Friday, 6 October 2006

SEASONAL CLIMATE SUMMARY - NORTHERN TERRITORY

Cool Dry Season - Northern Territory, May to September 2006

The 2006 dry season (May to September inclusive) started with a flourish, following the demise of TC Monica in the north. May and June were both substantially cooler than normal throughout the Territory, in both day and night-time temperatures. In the north, cooler than average conditions persisted throughout the season, in stark contrast to the 2005 dry season, which was warmer than normal. Averaged over the whole of the Territory, the 2006 dry season was 0.39^oC cooler than average, compared to 1.15^oC warmer than average in 2005. In general, the largest departures from the long-term seasonal average were about the Victoria River to Roper McArthur districts, though each weather district in the Territory had some weather observing sites that broke cold temperature records of some description. See the records tables for details.

Darwin Airport overnight minimum temperature averaged over the season was 19.43^oC, 1.6^oC below normal and colder than any other season in the historical record. The previous coldest was 19.47^oC in 1976. Records began at Darwin Airport in 1941. Darwin Airport also reported 87 nights of 20^oC or lower, the equal second highest number of cool nights on record. 1976 had the most such nights, at 95, while 2002 also had 87 nights of 20^oC or below. The average maximum temperature at Darwin Airport was 30.9^oC, 0.5^oC below normal (but not a record).

The Territory experienced a widespread rainfall event in the middle of July, which accounted for most of the rain recorded during the season. The exception was the far northeast corner, around Nhulunbuy, which experienced more regular shower activity. Consequently rainfall this season was generally less than average, particularly over southern parts of the Territory.

A table of Territory extremes, some new records, and summaries for sites across the Territory appear below.

Extremes

Weather extremes during May to September 2006
Highest temperature Hottest day	39.4 °C	Douglas River on the 29th Sep and Bradshaw on the 29th Sep
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	34.8 °C	Bradshaw
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	21.7 °C	Arltunga and Kulgera
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	10.5 °C	Watarrka on the 14th Jul
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-4.8 °C	Arltunga on the 21st Jun
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	5.6 °C	Alice Springs Airport
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Warmest nights on average	21.9 °C	Warruwi AWS
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	25.5 °C	Point Fawcett AWS on the 24th Sep and Wulungurru AWS on the 28th Sep
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	204.6 mm	Gove Airport *
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	58.0 mm	Docker River * on the 13th Jul

Records

Record Lowest Mean Maximum Temperature for May to September 2006
	Mean daily maximum temperature (°C)	Previous lowest		Years of record
Larrimah	30.0	30.2	in 1985	35
Victoria River Downs	29.7	30.5	in 1994	30
Gove Airport	28.0	28.1	in 1972	25
Timber Creek	31.2	31.8	in 1982	24
Mango Farm	31.4	32.2	in 1982	22
Alyangula Police	28.5	28.8	in 2000	21
Katherine Aviation Museum	30.4	31.5	in 1994	19
Ali Curung	26.1	26.2	in 1989	15
Wollogorang	29.6	30.7	in 2000	15
Borroloola AWS	30.3	30.9	in 1971	11
Douglas River	31.9	32.2	in 1968	11

Record Lowest Mean Daily Minimum Temperature for May to September 2006
	Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	Previous lowest		Years of record
Darwin Airport	19.4	19.5	in 1976	64
Daly Waters AWS	11.8	12.0	in 1946	35
Yuendumu	7.6	8.0	in 2001	29
Timber Creek	14.9	15.1	in 2002	25
Tindal RAAF AWS	13.2	14.1	in 1999	18
Lajamanu AWS	9.9	10.9	in 2002	10

Record Highest Daily Minimum Temperature for May to September 2006
	Highest daily minimum temperature (°C)		Previous highest		Years of record
Curtin Springs	22.4	on the 28th Sep	22.2	on the 23rd Aug 1995	38
Yulara Aero AWS	24.2	on the 28th Sep	21.8	on the 4th May 1997	16

