1 September 2009

MEDIA RELEASE

Climate records broken

The latest temperatures recorded by the Bureau of Meteorology show that August 2009 will go down in the record books as Australia’s warmest August, while winter was only 0.01°C away from setting a record.

Dr David Walland, of the Bureau of Meteorology National Climate Centre, said “August was a most extraordinary month, with Australian mean temperatures 2.47°C above the long-term average, breaking the previous record by 0.98°C”.

He said “August saw particularly high day-time temperatures, with the national mean maximum being 3.20°C above average, which was 1.14°C above the previous record set in 2006”.

August culminated in a record-breaking heat-wave during the second half of the month which saw maximum temperatures in excess of 37°C across Western Australia, New South Wales, Queensland and the Northern Territory, including new state August records for New South Wales (37.8°C at Mungindi on the 24th) and Queensland (38.5°C at Bedourie on the 29th). 87 stations with long-term records set new August record high maximum temperatures.

Abnormally warm conditions in June and July combined with record breaking heat during August to give an Australian-wide mean winter temperature of 16.6°C, some 1.33°C above average, which fell 0.01°C short of the previous record set in 1996. NSW, South Australia and Victoria all had their warmest winters on record.

“Every state and territory experienced above average temperatures during winter”, Dr Walland said.

The outlook for the coming spring suggests that above average temperatures are likely across the whole of Australia. This is a result of recent warm conditions in the Indian Ocean as well as warming in the Pacific. The seasonal outlook is available from http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/ahead/temps_ahead.shtml

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