Thermarate

Tools · Climate lab

Two maps. Two zones.

Every site in Australia has an NCC climate zone and a NatHERS climate zone, and they come from different maps. Type a suburb or postcode to find both, then see the site’s climate and what usually works there.

Start typing, then choose from the list.

Climate zones
  1. 1High humidity summer, warm winter
  2. 2Warm humid summer, mild winter
  3. 3Hot dry summer, warm winter
  4. 4Hot dry summer, cool winter
  5. 5Warm temperate
  6. 6Mild temperate
  7. 7Cool temperate
  8. 8Alpine
  • 13NatHERS zone, by postcode when zoomed in
  • NatHERS zone border
  • Postcode border, zoomed in
  • Postcode with an alternative NatHERS zone
Drag the map, or move it with two fingers on a phone. Pinch or Ctrl-scroll to zoom, and click or tap anywhere to look up the nearest suburb. Zoomed in, each postcode shows its principal NatHERS zone, then any alternatives after a slash. NatHERS zones are drawn on the ABS’s postcode areas, which follow Australia Post’s postcodes closely but not exactly.

01Climate lab

What usually works, climate by climate.

Choose a suburb above, or try a climate zone below. The scales follow Your Home, the Australian Government’s guide to sustainable homes, for the site’s NCC climate zone, with the insulation kept in line with the NCC’s own rules. The climate comes from the NatHERS climate file for the site’s zone. Most of what works is design: orientation, shading, mass and breezes. Insulation and glazing then only need to suit the design, and a rating of the real design shows where an upgrade helps and where it doesn’t.

PerthNCC climate zone 5 · NatHERS zone 13

Warm temperate

Showing Perth until you choose a suburb.

Try another climate

One place in each NCC climate zone, from the tropics to the alps.

The climate · NatHERS zone 13, Perth

    General guidance for the climate, not advice for a particular site or design. Conditions vary within a zone, and a site’s own exposure, slope and neighbours can change the answer. The insulation rows keep broadly to the NCC’s Deemed-to-Satisfy rules for a single-storey home. NSW homes meet BASIX instead, and the NT has its own version. A NatHERS assessment tests the real design in the site’s climate.

    Get a quote for this site How a Performance Solution can cost less

    SourcesThe scales and their reasons follow Your Home’s Design for climate, Orientation, Shading, Passive heating, Passive cooling, Thermal mass, Insulation, Glazing and Ventilation and airtightness pages, at yourhome.gov.au, © Commonwealth of Australia 2026, licensed under CC BY 4.0 and adapted here. The climate figures are worked out from each NatHERS zone’s climate file, a typical year of hourly weather: summer is December to February and winter June to August, and the sun on each wall comes from the file’s own sunshine. The insulation and roof space rows are checked against the ABCB Housing Provisions, Parts 13.2 and 10.8, in NCC 2022. The National Construction Code 2022 was provided by the Australian Building Codes Board under the CC BY 4.0 licence.

    02Two maps, two jobs

    Same site. Different zones.

    The NCC’s eight climate zones were drawn by the ABCB from Bureau of Meteorology data. They decide which Deemed-to-Satisfy energy provisions apply to a building, and in zones 2 to 7, a Performance Solution under H6V2 has to meet the heating test and the cooling test separately.

    NatHERS has 69 zones of its own, allocated by postcode, each with its own year of typical hourly weather. They set the star bands a rating is measured against, and the weather the model runs through.

    So the numbers don’t line up. Perth is NCC climate zone 5 and NatHERS climate zone 13. Mandurah is NCC zone 5 too, but NatHERS zone 54.

    NCC climate zonesNatHERS climate zonesH6V2

    03Near a boundary

    A guide, not a ruling.

    NCC climate zones follow the ABCB’s map, not suburb or council boundaries, so a suburb near the edge of a zone can sit in two. Where another zone is within 5 km, the finder says so: check the exact address on the ABCB climate map.

    NatHERS gives every postcode a principal climate zone, and some postcodes an alternative or two, for example where part of a postcode is on the coast or up a range. An assessor uses the principal zone unless it doesn’t represent the site’s climate, such as at a different altitude. They can then use only an alternative listed for that postcode, and must record why on the certificate. The finder shows the principal zone first, and the Climate lab can switch to an alternative.

    SourcesThe Australian Climate Zone Map was provided by the Australian Building Codes Board under the CC BY 4.0 licence; we tested each suburb’s location against it. NatHERS climate zones by postcode, September 2025, named for the weather stations of the NatHERS climate files. Postcode areas and suburb names on the map: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Postal Areas and Suburbs and Localities, ASGS Edition 4 (2026), CC BY 4.0. Suburb locations from GeoNames, CC BY 4.0. ABCB, Climate Map FAQs. NatHERS Technical Note, October 2024, on choosing the climate zone.

    Pathway Check

    Which route suits your design?

    Send your plans and we’ll compare the routes, including when the answer is NatHERS.

    Request a Pathway Check