Summaries

Summary statistics for May to September 2006
	Maximum temperatures (°C)			Minimum temperatures (°C)			Rainfall (mm)
	Mean	Difference from normal	Highest	Mean	Difference from normal	Lowest	Total	Normal total
Ali Curung	26.1	-1.2	37.4	8.9	-1.5	1.0	36	37
Alice Springs Airport	22.4	-0.1	36.1	5.6	-1.2	-3.8	38	67
Alyangula Police	28.5	-1.0	31.9	18.6	-0.6	13.2	4	49
Arltunga	21.7		34.1	5.7		-4.8	13	57
Batchelor Aero AWS	31.9		38.0	16.5		9.1	0
Black Point	30.2	-0.2	33.9	21.5	-0.6	15.8	10	51
Borroloola AWS	30.3	-1.7	36.9	12.9	-1.7	5.5	5
Brunette Downs	28.2	-1.1	38.5	11.8	-1.4	3.0	0	27
Centre Island AWS	27.8	-0.5	35.7	19.9	-0.6	14.7	3	24
Channel Point			35.5			11.0	0	25
Curtin Springs	23.4	+0.5	36.4	6.1	-0.4	-2.4	30	63
Daly Waters AWS	30.3	-0.4	38.6	11.8	-2.6	4.2	1	16
Darwin Airport	30.9	-0.5	37.0	19.4	-1.6	13.6	28.8	44.7
Delamere Weapons Range AWS	29.7		38.0	15.1		9.0	0
Douglas River	31.9	-1.4	39.4	14.5	-1.3	7.0	0	21
Elliott			38.5			7.0	2	25
Gove Airport	28.0	-1.0	31.8	20.4	-0.2	12.1	205	145
Jabiru Airport AWS	32.7	-0.7	38.2	19.5	-0.5	12.9	47	26
Jervois	24.3	-0.5	36.4	8.6	+0.7	0.5	10	59
Katherine Aviation Museum	30.4	-1.9	37.4	13.6	-2.2	6.3	0	13
Kidman Springs	30.6		39.1	13.0		6.6	0	13
Kulgera	21.7	-0.2	35.4	6.8	-0.7	-4.5	30	68
Lajamanu AWS	28.6	-1.0	38.0	9.9	-2.3	3.0	0	21
Larrimah	30.0	-1.5	37.3	12.4	-2.7	4.5	3	19
Mango Farm	31.4	-1.8	38.1	15.8	-1.1	8.1	0	25
Maningrida			34.9			11.0	9	29
McArthur River Mine	30.8	-1.0	38.7	13.3	-0.7	5.9	3	21
Ngukurr			37.1			10.6	15	18
Papunya	24.5		35.6	8.1		-0.7	38	60
Pirlangimpi AWS	31.1	-0.7	35.2	19.4	-0.2	13.4	33	70
Point Fawcett AWS	29.5		34.2	17.6		10.9	0
Rabbit Flat	27.8		37.8	7.9		-0.4	1
Tennant Creek Airport	26.2	-1.0	36.2	13.7	-1.2	6.1	9	28
Territory Grape Farm AWS	24.2	-1.4	35.4	6.4	-1.8	-1.0	14	55
Timber Creek	31.2	-1.5	39.3	14.9	-2.3	7.6	0	18
Tindal RAAF AWS	30.8	-1.1	37.8	13.2	-3.2	6.0	0	26
Victoria River Downs	29.7	-1.9	38.0	11.1	-3.2	3.0	5	16
Warruwi AWS	29.6	-0.1	32.9	21.9	-0.6	16.9	4	20
Watarrka	23.9	-0.6	35.5	9.0	-0.2	-2.0	29	86
Wave Hill	29.2	-1.7	38.5	10.6	-3.0	2.4	0	30
Wollogorang	29.6	-1.8	37.9	12.5	-1.1	5.4	1	9
Yuendumu	24.6	-0.2	36.2	7.6	-1.8	-1.1	25	68
Yulara Aero AWS	23.0	-0.5	35.8	6.0	-1.4	-1.2	13

Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Friday 6 October. Although every effort has been made to verify the data, it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

* denotes that one or more observations missing, or that the data is unconfirmed

Further information

The Daily Weather Observations lists daily temperatures and rainfall, plus many other meteorological variables, at more than 50 locations across the Territory (and over 700 across Australia). Data from the last 13 months are available from this web site.

Monthly rainfall and temperature maps are also available.

Further climate data and information can be obtained from:
Climate and Consultative Services
Northern Territory Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8920 3813
Email climate.nt@bom.gov.au

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