If you thought Melbourne’s summer felt more like a typical Brisbane summer this year, you wouldn’t be alone.

Across the east coast, Australians sweated through a humid summer with higher-than-average rainfall – particularly in December and January.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued national advice on Friday, the first day of autumn, showing Australia experienced its third-warmest summer on record in 2023-24, with average temperatures 1.65 degrees above the 1961–90 average. It said summer was marked by “persistent and widespread heat”.

Significantly warmer temperatures in the Coral and Tasman seas (2 to 3 degrees above average) drove the increased rainfall on the east coast, Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said.

“That abnormally warm water caused more evaporation, which put more moisture into the atmosphere to fuel rain-bearing systems, and Victoria certainly saw its fair share of rain in December and January,” he said.

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“That’s something we have been seeing more in the modern climate – not just in the Australian region, but globally. In 2023, ocean temperatures were the warmest on record for the globe.

“The warm ocean temperatures off the east coast of Australia combined with easterly winds, which means winds were blowing that moisture-laden air from the atmosphere over the Tasman Sea across south-eastern Australia – that’s what fuelled that rainfall.”

The summer’s single hottest temperature, a blistering 49.9 degrees, was recorded at Carnarvon Airport in Western Australia on February 18.