Friday, 3rd October 2003
MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - NSW REGIONAL OFFICERecord Heat and Very Dry Across Northern NSW: September 2003September 2003 Rainfall: Rainfall across
the State in September has varied from close to average
near the Victorian border districts to well below average in the
northern parts of the State with some areas of lowest on record
for September. However,
the geographic spread of normal conditions are are less extensive
in terms of the area of
the State: only the Southwest Slopes and Southern Tablelands
and parts of Eastern Riverina with rainfall decile ranges
between 4 and 7. These areas were subject to the effects
of a series of frontal systems that did not penetrate very far north.
Those systems brought some snow to the Snowy Mountains and down
to low elevations of around 900m on occasions. At the same time northern parts of the State were suffering dry and windy
conditions with above average temperatures which led to isolated
spot fires. See
Map 1
July to September 2003 Rainfall: The western parts of NSW experienced above average rainfall while below average rainfall occurred along the entirety of the coastal strip and adjacent ranges. Well below average conditions were experienced in the Northern Rivers and Mid-North Coast districts with record lowest rainfall around Grafton. In terms of rainfall amounts, the usually dry western areas have had more rain than the usually wetter areas about the northern river districts in this three month period. For example Nymagee (UW) has had 146 mm while Grafton (NR) has only had 17 mm in the three month period July to September 2003. See Map 2 September 2003 Temperatures: The mean monthly maximum temperatures for September have been mostly above average throughout the State grading from just a few degrees below normal in the southern border districts to above average by 3 to 4 degrees in the north. NSW hottest September temperatures occurred late in the month when several centres in northern NSW experienced their longest hot spell of extreme temperatures since 1965 eg Grafton experienced 6 days in a row above 33 °C between 22nd and 27th September. See Map 3 The mean monthly minimum temperatures have been within 2 degrees of normal for most of the State. See Map 4 Daily Records September 2003: Two
state records were recorded in September. White
Cliffs recorded the highest ever daytime maximum temperature in
NSW for the month of September at 39.5 °C on 22nd September. The
previous highest was 37.7°C on the 30th September 1973. Bourke recorded
the highest ever overnight minimum temperature for September at
25.8 °C on the 23rd September. The previous highest was 22 °C on
the 28th September 2000.
Further information:
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