Rio de Janeiro or Sydney: which climate?
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) has a tropical monsoon climate, whereas Sydney (Australia) has a temperate oceanic climate, according to the Köppen-Geiger classification.
The values compared here are normals computed over 86 complete calendar years, from 1940 to 2025, using ERA5 reanalysis data from the Copernicus programme. The same method and the same period apply to Rio de Janeiro and to Sydney.
Rio de Janeiro is warmer than Sydney by 5.7 °C in annual average: 23.4 °C against 17.7 °C.
Rio de Janeiro gets more rain than Sydney: 1,270 mm per year against 892 mm.
Sydney gets 10.2 hours of sunshine per day on average, against 9.6 hours in Rio de Janeiro.
Rio de Janeiro and Sydney are warming at the same rate: about +1.5 °C between 1940 and 2025 on both sides.
Rio de Janeiro averages 57 hot days (≥ 30 °C) and 0 frost days per year; Sydney averages 2 and 0.
Data from ERA5 reanalysis (Copernicus Climate Change Service), redistributed under a CC-BY 4.0 licence. Normals are recomputed whenever the archive is updated.
| Indicator | Rio de Janeiro | Sydney | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean daily temperature | 23.4 °C | 17.7 °C | -5.7 °C |
| Average daily high | 26.5 °C | 20.1 °C | -6.4 °C |
| Average daily low | 20.9 °C | 15.5 °C | -5.4 °C |
| Annual rainfall | 1,270 mm | 892 mm | -378 mm |
| Sunshine / day | 9.6 h | 10.2 h | +0.6 h |
| Hot days (≥ 30 °C) | 57 d/yr | 2 d/yr | -55 d/yr |
| Frost days (< 0 °C) | 0 d/yr | 0 d/yr | negligible |
| Rainy days (≥ 1 mm) | 157 d/yr | 116 d/yr | -41 d/yr |
| Mean relative humidity | 81 % | 72 % | -9 % |
| Average peak wind | 16.9 km/h | 25.9 km/h | +9.0 km/h |
A difference is only reported when it exceeds the resolution of the data. ERA5 is a reanalysis on a grid of about 31 km: two nearby cities often fall in the same cell, and below half a degree you are reading the grid, not the climate.