Tasmania Geography & Climate

Tasmania sits 240 km south of the mainland across Bass Strait, at a latitude that in the northern hemisphere would put it alongside Rome — but with no land between it and Antarctica to moderate the weather.

The west takes the full force of the Roaring Forties: temperate rainforest, button grass and a coastline of almost no settlement. The air at Cape Grim in the northwest is measured as the cleanest in the world, and is the global baseline against which other air is compared.

The central highlands are a glaciated dolerite plateau of lakes and alpine moor, holding Cradle Mountain and the Overland Track. Roughly a fifth of the island is inscribed as the Tasmanian Wilderness World Heritage Area.

The drier east holds the beaches, the wine valleys and most of the population, with Hobart under Mount Wellington on the Derwent estuary.

Tasmania is cool temperate and the most maritime climate in Australia. The Roaring Forties blow onto the west coast unobstructed, which is why the west is wet — over 2,000 mm a year in places — and the east, in its rain shadow, is comparatively dry.

Summers are mild rather than hot, typically low twenties, with long daylight into the evening. Winters are cold and wet by Australian standards, with snow on the highlands and occasionally at sea level.

The weather changes fast and the highlands are exposed. Snow can fall on the Overland Track in any month of the year — hikers are caught out in January, not only July.

UV is extreme despite the cool air, because of the thinner ozone at this latitude. Burns happen on cold days.