Thursday, 31 October 2002

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Typical spring weather - October in Tasmania

Tasmania's weather in October 2002 was much less extreme than the wet and windy September, preliminary Bureau of Meteorology figures show. Most rainfall figures were a normal or a bit above, most daytime temperatures a bit below normal and most night-time temperatures a bit above normal.

Rainfall

The exceptionally wet weather in western Tasmania of recent months was not so apparent during October. Rainfall was close to or slightly above normal for most of the state, with the extreme values of recent months not repeated.
Mount Read, in the western highlands, was again the wettest spot in the State in October, receiving over 418mm of precipitation in total with 48 mm in one day on the 20th.
The pattern to emerge from the last six months is a very wet west (over 2000mm in some parts) and a rather dry east (below 300mm in many parts), an amplification of the normal distribution of rainfall seen in Tasmania.

Maximum Temperature

There were fewer warm days than is normal for October, especially in the north where the majority of the warm days were early in the month. However there were also not many especially cold days. The averages show most of the state within half a degree of normal.
The highest temperature recorded in the State was 26.0°C at Swansea on the 30th, which was a warm day in the south and east. This is lower than the highest temperature recorded last month. On average, Friendly Beaches on the East Coast was the warmest spot during October, with a mean daily maximum temperature of 17.6°C.
Palmers Lookout (near Port Arthur) had its coldest October day in 20 years of record when it reached only 7.6°C on the 2nd.

Minimum Temperature

The first few nights in October were generally warmer than normal, but this was mostly balanced by a number of cool nights near the end. The result was average minima close to or slightly above the long-term averages in most areas.
The lowest temperature recorded was atop Mount Wellington (at an elevation of 1260 metres), at minus 3.6°C on the 9th. Just a few nights later, the temperature stayed above 13.7°C at Flinders Island Airport.

Wind

The wild winds of September were not seen to the same extent during October, although there were a number of windy days, especially from the 18th to the 20th.

Thunderstorms

There were a number of thunderstorms during October, with a marked outbreak on the 7th when thunder was heard and lightning seen in many parts of the State, and some lightning damage was done at Longford.

Summary statistics for selected sites


 Maximum temperatures for October (°C)


 Minimum temperatures for October (°C)


 Rainfall for September (mm)

Mean for 2002
Difference from normal
Highest for 2002
Mean for 2002
Difference from normal
Lowest for 2002
Total for 2002
Normal total
Hobart
16.1
-0.8
25.2
8.4
+0.7
4.5
56
63
Launceston
17.5
-0.5
21  
7.0
0.0
2  
74
57
Burnie
16.1
+0.2
18.5
8.9
+1.0
3.7
82
89
Devonport
15.8
+0.1
20  
8.0
+0.8
3  
64
68
Swansea
17.2
-0.5
26.0
7.7
+0.5
2.4
64
54
Liawenee
11.5
-0.6
18.5
0.7
0.0
-3.2
118
99
Strahan
15.9
0.0
22.8
7.1
-0.1
2.1
150
129
Strathgordon
13.0
-0.4
21.6
5.2
-0.2
1.9
311
251
King Island Airport
15.5
0.0
23.4
9.0
+0.1
3.2
88
78
Flinders Island Airport
16.6
-0.1
24.5
8.8
+0.3
0.6
82
61
Preliminary figures only.
"normals" are means based on all available years of record; this varies from only 7 at King Island Airport to 116 at Hobart.

Further Information

Ian Barnes-Keoghan
Climate and Consultancy Section
Tasmania and Antarctica Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 6221 2043
Email climate.tas@bom.gov.au