Tuesday, 1 March 2005

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Wind and rain, then cool and dry - Tasmania in February 2005

Destructive wind and heavy rain early in the February gave way to mostly dry days. A burst of warm weather in the last week or so was not enough to balance the cool weather that dominated the month.

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

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 February 2005
Highest temperature Hottest day	33.6 °C	Swansea Post Office on 1st
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	23.8 °C	Cressy Research Station
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	12.7 °C	Mount Read
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	4.2 °C	Mount Wellington on 16th
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-2.0 °C	Liawenee on 27th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	4.2 °C	Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	14.3 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	17.5 °C	Flinders Island Airport on 25th
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	188.8 mm	Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	24.6 mm	Devonport Airport
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	104.4 mm	Gray (Craigie-Lea) on 3rd

Details

Maximum (daytime) temperatures were below normal, typically by about 1 degree when averaged across the month. The southwest was especially cool (with anomalies of nearly 2 degrees), whilst the northwest and upper east coasts were the least affected. Mean daily maximum temperatures at Lake St Clair and Strathgordon were the lowest since 1991. At Keoghs Pimple in the Hartz Mountains, they were the lowest since observations began in 1996.
The 1st was warm across Tasmania (with Swansea recording 33.6 °C, the State's highest temperature for the month), but it marked the end of a warm spell that had started in late January. The temperature fell dramatically for the 2nd, and snow fell on the Central Plateau. For most of the next 17 days, temperatures were below normal across the State (the 7th and 14th were the main exceptions). The 5th and 16th were especially cool days in all but the north, with many centres struggling to reach 15 °C. Northern and inland areas had warmer than normal days from the 19th to the 26th, and the whole State had a warm day on the 24th. After a cool 27th the month ended on a warm note.

Minimum (overnight) temperatures were below normal across the State, typically by around half a degree. The north coast was especially cool, but Grove and Geeveston in the Huon Valley were slightly warmer than normal.
Most nights were cooler than normal, especially from the 7th to the 17th. The 24th and 25th were generally mild mornings, but the 27th was cold again (with Liawenee reporting a minimum of -2.0 °C).  Mean minimum temperatures at Port Arthur, Cape Bruny and Lake Leake were the lowest since 1992; at Burnie they were the lowest since 1991.

Rainfall totals were above normal in the east, southeast and the Central Plateau, but for most of the State rain was close to normal for the month. The highest monthly total was 189 millimetres at Mount Read in the western highlands, but Lewis Hill (165 mm), Gray (162 mm) and St Marys (137 mm) in the northeast, together with Hastings Chalet (156 mm) and Kingston (132 mm) in the southeast were not far behind. (It is likely the picture will change as reports come in from other sites in these areas).
Most of the month's rainfall was concentrated in the first week, and for many places almost all the rain fell on just one day. A low pressure system close to the State caused very heavy rain in the northeast on the 2nd, and then in the southeast on the 3rd. Gray, Hastings Chalet, St Marys and Kingston received more than 90 millimetres of rain in 24 hours. For many sites in the southeast, the heaviest falls were in a period of just two to eight hours. Flash flooding was reported as drains and small waterways struggled to cope with the huge influx of water, but only small rises were seen in the major river systems.
The very heavy rain in the first few days was enough to give some sites their wettest February for many years. Included were Pioneer and Gray, where it was wetter than any February since 1994, and Bicheno and St Helens where it was the wettest February since 1971.

Destructive winds occurred overnight on the 2nd/3rd, especially in the north. A number of stations recorded southeasterly wind gusts over 90 km/h, including Launceston Airport, Launceston City, Devonport, Fingal and Flinders Island Airport. It is unusual to have such strong gusts from the southeast, and this may have contributed to the extensive damage that was reported to buildings, trees and power lines.

