Friday, 1 March 2002

MEDIA RELEASE - NSW REGIONAL OFFICE

A wet, cloudy and humid February for Sydney

Sydney last month experienced its wettest February since 1992, with 348 millimetres of rain falling at Observatory Hill. A total of 409mm fell for the month in 1992. This year, most heavy rain fell in the first week of February, and the wettest day was the 5th with 130mm. The wettest suburb was Cronulla with 424mm. The 21 rain days for the month was also well above average and the highest since 1990, which had 22 rain days.

Humidity was high and averaged 81 per cent at 9am. Average sunshine hours was only 5.0 hours a day, the lowest on record at Sydney airport since records started in 1977. The previous record low was 5.3 hours in 1992. There were two days with thunderstorms, and one day - 8 February - with hail. Hail stones of up to 3 centimetres were reported.

Summer 2001-2002 (December to February)

Rainfall of 487mm made the summer of 2001-02 the wettest since 1991-92, when 665mm fell. Most of the rain fell in February, with below average rainfall in December and January. The average maximum and minimum temperatures were slightly above average. The highest temperature was 37 degrees Celsius on 1 January and the lowest was 15 degrees on 28 December.

Hours of sunshine were below average. There were eight thunderstorms (average nine). The major bushfires around Sydney in the Christmas-New Year period caused extensive property loss. Thick smoke haze from fires produced Sydney's worst-ever air pollution. A wind gust of 174 km/h during a severe thunderstorm at Richmond on 3 December was the highest reading on record in mainland New South Wales.


Climate summary for Sydney,
February 2002 and summer 2001-2002

February Summer
2002 Average 2001 2001-02 Average 2000-01
Average maximum
temperature (°C)		 25.2 26.0* 27.3 26.2 25.7* 27.4
Average minimum
temperature (°C)		 19.1 19.3* 20.6 19.1 18.7* 20.2
Mean
temperature (°C)		 22.1 22.7* 23.9 22.7 22.2* 23.8
Rain
(mm)		 348.2 116.1# 109.0 486.6 298.7+ 341.8
Number of
rain days		 21 12 13 41 35 31
Average daily
sunshine (hours)		 5.0 7.3 7.1 7.1 7.6 7.6

* Long-term averages calculated since site change in 1947.
# Median February rainfall is 91mm.
+ Median summer rainfall is 262mm (The median is the middle value of rainfall totals for all years and is independent of the average).

Ends

Further information:
Mike De Salis, Climate and Consultative Service, tel: (02) 9296 1542, e-mail: reqnsw@bom.gov.au

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