Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024

Name: Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024
Start: 2023-12-13
End: 2024-01-07
Location: Australia

Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024: 106 records at 18 stations, peak on 19 December 2023. Closed.

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

Key Facts

Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 set or tied 106 station records at 18 stations.
It ran from 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 (26 days) and its peak day was 19 December 2023.
Status: closed.
Halls Creek Airport set an all-time record high maximum temperature of 46.1 C (115.0 F) on 19 December 2023.
The busiest day was 19 December 2023 with 13 records.
The oldest broken record in the ranked list had stood for 78 years.

Footprint

13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024

The area covered by Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 is outlined, with 8 of the stations that set records marked, coloured by record type. Made with Natural Earth.

Footprint of Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024: stations that set records in the event
Station	Type	Value	Date
Halls Creek Airport	Record high maximum temperature	46.1 C (115.0 F)	2023-12-19
Darwin Airport	Record high minimum temperature	29.9 C (85.8 F)	2024-01-01
Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high maximum temperature	35.1 C (95.2 F)	2023-12-30
Daly Waters AWS	Record high maximum temperature	42.4 C (108.3 F)	2023-12-30
Gove Airport	Record high maximum temperature	38.0 C (100.4 F)	2023-12-24
Victoria River Downs	Record high maximum temperature	43.8 C (110.8 F)	2023-12-30
Douglas River	Record high minimum temperature	27.2 C (81.0 F)	2023-12-19
Pirlangimpi	Record high minimum temperature	28.0 C (82.4 F)	2023-12-23

Records per Day

Peak day 13

Records set or tied each day from 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024. The most in one day was 13 on 19 December 2023.

Records per day during Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024
Date	Records
2023-12-13	2
2023-12-14	3
2023-12-15	2
2023-12-17	2
2023-12-18	4
2023-12-19	13
2023-12-20	4
2023-12-21	1
2023-12-22	1
2023-12-23	4
2023-12-24	9
2023-12-25	6
2023-12-27	3
2023-12-28	3
2023-12-29	5
2023-12-30	4
2023-12-31	10
2024-01-01	10
2024-01-02	7
2024-01-03	4
2024-01-04	3
2024-01-05	4
2024-01-06	1
2024-01-07	1

Top Records by Margin

Margin over the record replaced

Top records of Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 ranked by margin
Darwin Airport Comparison, 12-24	2.6 C (4.7 F)
Victoria River Downs, 12-30	2.1 C (3.8 F)
Gove Airport, 12-24	1.9 C (3.4 F)
Douglas River, 12-19	1.9 C (3.4 F)
Daly Waters AWS, 12-30	1.8 C (3.2 F)
Gove Airport, 12-18	1.8 C (3.2 F)
Victoria River Downs, 12-31	1.5 C (2.7 F)
Pirlangimpi, 12-23	1.5 C (2.7 F)
Darwin Airport Comparison, 12-30	1.2 C (2.2 F)
Halls Creek Airport, 12-19	1.1 C (2.0 F)
Darwin Airport Comparison, 12-19	1.0 C (1.8 F)
Darwin Airport Comparison, 12-27	1.0 C (1.8 F)
Darwin Airport Comparison, 12-23	0.9 C (1.6 F)
Darwin Airport, 01-01	0.6 C (1.1 F)
Darwin Airport, 12-24	0.5 C (0.9 F)

