1 JUNE 2006

MEDIA RELEASE

Record May caps off warmest autumn in eastern Australia

Four Australian states have just experienced a record warm May contributing to the warmest autumn on record for eastern Australia, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s National Climate Centre.

May 2007 was the warmest on record for all four eastern states: Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania.

According to Dr David Jones, Head of Climate Analysis, “ The only eastern regions where record high temperatures were not recorded was around the Queensland and New South Wales border and across the top of Queensland from the north-west to Cape York Peninsula. ”

“ Western Australia was also much warmer than normal but did not exceed the exceptional temperatures recorded there in 2005,” Dr Jones said.

Over the entire continent, it was the warmest May since the 1958 record.

The most notable feature of autumn in eastern Australia was the lack of any significant cold weather, either by day or by night.

Canberra had only its second autumn without nights falling below 0°C, while Hobart remained above 5°C and Launceston above 1°C for the first time. Melbourne had only 21 days where the maximum was below 20°C during autumn, again a record. In contrast, Georgetown in Queensland reached 30°C on every day of autumn – the first time this has occurred.

Autumn was marked by consistent warmth rather than extreme heat-waves – except in the tropics during the first week of May when an exceptional heatwave affected much of tropical Australia, extending to parts of southern Queensland and northern New South Wales.

Warmer temperatures were also experienced in New Zealand and at Australia’s eastern Antarctic stations.

The Bureau will provide final figures in a Special Climate Statement on Monday 4 June on the Bureau website.

Further information:
Dr David Jones, Head of Climate Analysis, Bureau of Meteorology, mob: 0400 132 764
Dr Michael Coughlin, Manager National Climate Centre, Bureau of Meteorology, mob: 0409 015 872
David Grant, Media Relations Adviser, Bureau of Meteorology, mob: 0439 452 424

Ends