Airlie Beach Weather In July

July is a special time of year in Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays because the weather is normally beautiful and there are humpback whales everywhere!

TEMPERATURE

In July, Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays are a pleasure to be in with day time temperatures rarely going above 24 degrees and at night it will start to get down below 20 degrees.

In July, being winter, we strongly recommend you take a decent jumper with you if heading out on the water. If you are just hanging around Airlie Beach itself, then a t-shirt should be fine.

This is normally the time of year that we as locals start getting called ‘sooks’ by our friends from Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide. Cool for them is cold to us.

RAIN

July is a dry month with very little rain in Airlie Beach and just like most other months, the majority of the rain we do get falls at night.

It is really rare to get any decent amount of rain here in July.

WIND

Trade winds blow from the south-east through The Whitsundays in winter and can vary in strength. The average wind forecast in July will normally indicate 15-20 knots south-east.

This might be a lot of wind on the Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast, but here we have 74 islands to hide behind. It’s not until we see 25-30 knots that we consider it to be windy.

SEA CONDITIONS

July is the middle of our whale season and there is certainly a lot of them to see. Mostly we get visited by Humpback whales though we do also have encounters with the smaller Minke and Pilot whales. Minke whales are much more likely to come close to snorkel areas, and while we certainly do not recommend swimming after them, you just may be lucky enough to have one of these curious, gentle giants swim past you.

The humpback whales migrate north to our waters to give birth to calves and feed on the abundance of plankton and krill. Imagine yourself lying on Whitehaven Beach watching whales breaching just offshore. This is a real thing, that happens regularly in July.

The swell in The Whitsundays never exceeds 1.5 meters, so spotting these fantastic creatures is easy.

airlie beach weather in july whales

There is no dedicated whale watching boats in The Whitsundays, but we see them all the time on Thundercat.

Thundercat was specifically built to be stable and comfortable all year round, no matter what the weather throws our way. Click here to check it out.

thundercat whitsundays

SO SHOULD YOU VISIT AIRLIE BEACH IN JUly?

Most definitely yes. July in Airlie Beach and The Whitsundays is one of those really special times of year that the local all love. The thrill of being able to see these giants at play is something that you will never forget.

Unlike the large, crowded whale watching boats in Hervey Bay, we see the whales while going about our daily runs to Whitehaven Beach.