Cairns Sea Temperature

Looking to find out what the sea water temperature in Cairns is for today and the next few days? Below are data and charts that will give you information about sea temperatures in Cairns and nearby locations.

Analysis and forecast for Cairns water temperatures

The water temperature in Cairns today is lower than the average temperature of 28.35° C (83.02° F) and the temperature on this day last year, 3rd December 2020, was 28.09° C (82.56° F).

The chart and table below shows the change in water temperature in Cairns over the last 30 days:

The actual nearshore temperatures may vary by several degrees and this can also be heavily affected by weather. Strong winds can cause cold, deep waters to replace the surface waters that had been warmed by the sun, and heavy rain can also reduce the temperature of the sea surface temperature as well.

Water temperature in Cairns by month

The chart below shows the monthly average water temperature in Cairns.

For more detailed information on how the sea temperature in Cairns changes for each month of the year, choose from the months below.

Cairns map and nearby water temperatures

Locations near Cairns

Trinity Beach

Australia, Australia and Oceania

10.39 miles away

Clifton Beach

Australia, Australia and Oceania

12.77 miles away

Palm Cove

Australia, Australia and Oceania

13.96 miles away

Green Island

Australia, Australia and Oceania

17.41 miles away

The highest temperature in Australia today is 31.75° C (89.15° F) in Darwin. The lowest is in Goodwood, where the temperature of the water is 13.65° C (56.57° F).

Why measure sea surface temperatures (SST) in Cairns?

The ocean covers about 71% of the Earth's surface, and scientists record the sea surface temperature (SST) of locations such as Cairns because they want to understand and learn how the ocean communicates with the atomosphere of Earth.

SST is one measure that provides information on the global climate, and it can be used to predict the weather in Cairns as well as atmospheric model simulations and to study marine ecosystems in the area.

Data source and citation

Raw data for the calculations made to find the sea surface temperature in Cairns comes from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and their 1/4° daily Optimum Interpolation Sea Surface Temperature.

The water temperature data is constructed by combining observations from different platforms (satellites, ships, buoys, and Argo floats) on a regular global grid. A spatially complete sea surface temperature map is then built by interpolating to fill in gaps in the data.

If you'd like to use any of the information above in the format it is presented, please use the citation tool below.