Monday, 1 March 2004

SEASONAL CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

A warm start, a cool finish and some heavy rain - Tasmania in summer 2003-04

Summer (December 2003 to February 2004) was a mixed bag in Tasmania. December was warmer than normal, with records broken in many areas. There were also many dry days in December, punctuated by a solid burst of rain just before Christmas. Warm weather was rare during January, and the very heavy rainfall in the days from the 27th to the 30th broke records in many areas. February started out with typical mixed days, but the final week or so was generally cool. February rainfall was mostly confined to a few days, with many areas drier than normal.

Temperatures averaged over the whole three months were below normal, typically by about 0.5 °C, except at some eastern and northern coastal stations. Rainfall was above normal in northeast and central areas, mostly a result of the enormous falls of late January.

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

Also available are separate summaries covering each month in summer: December 2003, January 2004 and 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 summer 2003-04
Highest temperature
Hottest day		 36.6 °C Swansea Post Office on 30th Dec 2003
Highest mean daily maximum temperature
Warmest days on average		 23.6 °C Cressy Research Station
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature
Coolest days on average		 12.3 °C Mount Read
Lowest daily maximum temperature
Coldest day		 4.7 °C Mount Wellington on 8th Jan 2004
Lowest temperature
Coldest night		 -3.9 °C Liawenee on 19th Jan 2004
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature
Coldest nights on average		 3.3 °C Mount Wellington
Highest mean daily minimum temperature
Mildest nights on average		 14.3 °C Swan Island
Highest daily minimum
Warmest night		 20.2 °C Flinders Island Airport on 15th Feb 2004
Highest total rainfall
Wettest overall		 709.4 mm Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall
Driest overall		 79.6 mm Hamilton (Clyde River)
Highest daily rainfall
Wettest day		 237.0 mm Gray (Blueberry Cottage) on 29th Jan 2004

Details

The very warm December, balanced against the cool January and somewhat cool February gave summer average temperatures somewhat below normal for the bulk of the State, but above normal at some eastern and northern coastal sites. One need not look far for more extreme summers: that of 2001-02 was cooler, whilst 2002-03 was warmer.
The very heavy rain of late January, added to the burst of rain just before Christmas ensured that most northeastern and central stations recorded a wetter than normal summer. There have been wetter summers in recent years: 2001-02 in the south and west, and 1998-99 and 1995-96 in the north and east.

Records

 A raft of rainfall records were broken during January, but based on preliminary data there do not appear to be many new summer records.

Record Highest Total Rainfall for summer

Total rainfall
for summer 2003-04 (mm) 		Previous highest
for summer 		Years of
record
Devonport Airport 250.4 235.0
in 1993
 40
Scamander 290.4 260.6
in 1985
 19
Lake St Clair 423.7 400.3
in 1997
 15



Summaries

Summary statistics for summer 2003-04


 Maximum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Rainfall
for summer
(mm)
Mean for 2003-04 Difference from normal Highest for 2003-04 Mean for 2003-04 Difference from normal Lowest for 2003-04 Total for 2003-04 Normal total
Hobart 21.6 +0.4 35.8 11.9 +0.4 6.0 131 145
Launceston 22.9 -0.8 33.0 11.5 0 5.0 198 124
Burnie 21.0 +0.5 28.4 12.5 +0.1 5.2 150 155
Devonport Airport 20.6 0 28.1 11.5 -0.2 5.1 250 132
Swansea Post Office 22.2 +0.6 36.6 11.7 +0.3 5.1 244 152
Strathgordon Village 17.7 -1.0 31.5 8.8 -0.3 3.0 472 458
King Island Airport 19.3 -0.6 29.7 11.6 -0.4 3.4 109 116
Flinders Island Airport 21.4 -0.1 34.8 13.3 +0.5 4.5 101 145
Bicheno 21.5 +0.7 32.5 12.1 -0.3 6.7 292 182
Bull Bay 20.8 0 35.5 11.5 -0.3 6.0 161 162
Bushy Park 23.4 +0.2 35.0 8.9 -0.8 0.2 88 128
Cape Bruny
 18.2 +0.3 31.0 11.4 +0.3 6.6 160 195
Dover 20.1 +0.1 33.7 9.6 -0.2 3.4 194 180
Fingal 21.9 -0.6 32.9 9.4 -0.2 2.3 235 133
Geeveston 20.4 -0.6 34.3 9.5 +0.1 2.4 206 178
Grove21.4 -0.2 33.9 9.3 +0.1 0.6 182 156
Hobart Airport 22.0 +0.3 36.4 11.5 0 4.1 97 133
Lake Leake 18.4 0 28.6 7.6 -0.3 -0.3 210 174
Lake St Clair 17.6 -1.0 28.4 5.3 -0.3 -2.3 424 317
Launceston Airport 22.3 -0.2 32.0 9.6 -0.2 1.2 214 134
Luncheon Hill
 19.3 -0.8 30.8 9.1 -0.8 3.2 262
Maatsuyker Island
 15.8 -0.9 28.9 10.3 -0.1 5.6 179 242
Marrawah 19.3 -0.4 29.1 11.6 +0.1 5.7 164 159
Maydena Post Office 20.1 -1.5 32.0 7.7 -0.6 -1.0 271 228
Moogara 18.5 -0.3 30.6 7.7 -0.1 1.5 179 164
Mount Wellington 12.5 +0.1 24.5 3.3 -0.9 -2.2 447 238
Orford Post Office 21.4 0 35.3 11.6 +0.2 5.5 231 160
Port Arthur 18.5 +0.4 33.6 10.2 -0.3 4.3 256 249
Powranna 23.2 -0.2 32.8 9.9 0 2.6 154 150
Ross 23.3 -0.1 33.3 9.1 -0.7 1.3 151 139
Scamander 21.6 +0.3 33.7 12.3 +0.2 6.2 290 138
Scottsdale 21.4 -0.8 31.9 10.1 -0.2 3.2 248 173
Strahan Aerodrome 19.8 -0.7 33.2 10.1 -0.4 3.3 242 230
Swan Island
 19.6 0 25.8 14.2 +0.1 9.1 221 117
Tarraleah Village 18.4 -0.5 29.2 6.6 0 -0.9 295 223
Wynyard Airport 21.2 +0.6 28.4 10.1 -0.5 1.7 147 154

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