Weather in Townsville in February

A hard month. February is a hard month in Townsville, and worth planning around. You should expect rain on 18 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

February ranks 11 of 12 — near the bottom of Townsville's year. August is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 55 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

Rain on 18 days, 6 of them heavy. Enough to need a plan B, not enough to need a plan around it. Pack for 31.7 °C days and 24.8 °C nights; the spread matters more here than any single number.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: 20 days top 30 °C, making the heat continuous rather than occasional. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest February day reached 40.5 °C and the coldest night fell to 19 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 108 mm — roughly 46% of the month's rain in one day.

February is moderately variable: 23 mm in the driest year against 705 mm in the wettest, around an average of 236 mm. Roughly two Februarys in three land near that average, and the third does something else entirely.

Wind is light at 11.3 km/h, so the temperature on the page is close to the temperature on your skin, and humidity runs at 79%, high enough to notice on the warm days without dominating them.

How February sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 32.4 °C in January, 31.7 here, 30.8 in March. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in February

12.7 hours of daylight, losing 0.5 hours across the month. That is between Townsville's extremes of 13.3 and 11 hours, so days are long enough not to constrain the plan.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 29 °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 Townsville versus nearby

If Townsville is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Airlie Beach is a better bet in February — 2.1 °C cooler, the same number of rain days. Cairns is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, 5 days more rain.

So: February is a compromise. August is 52 points better and is what Townsville 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 Townsville

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