Sydney has a temperate climate with warm summers and mild winters. Rainfall is spread throughout the year. The weather is moderated by proximity to the ocean, and more extreme temperatures are recorded in the inland western suburbs. The warmest month is January, with an average air temperature range at Observatory Hill of 18.6�25.8 �C (65�78 �F). An average of 14.6 days a year have temperatures of more than 30 �C (86.0 �F).
In winter, temperatures rarely drop below 5 �C (41 �F) in coastal areas. The coldest month is July, with an average range of 8.0�16.2 �C (46�61 �F). Rainfall is fairly evenly spread through the year, but is slightly higher during the first half of the year, when easterly winds dominate. The average annual rainfall, with moderate to low variability, is 1,217 mm (48 in), with rain falling on an average of 138 days a year. Snowfall was last reported in the Sydney City area in 1836. However, a July 2008 fall of graupel, or soft hail, mistaken by many for snow, has raised the possibility that the 1836 event was not snow, either. Extreme temperatures have ranged from 45.3 �C (113.5 �F) on 14 January 1939 at the end of a four-day heatwave across Australia and 2.1 �C (35.8 �F), the lowest recorded minimum at Observatory Hill.
The city is not affected by cyclones. The El Ni�o Southern Oscillation plays an important role in determining Sydney's weather patterns: drought and bushfire on the one hand, and storms and flooding on the other, associated with the opposite phases of the oscillation. Many areas of the city bordering bushland have experienced bushfires, these tend to occur during the spring and summer. The city is also prone to severe hail storms and wind storms. One such storm was the 1999 hailstorm, which severely damaged Sydney's eastern and city suburbs. The storm produced massive hailstones of at least 9 cm (3.5 in) in diameter and resulting in insurance losses of around A$1.7 billion in less than five hours. The next notable
