Monday, 1 March 2004

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

A cool end to summer - Tasmania in February 2004

Cool weather dominated in Tasmania during February, even whilst many parts of mainland Australia were experiencing a severe heat wave. After the very heavy rain of late January, February was much drier, although there were a few heavy showers in some areas.

A table of State extremes, a few more details, some new records, and summaries for sites across the State appear below.

There is also a separate summary covering the whole season of summer (December 2003 to February 2004).

Further information

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

Extremes

Weather extremes during February 2004
Highest temperature
Hottest day		 31.5 °C Bushy Park (Bushy Park Estates) on 8th
Highest mean daily maximum temperature
Warmest days on average		 23.8 °C Cressy Research Station
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature
Coolest days on average		 12.6 °C Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature
Coldest day		 5.6 °C Mount Read on 22nd
Lowest temperature
Coldest night		 -2.3 °C Liawenee on 24th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature
Coldest nights on average		 3.4 °C Mount Wellington
Highest mean daily minimum temperature
Mildest nights on average		 15.6 °C Swan Island Lighthouse
Highest daily minimum
Warmest night		 20.2 °C Flinders Island Airport on 15th
Highest total rainfall
Wettest overall		 144.2 mm Diddleum (Sowters Road)
Lowest total rainfall
Driest overall		 3.6 mm Cape Barren Island (Cape Barren School)
Highest daily rainfall
Wettest day		 67.2 mm Nunamara Offtake (St Patricks River) on 2nd

Details

The first part of February was fairly typical, with a mixture of warm and cool days. Most sites recorded temperatures in the high twenties, and some even over 30 °C — although this was much lower than the temperatures being seen in mainland Australia at the same time. The last nine or ten days of the month were generally cooler than normal, with the 29th being quite cold. Averaged over the month, temperatures were below normal across the State, typically by about 1 °C, except on the northwest coast where temperatures were above normal by a similar amount.
Overnight temperatures followed a similar pattern, with a generally cool last fortnight following a generally mild first fortnight. The night of the 23rd/24th was quite cold, with several inland stations dipping below 0 °C. Averaged over the month, temperatures were below normal across the State, typically by about 1 °C.
In many parts of the State, much of the rain fell in the first few days of the month, or on the very last day. In most areas, the total rain was normal or below normal (very much below in some areas), but there were patches with above-normal rain, mostly the result of a few heavy showers.

Records

 Some records were set during February, although these were from stations with only a relatively short period of observations. The most siginifcant relate to the cold day at the end of the month:

Record Lowest Daily Maximum Temperature for February

Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in February 2004 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for February 		Years of
record
Tarraleah Village 8.6
on 29th
 9.0
on 26th in 1982
 20
Dover 13.4
on 29th
 = 13.4
on 5th in 1996
 15
Strahan Aerodrome 14.7
on 29th
 14.8
on 7th in 1999
 13



Summaries

Summary statistics for February 2004


 Maximum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Rainfall
for February
(mm)
Mean for 2004 Difference from normal Highest for 2004 Mean for 2004 Difference from normal Lowest for 2004 Total for 2004 Normal total
Hobart 21.5 -0.1 30.2 11.9 -0.1 6.2 15 40
Launceston 23.4 -1.1 28.0 12.3 +0.4 6.6 18 30
Burnie 22.3 +1.2 28.4 13.3 +0.1 8.5 16 48
Devonport Airport 21.3 0 28.1 12.3 -0.1 7.8 14 38
Swansea Post Office 22.1 -0.2 28.3 12.4 +0.7 8.5 24 42
Strathgordon Village 17.8 -1.8 27.0 8.8 -0.9 3.0 88 111
King Island Airport 19.8 -1.4 28.2 11.7 -1.5 4.5 7 30
Flinders Island Airport 21.6 -1.0 27.4 13.6 0 4.8 4 39
Bicheno 21.5 +0.1 28.9 12.6 -0.3 7.9 45 57
Bridport 21.8 -0.6 25.8 13.4 +0.2 8.0 14 33
Bull Bay 20.9 -0.5 27.5 11.8 -0.9 7.8 19 43
Bushy Park 23.6 -0.3 31.5 8.8 -1.2 0.5 19 35
Cape Bruny
 18.1 -0.4 27.0 11.6 -0.1 7.9 35 57
Dover 20.2 -0.5 27.2 9.4 -1.0 3.6 28 51
Fingal 21.6 -1.4 28.8 10.5 +0.6 3.0 52 40
Geeveston 20.7 -1.5 30.0 9.3 -0.5 2.4 41 49
Grove 21.5 -0.9 29.5 8.8 -0.7 0.6 27 46
Hartz Mountain 16.4 -1.7 26.2 5.6 -2.2 1.4 67
Hobart Airport 21.9 -0.3 29.7 11.5 -0.5 4.1 14 36
Lake Leake 18.6 -0.4 25.2 8.1 -0.2 3.1 37 46
Lake St Clair 18.0 -1.4 25.7 4.8 -1.2 -1.7 75 86
Launceston Airport 22.2 -1.0 27.1 10.5 +0.1 5.3 35 39
Luncheon Hill
 19.8 -1.3 26.0 9.2 -1.8 4.6 47
Maatsuyker Island
 15.5 -1.7 21.6 10.6 -0.4 7.0 36 71
Marrawah 19.7 -1.1 24.0 11.8 -0.5 8.0 33 44
Maydena Post Office 20.2 -2.6 28.3 7.3 -1.7 -1.0 74 77
Moogara 18.7 -1.2 26.2 7.4 -1.3 2.7 56 47
Mount Wellington 12.6 -0.9 19.7 3.4 -2.0 -1.3 36 68
Orford Post Office 21.5 -0.6 28.2 12.1 +0.1 7.9 22 45
Port Arthur 18.5 -0.4 24.9 10.6 -0.6 5.2 40 63
Powranna 23.2 -0.8 28.0 10.9 +0.3 5.6 36 39
Ross 23.0 -1.1 28.9 9.8 -0.9 1.9 34 42
Scamander 21.3 -0.6 28.3 13.0 +0.2 8.2 28 31
Scottsdale 21.2 -2.0 26.8 11.0 0 6.0 66 39
Strahan Aerodrome 20.0 -1.6 30.8 9.9 -1.4 3.4 39 69
Swan Island
 20.3 0 24.9 15.6 +0.8 11.9 11 33
Tarraleah Village 18.6 -1.2 26.4 6.6 -0.3 0.0 45 62
Wynyard Airport 22.8 +1.5 27.8 11.3 0 4.8 15 53

This statement is based on observations available on 1 March 2004. Although every effort has been made to screen for errors, these figures should be regarded as preliminary only.

Further information

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