Australian climate zones

Your Home uses the 8 Australian climate zones defined by the National Construction Code (NCC) of Australia and published by the Australian Building Codes Board.

Understanding which climate zone you’re in is important to ensure that your home is built to suit your local conditions. The NCC has different building code requirements for each climate zone. Within each zone are many regional subzones, determined by local geographic features such as wind patterns and height above sea level. These local conditions should also be considered when designing your home.

Source: Australian Building Codes Board

Source: Australian Building Codes Board

National Construction Code climate zones

The 8 NCC climate zones are as follows:

• Zone 1 - northern Australia from Exmouth (Western Australia) across the country to south of Townsville (Queensland).
• Zone 2 - coastal Queensland from north of Mackay (Queensland) down to just south of Coffs Harbour (New South Wales).
• Zone 3 - northern central Australia from Carnarvon on the Western Australian coast across the deserts to Alice Springs and north of Tennant Creek (Northern Territory), to Mount Isa (Queensland) and down the Queensland hinterland to the New South Wales border, but not the coast, and to Charleville (Queensland).
• Zone 4 - most of southern central Australia from the Western Australian coastal hinterland across most of inland South Australia, inland New South Wales and inland Victoria, encompassing Yalgoo, Warburton, Coober Pedy, Whyalla, Broken Hill, Mildura, Bourke, Tamworth, and Albury-Wodonga.
• Zone 5 - several regions across the country: – the coastal strip of Western Australia from 27 to 34 degrees south encompassing Geraldton, Perth and Bunbury – a coastal strip encompassing Esperance (Western Australia) – a coastal strip encompassing Eucla (Western Australia) – coastal areas of South Australia encompassing Ceduna and Adelaide and some hinterland areas north of Whyalla and east of Adelaide – a coastal strip of New South Wales encompassing Wollongong, Sydney, Newcastle up to 32 degrees south – a hinterland strip west of Brisbane (Queensland).
• Zone 6 -  several regions across the country – coastal and hinterland strip of southern Western Australia encompassing Albany – hinterland north of Adelaide (South Australia), coastal and hinterland area from Kangaroo Island and Adelaide around coastal and hinterland Victoria encompassing Ballarat and Melbourne – the coastal strip of southern and hinterland New South Wales west of Sydney as far north as 28 degrees south.
• Zone 7 - sub-alpine areas of Victoria and southern New South Wales: – the south-eastern coast of Victoria – a small area around Glen Innes (New South Wales) – most of Tasmania and Bass Strait islands.
• Zone 8 - alpine areas of Victoria, New South Wales, and Tasmania.

Building for a changing climate

The NCC climate zones reflect current climate conditions. However, Australia’s climate is projected to continue to change, with average temperatures expected to increase and heatwaves expected to become more common for all parts of Australia. Projections of how climate change may affect the future climate of Australia have been developed by the CSIRO and the Bureau of Meterology and can be found on the climate change in Australia website.

When buying, building, or renovating a home, it is important to consider both the current and predicted future climate of your region. Careful planning and responsible building practices can ensure your home will remain energy- and water-efficient and comfortable for you to live in for years to come.

NatHERS Climate zones and other climate data

The Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS) uses 69 local climate zones to generate home energy ratings. You may find it useful to understand which NatHERS climate zone you are located in. This can be located by postcode using an interactive map on the NatHERS website. The website also has climate data for each NatHERS climate zone. For more information on NatHERS, refer to Building rating tools.

You can also find climate data for your local area at the Bureau of Meteorology.