Queensland

Queensland’s long-term (1890 to 2023) state-averaged annual rainfall is 618mm. This total is highly variable on both an annual and a decadal basis. State-averaged annual rainfall totals for Queensland have ranged from 276mm in 1902 (during the Federation Drought) to 1,132mm in 2010.

More recently, 2012 (the last of six consecutive wetter-than-average years) was followed by eight years of mainly drier-than-average rainfall conditions (2013 to 2020), with many areas experiencing drought.

After 2020, much of Queensland experienced a return to average or above-average annual rainfall. However, drier-than-average rainfall conditions resumed in Queensland’s southeast during 2023.

• From 2013 to 2020, Queensland’s state-averaged annual rainfall (532mm) was the lowest for any eight years since 1960 to 1967 (530mm).
• The rainfall percentile maps presented below show the changes in the rainfall across Queensland from 2012 to 2023.
• From mid-2015 to early 2017, more than 80% of Queensland was drought-declared under state government processes.
• In 2019, the state-averaged annual rainfall (482mm) was 22% below the long-term average and lowest since 2005 (462 mm). Record low annual rainfall was recorded across much of southeastern Queensland.
• At least 65% of Queensland remained drought-declared until early 2022.
• In 2022, the state-averaged annual rainfall (780mm) was 26% above the long-term average and highest since 2011 (820mm). Record high annual rainfall was recorded in parts of southeastern Queensland.
• At the end of 2023, rainfall totalled 704mm for the year, and only 10% of Queensland remained drought-declared.
• On 1 May 2024, the drought status was finally revoked for any remaining drought-declared government areas.

The rainfall percentile maps presented below show the changes in the rainfall across Queensland from 2012 to 2023.

© Queensland Government

Long-term (1980-2023) average annual rainfall (mm), plotted by the Qld Government DESI using gridded data sourced from the SILO historical climate database. The gridded data is interpolated from Bureau of Meteorology point observations.

© Queensland Government

Rainfall percentiles, plotted by the Queensland Government DESI using gridded data sourced from the SILO historical climate database. The gridded data is interpolated from Bureau of Meteorology point observations. Percentile base-period 1890-2023