Weather in Warrnambool in July

A hard month. July asks something of you. Go in knowing what. You should expect rain on 17 days of the month, which is more days wet than dry.

July ranks 12 of 12 — near the bottom of Warrnambool's year. January is the month that works, and the swing between the two is 43 points, which is a different holiday rather than a slightly better one.

This is persistent light rain rather than storms: 17 wet days but only 2 heavy ones. It rarely cancels anything outright, and it rarely fully clears either. A jacket beats an umbrella. Layers, and a genuinely waterproof outer — at 13.2 °C the difference between a good day and a miserable one is entirely down to what you are wearing.

What the averages hide

Averages flatten a month, and this one hides a few things: the day barely swings — 3.5 °C between the overnight low and the afternoon high. Across the twenty years measured, the hottest July day reached 17.6 °C and the coldest night fell to 5.3 °C, and the wettest single day dropped 41 mm — roughly 46% of the month's rain in one day.

July is statistically steady but not small: the year-to-year variation is modest in relative terms, yet the wettest July on record still delivered 130 mm against 33 mm in the driest. In a month this wet, even a tame spread is a lot of rain in absolute terms — the 90 mm average is a reasonable planning figure, not a promise.

Wind sits around 21.9 km/h — a steady breeze rather than a nuisance, and welcome on the warmer days, and humidity runs at 80%, which at 13.2 °C means damp rather than muggy — the kind of cold that gets into a coat and stays there.

How July sits in the year

Temperatures hold steady either side: 13.9 °C in June, 13.2 here, 13.5 in August. Nothing about the timing within the month matters much.

Daylight in July

July sits at the dark end of Warrnambool's year — 9.7 hours of daylight against 14.8 at midsummer, gaining 0.6 hours across the month. Sightseeing days are genuinely shorter, and an itinerary built for summer will not fit.

Sea temperature

The sea sits at about 14.7 °C in July — cold — a quick dip rather than a swim, and a wetsuit if you are in for longer. The sea peaks at 17.9 °C in February and bottoms out at 13.6 °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.

July in Warrnambool versus nearby

If Warrnambool is one option among several, the nearby comparison is worth making. Ballarat is close enough to be a coin toss — 2.7 °C cooler, 5 days less rain. Mount Gambier is close enough to be a coin toss — within a degree on temperature, the same number of rain days.

So: July is a compromise. January is 43 points better and is what Warrnambool 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 Warrnambool

See all twelve months in Warrnambool, or where else to go in July.