Weather in Launceston in August

A hard month. August is a hard month in Launceston, and worth planning around. Highs sit at 12.9 °C and the day is short; this is an indoors-with-excursions month, not an outdoors-all-day one.

August ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Launceston's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 41 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 16 days, 3 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 12.9 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

The averages here are honest — no hidden extremes worth planning around. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest August day reached 17.9 °C and the coldest night fell to -1.1 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 47 mm — roughly 44% of the month's rain in one day.

August is moderately variable: 35 mm in the driest year against 250 mm in the wettest, around an average of 107 mm. Roughly two Augusts in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 9.3 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 88%, which at 12.9 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How August sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 12.2 °C in July, 12.9 here, 14.8 in September. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in August

10.4 hours of daylight, gaining 1.2 hours across the month. That is between Launceston's extremes of 15.1 and 9.2 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 12.5 °C in August — too cold to swim without a wetsuit. The sea peaks at 18.3 °C in February and bottoms out at 12.5 °C — water lags the air by a month or two, which is why the best swimming often comes after the best weather.

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.

August in Launceston versus nearby

If Launceston is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Devonport is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days. Burnie is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 3 days more rain.

So: August is a compromise. January is 41 points better and is what Launceston 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 Launceston

See all twelve months in Launceston, or where else to go in August.