Friday, 30 April 2004

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Overview of Tasmania's weather in April 2004

Rainfall for April 2004 was below normal for the west of the State and parts of the northeast. Most of the remainder received rainfall that was close to normal, but there were some locations in the east and southeast where above normal totals were reported.
 
Temperatures tended be on the cool side for the most part, however there were a few warm days and mild nights interspersed throughout the month.

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

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 April 2004
Highest temperature Hottest day	28.5 °C	Flinders Island Airport on 14th
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	18.9 °C	Flinders Island Airport
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	7.9 °C	Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	2.1 °C	Mount Wellington on 23rd
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-5.3 °C	Tunnack on 4th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	1.1 °C	Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	13.0 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	16.9 °C	Burnie on 15th
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	210.6 mm	Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	29.4 mm	Flinders Island Airport
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	62.8 mm	Gray on 12th

Details

Averaged over the month, maximum temperatures were close to normal or slightly below. For a few places in the east they were more than one degree below normal. Most days were cooler than normal, however these were largely offset by several warm days, particularly the 6th, 14th, 15th, and 22nd. The 22nd was the warmest day in the month for much of the State; the next day was the coldest.

Averaged minimum temperatures for the month tended to be slightly above normal along the north of the State, but slightly below normal for the remainder. A few sites in the southeast were more than one degree below normal. Most nights tended to be cool but there were a few mild nights around mid month and again later in the month. The warmest night across the State was the 14th/15th.

Rainfall varied across the State. It was below normal in parts of the northeast and over the west, where a few sites reported very much below rainfall. Most of the remainder experienced near normal totals, but some location in the east and southeast had above normal rainfall  A couple of sites on the east coast had very much above normal totals.

Windy conditions occurred on the 1st with the passage of a cold front associated with a deep low over the Southern Ocean. It was also windy on the 24th in the north and east, when a low formed on a cold front and deepened over eastern Bass Strait.
 

Records

Record Lowest Daily Maximum Temperature for April
	Lowest daily maximum temperature in April 2004 (°C)		Previous lowest for April		Years of record
Ross	9.8	on 23rd	9.9	on 17th in 1996	11
Cape Grim	12.0	on 23rd	= 12.0	on 26th in 1999	10

Record Highest Daily Minimum Temperature for April
	Highest daily minimum temperature in April 2004 (°C)		Previous highest for April		Years of record
Moogara	13.9	on 15th	13.2	on 1st in 1994	11

Highest Total Rainfall for 10 or more years for April
	Total rainfall for April 2004 (mm)	Most recent higher for April
Bicheno	121.0	192.5	in 1960
Swansea	104.9	211.8	in 1974

Summaries

Summary statistics for April 2004
	Maximum temperatures for April (°C)			Minimum temperatures for April (°C)			Rainfall for April (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	16.8	-0.4	26.9	8.7	-0.3	3.8	57	52
Launceston	18.2	-0.7	23.1	7.4	0	1.9	68	53
Burnie	17.7	0	21.3	10.8	+1.0	7.0	52	77
Devonport Airport	17.3	-0.2	22.0	9.1	+0.8	3.7	53	63
Swansea	18.0	-0.7	25.7	7.9	-0.4	3.7	105	52
Strathgordon	13.7	-0.4	24.2	6.5	-0.4	2.0	128	204
King Island Airport	17.4	0	23.3	10.2	0	4.5	39	55
Flinders Island Airport	18.9	+0.3	28.5	10.7	-0.1	4.6	29	61
Bicheno	17.9	-1.0	26.2	9.9	-0.3	6.3	121	62
Bull Bay	16.4	-0.9	25.5	9.4	-0.2	6.0	59	49
Bushy Park	18.2	+0.4	27.8	4.9	-1.4	-2.4	42	47
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	15.4	0	24.0	9.6	0	7.0	52	80
Cape Grim	16.2	0	21.0	11.4	+0.4	9.0	38	64
Dover	16.4	-0.3	25.4	7.0	-0.1	1.9	60	68
Eddystone Point	18.5	+0.5	24.8	11.9	+0.5	9.3	55	67
Fingal	17.3	-1.1	26.0	5.0	-0.4	-1.0	45	53
Friendly Beaches	18.0	-0.7	26.0	9.2	-0.4	5.1	106	60
Geeveston	16.3	-0.9	26.9	6.2	0	-0.2	58	63
Grove	17.2	-0.4	27.3	5.8	-0.5	-1.7	54	63
Hartz Mountain	11.0	+0.4	21.0	4.1	-0.1	0.8	81	62
Hobart Airport	17.5	-0.6	26.2	8.1	-0.7	3.0	48	45
Lake Leake	14.0	-0.1	21.2	3.4	-0.8	-1.8	41	71
Lake St Clair	12.6	-0.3	19.0	2.3	-0.5	-2.7	92	133
Launceston Airport	17.2	-0.1	22.9	6.1	-0.5	0.5	48	55
Luncheon Hill	15.5	+0.1	20.6	7.5	-0.3	3.4	115	93
Maatsuyker Island	14.3	-0.2	23.3	9.2	-0.2	7.2	68	110
Marrawah	16.4	-0.4	20.5	9.8	-0.4	6.7	52	87
Maydena Post Office	15.8	-0.1	26.5	5.2	-0.1	-1.6	65	89
Melton Mowbray	16.9	-0.3	25.8	4.6	-1.0	-3.1	40	29
Moogara	13.5	+0.1	23.2	4.8	-0.4	-1.8	60	63
Mount Read	8.9	0	14.4	2.7	-0.5	-0.8	211	276
Mount Wellington	7.9	-0.1	16.2	1.5	-0.4	-2.7	102	86
Orford	17.0	-1.4	25.6	8.0	-0.4	3.8	56	60
Port Arthur	15.5	-0.2	23.2	8.6	-0.6	5.5	62	95
Powranna	17.8	0	23.7	6.5	+0.6	1.6	48	43
Ross	17.8	+0.7	24.9	4.7	-0.7	-1.6	47	39
Scamander	18.2	-0.6	27.5	8.8	-0.7	5.3	93	72
Scottsdale	17.5	-0.4	21.9	7.9	+0.2	4.2	60	84
Sheffield	15.7	-0.9	20.0	6.9	+0.1	3.0	79	55
Smithton	17.2	-0.4	20.0	7.6	+0.4	0.3	59	54
Strahan	16.3	+0.1	24.4	7.9	-0.1	1.3	79	109
Swan Island	17.7	0	21.1	13.0	+0.5	9.9	39	53
Tarraleah	13.7	-0.2	22.0	3.6	-0.4	-1.3	67	96
Wynyard Airport	17.0	-0.2	20.9	7.4	+0.7	1.4	87	75

Note

These results are based on data available at noon on Friday 30 April 2004. In particular, they do not include the maximum temperatures for the 30th, although these are not expected to alter the outcome significantly. However, these should be condsidered preliminary results 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