Wednesday, 1 September 2004

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Cold and windy - Tasmania in August 2004

Cold weather was to the fore in August (with a cold start, a cold snap in the middle and a cold finish) but record-breaking warmth in the last week added some balance. Westerly winds were again common. Rain was well above normal near the Derwent and the Huon, but below normal in most other areas.

Included in this summary are a table of State extremes, some more details, some new records, and summary statistics for sites across the State.

A summary has also been prepared covering the whole of winter 2004.

Further information

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

Extremes

Weather extremes during August 2004
Highest temperature Hottest day	22.8 °C	Grove on 26th
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	14.1 °C	Bicheno and Eddystone Point
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	2.2 °C	Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	-3.3 °C	Mount Wellington on 14th
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-9.1 °C	Liawenee on 16th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	-2.5 °C	Mount Wellington
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	8.5 °C	Cape Grim
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	12.2 °C	Flinders Island Airport on 26th
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	314.8 mm	Cradle Valley (Waldheim)
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	8.2 mm	Tunbridge (Austin-Vale)
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	64.2 mm	Strathgordon Village on 10th

Details

August started and finished cold, and there was a also cold snap in the middle of the month; these were countered by a marked warm spell peaking on the 26th.

Averaged over the whole month, maximum (daytime) temperatures were below normal for most areas (but typically by less than 0.5 °C), but fractionally above normal at some northern inland sites. The 2nd was an especially cold day, with both Launceston and Bushy Park having their coldest-ever August day. Launceston (along with several other sites) went on to have its warmest-ever August day, on the 26th.

Minimum (night-time) temperatures varied widely during August, but cold nights dominated over warm ones. Averaged minimum temperatures were below normal for most areas, typically by about 0.5 °C, but were a little above normal close to Bass Strait. The 2nd was a cold morning everywhere except the north, giving Orford its coldest-ever August temperature. But it was the cold snap around the middle of the month that saw Liawenee drop to -9.1 °C on the 16th. This was the coldest August temperature reported in Tasmania since 1978 (but still warmer than the -9.7 °C at Liawenee last September).

After several very wet months, rainfall was below normal for the much of the State in August. The northern Midlands were especially dry, with several sites there reporting less than 15 mm of rain for the whole month. Near the Derwent and Huon rivers, however, rainfall was above normal, with many totals over 100 mm. The main rain events were around the 3rd in the north, the 10th and 14th, the 20th and the 30th. There were several days with little, if any, rain.

Westerly winds again showed themselves during August, especially in the days around the 11th and the 21st. Mount Wellington recorded a gust to 193 km/h on the 21st, the second-strongest wind gust recorded in Tasmania (the strongest was 200 km/h, also on Mount Wellington, in March 1998). Many other sites reported gusts over 100 km/h during the month.

Records

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for August
	Total rainfall for August 2004 (mm)	Previous lowest for August		Years of record
Campbell Town	12.2	20.4	in 1965	18

Record Highest Temperature for August
	Highest temperature in August 2004 (°C)		Previous highest for August		Years of record
Maatsuyker Island	21.8	on 26th	20.4	on 11th in 1977	69
Launceston Airport	18.7	on 26th	18.4	on 29th in 1982	66
Strathgordon	20.8	on 26th	19.0	on 25th in 1977	35
Tarraleah	18.2	on 26th	17.8	on 28th in 1998	23
Launceston	20.3	on 26th	19.6	on 30th in 1997	22
Geeveston	22.5	on 26th	20.2	on 28th in 1994	18
Dover	22.4	on 26th	21.2	on 27th in 1994	15
Lake Leake	18.4	on 26th	17.1	on 30th in 1999	15

Record Lowest Daily Maximum Temperature for August
	Lowest daily maximum temperature in August 2004 (°C)		Previous lowest for August		Years of record
Bushy Park	3.8	on 2nd	4.0	on 2nd in 1975	69
Maatsuyker Island	5.9	on 13th	6.0	on 15th in 1991	69
Launceston	8.1	on 2nd	8.5	on 17th in 1984	22
Wynyard Airport	8.3	on 1st	= 8.3	on 9th in 1964	19
Geeveston	5.0	on 2nd	5.8	on 15th in 1991	18

Record Lowest Temperature for August
	Lowest temperature in August 2004 (°C)		Previous lowest for August		Years of record
Orford	-2.9	on 2nd	-1.8	on 11th in 1970	36

