Average monthly temperatures and the average number of hours of sunshine

The line chart and table detail both average annual temperatures and total hours of sunshine in a given year in London, New York, and Sydney. Overall, London and New York display broadly similar four-season climates, though the extremes are more pronounced in New York while Sydney has a reverse weather pattern with milder overall temperatures. In terms of overall sunshine, New York leads, followed closely by Sydney and distantly by London.

Looking first of all at London and New York, both undergo serious drops in temperature beginning in November as the former falls to just over 10 degrees Celsius, intersecting the latter at the same point. From there, temperatures in New York plummet throughout the winter with a low of under 5°C in January and February, while London bottoms out at around 9 degrees. Both rise steadily in the spring and peak in summer at around 23°C for London and nearly 30°C for New York. In contrast, Sydney is warmest from December to February (plateauing at over 25 degrees) and cools steadily to under 15 degrees from June to October.

Overall sunshine shows a different pattern with New York (2,535 hours) and Sydney (2,473) proximate and London much lower at 1,180.