Summaries

Summary statistics for February 2005
	Maximum temperatures for February (°C)			Minimum temperatures for February (°C)			Rainfall for February (mm)
	Mean for 2005	Difference from normal	Highest for 2005	Mean for 2005	Difference from normal	Lowest for 2005	Total for 2005	Normal total
Hobart	21.1	-0.5	32.4	11.9	-0.1	7.8	82	40
Launceston	23.3	-1.1	29.1	11.4	-0.5	5.8	40	28
Burnie	21.0	-0.1	26.3	12.3	-0.8	8.4	44	47
Devonport	20.7	-0.7	24.9	11.4	-1.0	5.4	25	38
Swansea	22.2	0	33.6	11.4	-0.3	6.5	105	42
Strahan	19.7	-1.8	27.8	10.4	-0.8	4.5	46	66
Strathgordon	17.8	-1.8	26.9	9.2	-0.4	5.3	137	111
King Island Airport	19.8	-1.2	26.8	12.0	-1.0	6.8	52	30
Flinders Island Airport	21.8	-0.8	32.9	13.3	-0.3	7.1	67	39
Bicheno	21.3	-0.1	32.2	12.5	-0.5	9.2	119	57
Bridport	21.1	-1.3	25.2	12.1	-1.1	6.9	30	30
Bull Bay	20.3	-1.1	33.0	11.7	-0.9	7.6	61	43
Bushy Park	23.4	-0.5	33.1	9.6	-0.4	3.3	51	35
Campania	22.8		33.0	10.6		5.0	59
Cape Bruny	17.9	-0.6	26.4	11.4	-0.2	6.0	90	57
Cape Grim	19.2		24.0	12.4		10.0	31	36
Cressy	23.8		30.1	9.6		3.0	29
Dover	19.7	-1.0	26.7	10.2	-0.1	5.1	114	52
Eddystone Point	21.6	+0.5	28.9	13.5	-0.7	8.4	79	46
Fingal	22.3	-0.6	30.1	9.3	-0.7	3.7	70	40
Friendly Beaches	22.0		32.3	12.1		8.6	110
Geeveston	20.7	-1.4	29.3	10.1	+0.3	5.8	93	50
Grove	21.2	-1.2	31.4	9.5	+0.1	4.5	109	47
Grove	21.0		31.2	9.1		4.2	103
Hartz Mountain	15.5	-2.4	25.8	6.1	-1.4	2.4	89
Hobart Airport	21.8	-0.5	33.0	11.6	-0.4	7.9	59	36
Lake Leake	18.3	-0.7	27.4	7.3	-0.9	0.6	74	46
Lake St Clair	17.7	-1.6	26.1	6.1	+0.2	-0.7
Launceston Airport	23.5		29.5	9.9		4.6	30
Launceston Airport (old site)	22.9	-0.3	29.3	9.7	-0.6	4.0	32	39
Liawenee	16.5		25.3	4.2		-2.0
Low Head	19.7		22.8	13.4		9.2
Luncheon Hill	20.7	-0.3	26.8	9.5	-1.3	5.3	44	62
Maatsuyker Island	16.2	-1.0	24.5	10.6	-0.5	6.9	77	71
Maria Island	20.5		29.7	12.6		9.4	76
Marrawah	19.8	-0.9	23.7	11.6	-0.7	7.8	51	44
Maydena	20.3	-2.2	31.0	8.5	-0.4	3.5	68	69
Melton Mowbray	22.0		30.9	9.4		3.8	34
Moogara	18.5	-1.3	27.5	7.9	-0.6	2.8	69	52
Mount Read	12.7		21.5	4.8		1.2	189
Mount Wellington	15.8	+2.3	24.3	4.5	-0.8	-0.2	156	81
Orford	20.8	-1.2	31.4	11.3	-0.7	6.4	85	45
Ouse	23.5		32.6	9.3		3.0	43
Port Arthur	18.4	-0.5	29.5	10.5	-0.8	5.3	106	64
Powranna	23.5	-0.5	30.0	10.2	-0.4	4.2	34	35
Ross	23.2	-0.8	31.4	9.8	-0.7	2.6	32	40
Scamander	20.9	-0.9	32.5	12.3	-0.4	7.2	103	34
Scotts Peak Dam	18.6		30.3	8.7		5.5	67
Scottsdale	22.2	-0.8	28.0	10.1	-1.0	4.5	40	40
Sheffield	20.7		26.8	9.6		3.8	37
Smithton	20.6		24.5	9.6		1.2	26
St Helens	21.2		30.0	12.2		6.8	95
Swan Island	20.6		25.6	14.3		9.5	61
Tarraleah	18.4	-1.3	27.7	7.0	0	1.0	69	62
Tasman Island	16.8		22.1	10.7		7.2	97
Tunnack	19.7		29.1	8.0		1.1	73
Warra	17.5		27.8	8.0		4.5	101
Wynyard	21.2	-0.1	26.3	9.9	-1.4	4.2	44	51

Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Tuesday 1 March 2005 . Although every effort has been made to check them, it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.
"Normals" are based on all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site. Sites without normals do not have sufficient record for them to be calculated reliably.

Further information

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