Record daily precipitation	40.6 mm (1.6 in)	22.3 mm (0.9 in)	108	55 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-21	Mt Playfair	Record daily precipitation	76.8 mm (3.0 in)	6.9 mm (0.27 in)	136	54 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-21	Mundubbera	Record daily precipitation	88.0 mm (3.5 in)	41.8 mm (1.6 in)	49	51 of 100 (Notable)

The daily ledgers keep a limited number of records per day, so this list has 20 of the 319 records the event counts. The counts above use the full total.

Related Headlines

Third party news, headline and link only

Download the Data

Source: NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Global Historical Climatology Network Daily (GHCN-Daily). Records are computed by World Extreme Weather Monitor and are not official NOAA products. (US Government open data (NOAA NCEI)) Data as of 2026-10-12. Events are found by this site from station records and are not official designations. Records are provisional until reprocessed.

Date	Records
2023-12-16	7
2023-12-17	12
2023-12-18	3
2023-12-19	1
2023-12-20	164
2023-12-21	87
2023-12-22	45

Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
51	73
44	82
76	49
59	73
28	96
81	48
68	52
44	68
24	135
40	65
22	108
17	125
7	136
21	82
22	72
19	96
33	68
24	73
42	49
14	120
50	48
19	52
43	28
27	60
15	100
19	96
50	16
51	1
28	52
53	12
22	86
80	12
7	114
7	130
26	68
6	101
8	100
11	88
11	82
5	100
5	120
26	34
55	21
4	133
19	78
25	64
9	86
33	40
13	73
37	16
32	16
13	73
2	100
21	52
26	38
3	96
31	49
26	48
43	4
31	36
38	12
0	130
21	15
40	16
9	73
24	60
23	64
8	82
23	49
1	60
42	4
26	24
38	32
15	53
23	50
21	0
24	20
29	12
6	73
10	68
22	48
39	4
6	73
6	78
30	25
3	82
11	38
36	32
5	68
41	29
29	29
4	73
22	20
24	42
15	49
24	12
37	4
5	76
19	24
40	34
9	64
30	44
51	5
28	24
3	72
19	20
12	53
1	73
19	34
6	60
21	44
15	48
9	52
16	49
29	4
32	12
2	73
17	40
18	12
13	52
13	49
34	12
15	40
25	16
22	25
12	48
34	4
25	29
11	48
10	54
30	5
1	66
2	66
13	52
0	66
18	38
17	36
26	32
14	36
21	34
11	34
22	29
14	33
10	48
16	46
11	49
13	48
19	24
15	36
21	4
19	24
15	20
2	64
13	32
30	20
10	12
23	32
15	33
10	52
17	48
23	4
22	24
14	12
19	32
14	42
12	36
12	41
8	48
22	12
7	32
18	20
15	21
0	54
18	25
11	41
18	6
1	60
6	36
11	48
10	48
11	20
15	32
33	12
8	48
14	24
11	36
16	24
17	29
21	4
15	4
5	34
3	23
26	18
4	42
5	48
4	54
5	48
15	12
13	16
10	24

Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
51	73
44	82
76	49
59	73
28	96
81	48
68	52
44	68
24	135
40	65
22	108
17	125
7	136
21	82
22	72
19	96
33	68
24	73
42	49
14	120
50	48
19	52
43	28
27	60
15	100
19	96
50	16
51	1
28	52
53	12
22	86
80	12
7	114
7	130
26	68
6	101
8	100
11	88
11	82
5	100
5	120
26	34
55	21
4	133
19	78
25	64
9	86
33	40
13	73
37	16
32	16
13	73
2	100
21	52
26	38
3	96
31	49
26	48
43	4
31	36
38	12
0	130
21	15
40	16
9	73
24	60
23	64
8	82
23	49
1	60
42	4
26	24
38	32
15	53
23	50
21	0
24	20
29	12
6	73
10	68
22	48
39	4
6	73
6	78
30	25
3	82
11	38
36	32
5	68
41	29
29	29
4	73
22	20
24	42
15	49
24	12
37	4
5	76
19	24
40	34
9	64
30	44
51	5
28	24
3	72
19	20
12	53
1	73
19	34
6	60
21	44
15	48
9	52
16	49
29	4
32	12
2	73
17	40
18	12
13	52
13	49
34	12
15	40
25	16
22	25
12	48
34	4
25	29
11	48
10	54
30	5
1	66
2	66
13	52
0	66
18	38
17	36
26	32
14	36
21	34
11	34
22	29
14	33
10	48
16	46
11	49
13	48
19	24
15	36
21	4
19	24
15	20
2	64
13	32
30	20
10	12
23	32
15	33
10	52
17	48
23	4
22	24
14	12
19	32
14	42
12	36
12	41
8	48
22	12
7	32
18	20
15	21
0	54
18	25
11	41
18	6
1	60
6	36
11	48
10	48
11	20
15	32
33	12
8	48
14	24
11	36
16	24
17	29
21	4
15	4
5	34
3	23
26	18
4	42
5	48
4	54
5	48
15	12
13	16
10	24

Margin (mm)	Years the old record stood
51	73
44	82
76	49
59	73
28	96
81	48
68	52
44	68
24	135
40	65
22	108
17	125
7	136
21	82
22	72
19	96
33	68
24	73
42	49
14	120
50	48
19	52
43	28
27	60
15	100
19	96
50	16
51	1
28	52
53	12
22	86
80	12
7	114
7	130
26	68
6	101
8	100
11	88
11	82
5	100
5	120
26	34
55	21
4	133
19	78
25	64
9	86
33	40
13	73
37	16
32	16
13	73
2	100
21	52
26	38
3	96
31	49
26	48
43	4
31	36
38	12
0	130
21	15
40	16
9	73
24	60
23	64
8	82
23	49
1	60
42	4
26	24
38	32
15	53
23	50
21	0
24	20
29	12
6	73
10	68
22	48
39	4
6	73
6	78
30	25
3	82
11	38
36	32
5	68
41	29
29	29
4	73
22	20
24	42
15	49
24	12
37	4
5	76
19	24
40	34
9	64
30	44
51	5
28	24
3	72
19	20
12	53
1	73
19	34
6	60
21	44
15	48
9	52
16	49
29	4
32	12
2	73
17	40
18	12
13	52
13	49
34	12
15	40
25	16
22	25
12	48
34	4
25	29
11	48
10	54
30	5
1	66
2	66
13	52
0	66
18	38
17	36
26	32
14	36
21	34
11	34
22	29
14	33
10	48
16	46
11	49
13	48
19	24
15	36
21	4
19	24
15	20
2	64
13	32
30	20
10	12
23	32
15	33
10	52
17	48
23	4
22	24
14	12
19	32
14	42
12	36
12	41
8	48
22	12
7	32
18	20
15	21
0	54
18	25
11	41
18	6
1	60
6	36
11	48
10	48
11	20
15	32
33	12
8	48
14	24
11	36
16	24
17	29
21	4
15	4
5	34
3	23
26	18
4	42
5	48
4	54
5	48
15	12
13	16
10	24