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

Margin Against Age of the Broken Record

106 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 Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024
Margin (C)	Years the old record stood
1.1	35
0.6	55
0.4	78
1.2	68
2.6	33
1.0	68
1.8	64
1.9	56
0.3	68
0.1	68
0.4	60
2.1	53
1.0	44
1.8	22
0.2	56
1.5	33
1.9	8
0.5	36
0.9	32
1.5	20
0.1	52
0.2	50
1.5	38
0.8	32
0.6	36
0.3	32
0.3	32
0.3	5
1.0	21
0.8	24
0.8	32
0.3	36
0.2	36
0.2	40
0.2	42
0.6	20
0.6	20
0.3	34
1.2	5
0.1	37
0.4	32
0.2	34
0.6	20
2.6	4
0.2	20
0.6	20
0.4	32
0.3	17
0.7	22
0.1	37
0.9	20
0.7	5
0.7	10
0.3	24
0.8	17
0.9	4
0.7	5
1.4	4
0.6	16
1.3	4
0.8	1
0.6	4
0.3	12
1.1	4
1.8	4
1.1	4
1.4	8
0.4	1
0.5	1
0.6	1
0.6	8
0.7	8
0.3	12
1.4	1
0.2	4
0.7	5
0.6	1
0.6	5
0.9	4
1.3	9
0.3	10
0.3	4
0.6	0
0.3	8
0.3	4
1.3	2
0.3	9
0.6	2
0.4	5
0.3	8
0.3	5
0.2	5
0.4	0
0.2	4
0.7	4
0.4	8
0.9	4
0.2	4
0.2	4
0.1	9
0.1	4
0.3	0
0.1	4
0.2	4
0.1	1
0.1	4

Compared With Other Events

Station records per event

Station records in Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 compared with similar events
Heat wave in United States and Mexico, 16 January to 14 February 2024	9,869 records
Heat wave in United States, 28 January to 24 February 2026	6,528 records
Heat wave in United States and Mexico, 24 May to 19 June 2020	5,047 records
Heat wave in United States and Mexico, 26 March to 17 April 2021	3,669 records
Heat wave in Germany and 49 other countries, 18 December 2021 to 15 January 2022	3,626 records
Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024 (this event)	106 records

Every Record Set

20 of 106

Every record set or tied during Heat wave in Australia, 13 December 2023 to 7 January 2024, in date order
Date	Station	Record	Value	Margin	Years stood	Significance
2023-12-18	Gove Airport	Record high minimum temperature	28.7 C (83.7 F)	1.8 C (3.2 F)	22	24 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-19	Halls Creek Airport	Record high maximum temperature	46.1 C (115.0 F)	1.1 C (2.0 F)	35	41 of 100 (Notable)
2023-12-19	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high minimum temperature	29.3 C (84.7 F)	1.0 C (1.8 F)	68	32 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-19	Daly Waters AWS	Record high maximum temperature	41.9 C (107.4 F)	0.2 C (0.4 F)	56	24 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-19	Douglas River	Record high minimum temperature	27.2 C (81.0 F)	1.9 C (3.4 F)	8	22 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-23	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high minimum temperature	29.3 C (84.7 F)	0.9 C (1.6 F)	32	21 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-23	Pirlangimpi	Record high minimum temperature	28.0 C (82.4 F)	1.5 C (2.7 F)	20	21 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-24	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high minimum temperature	29.6 C (85.3 F)	2.6 C (4.7 F)	33	32 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-24	Gove Airport	Record high maximum temperature	38.0 C (100.4 F)	1.9 C (3.4 F)	56	30 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-24	Darwin Airport	Record high minimum temperature	29.6 C (85.3 F)	0.5 C (0.9 F)	36	21 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-27	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high minimum temperature	28.0 C (82.4 F)	1.0 C (1.8 F)	44	25 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-30	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high maximum temperature	35.1 C (95.2 F)	1.2 C (2.2 F)	68	33 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-30	Daly Waters AWS	Record high maximum temperature	42.4 C (108.3 F)	1.8 C (3.2 F)	64	32 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-30	Victoria River Downs	Record high maximum temperature	43.8 C (110.8 F)	2.1 C (3.8 F)	53	27 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-31	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high minimum temperature	27.9 C (82.2 F)	0.1 C (0.2 F)	68	27 of 100 (Routine)
2023-12-31	Victoria River Downs	Record high minimum temperature	30.6 C (87.1 F)	1.5 C (2.7 F)	33	22 of 100 (Routine)
2024-01-01	Darwin Airport	Record high minimum temperature	29.9 C (85.8 F)	0.6 C (1.1 F)	55	37 of 100 (Notable)
2024-01-01	Daly Waters AWS	Record high maximum temperature	42.7 C (108.9 F)	0.4 C (0.7 F)	60	27 of 100 (Routine)
2024-01-02	Darwin Airport	Record high maximum temperature	35.6 C (96.1 F)	0.4 C (0.7 F)	78	33 of 100 (Routine)
2024-01-04	Darwin Airport Comparison	Record high maximum temperature	35.3 C (95.5 F)	0.3 C (0.5 F)	68	28 of 100 (Routine)

