Thursday, 28 February 2002

MEDIA RELEASE - TASMANIAN REGIONAL OFFICE

Summer 2001-02 a cool one in Tasmania

Maximum temperatures: Mean maximum daytime temperatures for summer were well below normal by 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius across the State. Stations on the southern and south-east coastal strip were closer to normal. A major influence was the lack of warm or hot days. Over a "normal" summer, Hobart and Launceston both have about four days when the temperature exceeds 30 degrees. This summer, they had only one day each. Mean maxima this low occur about one summer in ten. The last time this occurred was the summer of 1995-96, which was generally cooler than this year. Last summer, by contrast, was one of the warmest ever recorded in many parts of the State. The highest temperature over summer was 35 degrees at Bushy Park on 15 February.
The number of very cool days over summer was not markedly different for most places, despite a very cold day at the start of December. It seems there have been many cool days and hardly any hot days, rather than lots of cold days.

Minimum temperatures: Mean minimum night-time temperatures for most of the State were below normal, especially inland, though the anomalies were not as stark as for the maxima. The south and south-east coasts were normal or even slightly above. The lowest temperature for summer was minus 4 degrees at Liawenee on the morning of 5 December.

Rainfall: Although it followed a generally wet spring, summer rainfall was about normal in most parts of Tasmania. The main exceptions were the east coast and the west coast, which were above normal. More than 730 millimetres of rain fell at Mount Read on the West Coast, making it the wettest spot for summer. St Marys on the east coast received 106.4mm in the 24 hours to 9am on 8 February, the highest daily total for summer.

Thunderstorms: Tasmania does get thunderstorms, but this summer there were far more than normal. They brought heavy rain and damaging wind gusts, along with lightning strikes that caused many problems. Parts of Launceston were even struck by a tornado on Christmas Eve.

Sunshine: There are eight stations in Tasmania that record bright sunshine each day. The amount of sunshine for this summer was about 85 to 90 per cent of normal.

Evaporation: Evaporation was about 75 per cent of normal at most places.

Tasmania, summer 2001-02 (Dec-Feb)

Devonport and Strahan observations are from their airports. Strahan has only a limited climate record. For Liawenee, the climate record is from the "old" site. Some sites initially report temperatures only to the nearest whole degree.

Further information:
Ian Barnes-Keoghan, Climate and Consultancy Section, Bureau of Meteorology, Hobart.
tel: (03) 6221 2043, e-mail climate.tas@bom.gov.au.