Weather in Cairns in February

A hard month. February asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 23 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

February ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Cairns's year. August is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 49 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 23 of the month's 28 days, 11 of them heavy. At that frequency a wet-weather backup is not a contingency, it is the itinerary — book the indoor things first and treat the clear days as the bonus. Natural fibres and a second shirt for the day. At 88% nothing dries, including you.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 16 days top 30 °C — hot spells arrive, but they break; the day barely swings — 5.2 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 37.7 °C and the coldest night fell to 21.5 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 105 mm — roughly 27% of the month's rain in one day.

February is moderately variable: 106 mm in the driest year against 790 mm in the wettest, around an average of 392 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 5.3 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity at 88% is the real story though — it is the number that decides how the day feels, not the 30.4 °C.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 30.9 °C in January, 30.4 here, 29.4 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

February is at or near the longest days of Cairns's year: 12.7 hours of daylight, losing 0.4 hours across the month. Evenings are the real gain — dinner outdoors still happens in full light.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29.2 °C in February — warm enough that the water offers no relief from the heat. This is the warmest the water gets all year.

How busy it gets

Off season. The genuine off season: cheapest by a distance, with the caveat that some tours and restaurants close entirely.

Crowd levels are estimated from climate desirability and school-holiday calendars, not from visitor numbers.

February in Cairns versus nearby

If Cairns is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Port Douglas is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Townsville is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 5 days less rain.

So: February is a compromise. August is 47 points better and is what Cairns is actually like at its best — worth moving the trip for if that is possible, and worth adjusting expectations for if it is not.

Every month in Cairns

See all twelve months in Cairns, or where else to go in February.