Adelaide's climate is Mediterranean: hot, dry summers and mild, wetter winters. March is the best month to visit — the summer heat has eased (though heatwaves are possible), the Adelaide Fringe, the Adelaide Festival of Arts (biennial, in even years), and WOMADelaide all happen in the same month, making it the most culturally alive the city gets. The Labour Day weekend in March during even-numbered years is particularly intense.
Autumn (April–May) is excellent: warm and settled, the festival crowds have dispersed, and the Barossa and McLaren Vale wine regions are in full harvest. Spring (September–October) is also pleasant. Summer (December–February) can be brutal — Adelaide occasionally records the highest temperature of any capital city in the world; 40°C days are not uncommon, and the city is prone to heatwaves of three or more days.
The Adelaide Oval hosts cricket in summer and AFL in winter. The Clipsal 500 (now the Adelaide 500) street race runs in November or December.