The daily ledgers keep a limited number of records per day, so this list has 20 of the 106 records the event counts. The counts above use the full total.

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.

Margin (C)	Years the old record stood
1.1	35
0.6	55
0.4	78
1.2	68
2.6	33
1.0	68
1.8	64
1.9	56
0.3	68
0.1	68
0.4	60
2.1	53
1.0	44
1.8	22
0.2	56
1.5	33
1.9	8
0.5	36
0.9	32
1.5	20
0.1	52
0.2	50
1.5	38
0.8	32
0.6	36
0.3	32
0.3	32
0.3	5
1.0	21
0.8	24
0.8	32
0.3	36
0.2	36
0.2	40
0.2	42
0.6	20
0.6	20
0.3	34
1.2	5
0.1	37
0.4	32
0.2	34
0.6	20
2.6	4
0.2	20
0.6	20
0.4	32
0.3	17
0.7	22
0.1	37
0.9	20
0.7	5
0.7	10
0.3	24
0.8	17
0.9	4
0.7	5
1.4	4
0.6	16
1.3	4
0.8	1
0.6	4
0.3	12
1.1	4
1.8	4
1.1	4
1.4	8
0.4	1
0.5	1
0.6	1
0.6	8
0.7	8
0.3	12
1.4	1
0.2	4
0.7	5
0.6	1
0.6	5
0.9	4
1.3	9
0.3	10
0.3	4
0.6	0
0.3	8
0.3	4
1.3	2
0.3	9
0.6	2
0.4	5
0.3	8
0.3	5
0.2	5
0.4	0
0.2	4
0.7	4
0.4	8
0.9	4
0.2	4
0.2	4
0.1	9
0.1	4
0.3	0
0.1	4
0.2	4
0.1	1
0.1	4

Margin (C)	Years the old record stood
1.1	35
0.6	55
0.4	78
1.2	68
2.6	33
1.0	68
1.8	64
1.9	56
0.3	68
0.1	68
0.4	60
2.1	53
1.0	44
1.8	22
0.2	56
1.5	33
1.9	8
0.5	36
0.9	32
1.5	20
0.1	52
0.2	50
1.5	38
0.8	32
0.6	36
0.3	32
0.3	32
0.3	5
1.0	21
0.8	24
0.8	32
0.3	36
0.2	36
0.2	40
0.2	42
0.6	20
0.6	20
0.3	34
1.2	5
0.1	37
0.4	32
0.2	34
0.6	20
2.6	4
0.2	20
0.6	20
0.4	32
0.3	17
0.7	22
0.1	37
0.9	20
0.7	5
0.7	10
0.3	24
0.8	17
0.9	4
0.7	5
1.4	4
0.6	16
1.3	4
0.8	1
0.6	4
0.3	12
1.1	4
1.8	4
1.1	4
1.4	8
0.4	1
0.5	1
0.6	1
0.6	8
0.7	8
0.3	12
1.4	1
0.2	4
0.7	5
0.6	1
0.6	5
0.9	4
1.3	9
0.3	10
0.3	4
0.6	0
0.3	8
0.3	4
1.3	2
0.3	9
0.6	2
0.4	5
0.3	8
0.3	5
0.2	5
0.4	0
0.2	4
0.7	4
0.4	8
0.9	4
0.2	4
0.2	4
0.1	9
0.1	4
0.3	0
0.1	4
0.2	4
0.1	1
0.1	4