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