Often we’ll plan our longer bushwalking trips around school and public holidays. This could mean planning something as much as 6-12 months in advance. In these cases, how do you use weather predictions to figure out if the weather is likely to be good?

This involves long-term planning and using weather averages (climate data) for the area that you are planning to go bushwalking in.

The Bureau of Meteorology stores climate averages for NSW. For example, you may be interested in the number of rainy days per month so you can choose the month with the least rainy days to go walking in (this is typically what people seek to do when walking in Tasmania!). Similarly, you can use typical minimum and maximum temperatures to work out what season sleeping bag to carry with you (lightweight summer sleeping bag versus heavy winter sleeping bag).

The Bureau also has rainfall and temperature outlook charts, where the user can examine likely outcomes for rainfall and temperature patterns.