Summaries

Summary statistics for August 2004
	Maximum temperatures for August (°C)			Minimum temperatures for August (°C)			Rainfall for August (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	12.7	-0.3	21.0	4.5	-0.6	0.5	84	53
Launceston	13.5	-0.2	20.3	3.2	-0.4	-2.0	53	82
Burnie	13.1	0	17.2	6.8	+0.8	3.2	95	111
Devonport	12.6	-0.4	16.6	4.8	-0.1	-0.9	60	90
Swansea	13.9	-0.2	20.8	3.5	-0.8	-2.2	19	44
Strahan	12.6	-0.6	22.1	5.2	-0.6	-1.5	133	165
Strathgordon	9.6	-0.3	20.8	3.0	-0.4	-0.9	304	284
King Island Airport	13.4	-0.2	18.9	7.7	+0.2	1.5	120	115
Flinders Island Airport	13.6	-0.1	20.0	7.0	+0.5	-1.2	53	76
Bicheno	14.1	-0.4	17.7	5.7	-0.5	0.9	22	50
Bridport	13.3	-0.5	17.4	5.7	0	1.0	51	80
Bull Bay	12.2	-1.1	18.5	5.3	-0.7	1.0	91	60
Bushy Park	12.4	-0.6	20.9	1.1	-1.3	-3.4	96	54
Cape Bruny	11.8	-1.1	20.5	5.7	-0.7	2.0	125	94
Cape Grim	12.9	0	16.0	8.5	+0.2	4.0	47	87
Dover	12.8	-0.2	22.4	3.4	-0.4	-1.4	122	89
Eddystone Point	14.1	+0.6	17.6	6.8	-0.3	1.9	43	73
Fingal	13.0	-0.1	20.1	0.7	-0.4	-5.3	20	59
Friendly Beaches	13.8	-0.7	19.4	5.2	-0.7	-0.1	25	61
Geeveston	12.1	-0.8	22.5	2.1	-0.5	-3.9	145	98
Grove	12.9	-0.1	22.8	2.1	-0.5	-3.0	112	78
Hartz Mountain	6.0	-0.9	16.6	0.3	-1.4	-2.8	141	100
Hobart Airport	13.1	-0.3	21.5	4.1	-0.4	-0.6	44	48
Lake Leake	9.6	+0.3	18.4	-0.4	-1.0	-5.8	35	76
Lake St Clair	7.9	-0.1	15.5	-0.3	-0.2	-3.3	199	241
Launceston Airport	12.1	+0.1	18.7	2.4	-0.5	-3.0	41	77
Luncheon Hill	10.9	-0.5	16.8	4.3	-0.8	-0.6	183	188
Maatsuyker Island	10.4	-0.8	21.8	5.9	-0.5	3.0	148	124
Marrawah	12.7	0	16.4	6.8	-0.1	3.0	97	129
Maydena	11.1	-1.0	21.2	1.6	-0.8	-2.2	161	155
Melton Mowbray	11.6	-1.0	20.6	1.3	-1.0	-4.9	63	47
Moogara	8.8	-0.7	18.0	1.1	-1.0	-2.2	134	107
Mount Read	3.8	-0.3	11.5	-0.5	-0.7	-4.0
Mount Wellington	2.2	-0.4	11.0	-2.5	-0.9	-6.1
Orford	13.1	-0.9	18.6	3.7	-0.4	-2.9	50	62
Port Arthur	11.3	-0.4	19.0	5.0	-0.6	1.0	104	125
Powranna	12.6	+0.2	19.0	1.7	-1.1	-3.0
Ross	12.4	-0.1	19.6	1.5	-0.6	-4.9	11	43
Scamander	13.8	-0.8	17.7	4.5	-0.5	0.5	29	60
Scottsdale	12.5	0	17.7	3.4	-0.4	-1.0	64	119
Sheffield	11.0	-0.6	16.5	3.4	-0.6	-1.2	98	114
Smithton	13.3	-0.4	18.0	5.2	-0.1	-1.5	89	107
Tarraleah	8.9	-0.5	18.2	0.8	+0.2	-2.6	134	124
Tunnack	9.9	-0.7	17.9	1.2	-0.7	-3.8	62	62
Wynyard	12.7	-0.3	15.6	3.8	-0.1	-2.3	104	108

Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Wednesday, 1 September 2004. Although every effort has been made to check them, it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Further information

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