מזג האוויר בביירון ביי במאי

May is late autumn here and regulars describe it in two halves of a day rather than two halves of a month: glorious while the sun is up, cooler once it is not, so the packing list is a t-shirt with a light long-sleeve over it and something for the evening. Our row gives 24.4C days falling to 14.4C nights, which is the ten-degree gap behind that advice. The summer humidity has gone - ours reads 75 percent against the wet season's higher figures - and rain has thinned to 69.1mm across 6.8 days. The sea holds 19.5C, swimmable for the acclimatised rather than warm. The record: 8.6 hours of sun inside 10.8 of daylight, a 13.3 kph wind and AQI 33.

Forum posters describe July temperatures in Byron Bay as commonly around 19-20C most days, mild for the depths of Australian winter thanks to the town's far-northern New South Wales location, warmer overall than beaches further south. Posters are consistent that Byron Bay is worth visiting any time of year, with shorts still perfectly reasonable daywear, though a wetsuit becomes genuinely necessary for winter swimming or surfing. Posters recommend long pants or, for women, tights under a skirt for cooler evening outings. Posters generally rate July as mild and pleasant by regional winter standards for Byron Bay, workable for outdoor exploring even if the water itself runs cold.

January in Byron Bay is hot, wet and packed all at once. The forum's summary is that it either rains or is stinking hot, with school holidays running to late January, accommodation at peak prices and booked well ahead, and the town super-packed at weekends. The record backs the wet half: near fourteen rain-days, against 27°C by day and 22 overnight, with the sea at 25. Regulars' fix for the heat is timing — start walks at first light. Their fix for everything else is to come in April or May instead.