This paper describes the electrical characteristics of ZnO surge arresters associated with the variation of surrounding conditions. To investigate the deterioration behaviors of ZnO surge arresters due to lightning surges, 8/20[${mu}s$], 2.5[kA] impulse currents were injected to the ZnO surge arrester under test. The leakage currents of ZnO surge arrester subject to power frequency AC voltage were measured in different surrounding temperature and wet conditions. As a result, it was found that the leakage current is increased and its asymmetry is pronounced as the number of injection of the impulse current and the ambient temperature increase. Also, in the wet test the outside leakage current flowing through the housing surface of the ZnO surge arrester is much larger than the intrinsic leakage current of ZnO surge arrester element. The results obtained in this work can be a lied as factors of improving the reliability and performance of monitoring system for surge arresters.