Tuesday, 1 March 2005

SEASONAL CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Overall, near normal - Tasmania in summer 2004-05

Many in Tasmania have an impression that summer "didn't happen" this year in Tasmania. But temperature and rainfall statistics give a different picture.
For most parts of the State, temperatures were below normal, although not by much. For some parts, including the northwest coast and the Hobart area, they were even slightly above normal. Many of the warmest days were in the last week or so of January, and there were some long periods of cooler weather.
Rainfall was down on average for the north, but average or above for the southeast ad the east coast. For most places, it was concentrated into three or four main events.

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

Also available are separate summaries covering each month in summer: December 2004, January 2005 and February 2005.

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 summer 2004-05
Highest temperature Hottest day	36.8 °C	Bushy Park (Bushy Park Estates) on 26th Jan 2005
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	23.9 °C	Ouse Fire Station and Cressy Research Station
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	12.7 °C	Mount Read
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	1.6 °C	Mount Read on 27th Dec 2004
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-2.4 °C	Mount Wellington on 28th Dec 2004
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	4.3 °C	Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	14.0 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	20.0 °C	Flinders Island Airport on 26th Jan 2005
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	652.4 mm	Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	67.6 mm	Melton Mowbray (North Stockman)
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	106 mm	Pipers River (Yarrow Banks) on 14th Dec 2004

Details

Maximum (daytime) temperatures were mostly within half a degree of normal when averaged over all of summer. On the northwest coast, in the Midlands and the Hobart area they were generally above normal, whilst in other areas they were slightly below.
The number of "hot"days was close to normal overall, but much of the warm weather was concentrated in the last week of January; outside this, there were long periods with only a few especially warm days. Cold spells just after Christmas, in the first week of January, and the first two and a half weeks of February could help to give the impression of a "cool summer" to some.

Minimum (overnight) temperatures were also mostly within half a degree of normal. They were above normal in the west, the southeast and most of the Midlands, but below normal in the northeast and around Launceston.
Nights were cool after Christmas and for much of January and February, but there were some marked warm spells for most of December, in mid and late January and late February.

Rainfall was below normal in the north, but above normal in the east and southeast. Apart from the west, much of the rain was concentrated into two or three major events. Very heavy falls affected parts of the north and northeast around the December 13, a low passing near the state brought heavy showers to most areas (and especially the north) around January 4, thunderstorms from January 26 to 28 were important in some areas, and heavy rain affected the east from the 2nd to the 4th. Outside these times, most days were dry.

Wind caused particular problems from January 11 to 16 (westerlies with many strong  gusts) , and again on February 2 and 3 (when the winds were southeasterly).

Summaries

Summary statistics for summer 2004-05
	Maximum temperatures for summer (°C)			Minimum temperatures for summer (°C)			Rainfall for summer (mm)
	Mean for 2004-05	Difference from normal	Highest for 2004-05	Mean for 2004-05	Difference from normal	Lowest for 2004-05	Total for 2004-05	Normal total
Hobart	21.1	0	36.6	12.2	+0.6	7.3	127	145
Launceston	23.4	-0.2	30.6	11.5	-0.1	5.4	104	124
Burnie	21.0	+0.5	26.3	12.4	+0.1	6.4	97	154
Devonport	20.8	+0.3	26.8	11.7	0	5.4	82	134
Swansea	21.7	+0.1	33.6	11.6	+0.2	5.8	167	153
Strahan	20.2	-0.3	32.9	10.6	+0.3	4.5	189	228
Strathgordon	18.4	-0.3	30.4	9.5	+0.3	4.7	463	458
King Island Airport	19.9	0	33.7	11.9	-0.1	4.6	114	116
Flinders Island Airport	21.1	-0.5	32.9	13.3	+0.5	6.4	177	144
Bicheno	20.9	+0.1	32.2	12.4	0	7.7	219	183
Bridport	20.9	-0.5	26.5	12.0	-0.4	6.1	109	134
Bull Bay	20.4	-0.4	33.0	11.8	-0.1	6.8	121	160
Bushy Park	23.5	+0.4	36.8	9.8	+0.1	3.3	101	127
Campania	23.1		36.0	10.8		4.0	107
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	18.1	+0.2	34.2	11.6	+0.5	6.0	215	195
Cape Grim	18.7		25.0	12.6		9.0	89	114
Cressy	23.9		32.0	9.4		1.6	83
Dover	19.9	-0.1	36.4	10.4	+0.7	4.4	205	180
Eddystone Point	21.0	+0.7	28.9	13.2	-0.1	7.9	194	153
Fingal	22.4	-0.1	31.4	9.5	-0.1	2.3	135	133
Friendly Beaches	21.6		32.3	12.1		7.8	192
Geeveston	20.8	-0.2	35.2	10.2	+0.8	4.0	175	179
Grove	21.5	-0.1	35.5	9.9	+0.7	2.8	185	158
Grove	21.6		35.9	9.5		2.3	178
Hartz Mountain	15.7		30.8	6.2		0.1	241
Hobart Airport	22.0	+0.3	35.9	11.9	+0.4	5.3	123	132
Lake Leake	18.2	-0.2	29.1	7.9	+0.1	0.6	142	174
Lake St Clair	18.0	-0.6	28.9	6.4	+0.8	-0.7
Launceston Airport	23.6		31.9	9.8		3.8	102
Launceston Airport (old site)	23.0	+0.5	30.8	9.6	-0.1	2.6	100	135
Liawenee	17.1		26.7	4.3		-2.0
Low Head	19.9		25.7	13.6		8.5
Luncheon Hill	21.0	+1.0	32.4	9.9	+0.1	4.9	150
Maatsuyker Island	16.3	-0.4	30.8	10.4	0	6.1	215	242
Maria Island	20.3		29.7	12.4		7.9	133
Marrawah	19.8	+0.1	28.2	11.8	+0.2	7.7	130	157
Maydena	20.5	-1.0	33.3	8.9	+0.7	2.4	204	215
Melton Mowbray	22.4		35.0	9.7		3.2	68
Moogara	18.8	0	32.0	8.0	+0.1	2.8	141	164
Mount Read	12.7		23.9	4.9		-1.1	652
Mount Wellington	14.7	+2.4	27.8	4.5	+0.3	-2.4	250	259
Orford	20.9	-0.5	31.4	11.4	0	6.4	162	161
Ouse	23.9		36.3	9.5		2.8	81
Port Arthur	18.2	0	29.5	10.3	-0.2	5.3	258	250
Powranna	23.8	+0.4	32.0	10.1	+0.2	3.4	105	140
Ross	23.6	+0.2	33.5	9.7	0	2.1	95	137
Scamander	20.7	-0.6	32.5	12.2	+0.1	7.0	193	148
Scotts Peak Dam	18.8		33.1	8.6		3.8	330
Scottsdale	22.1	-0.1	30.3	10.0	-0.3	3.9	128	171
Sheffield	21.0		27.3	9.8		3.8	95
Smithton	20.8		27.0	10.1		1.2
St Helens	20.9		30.0	12.1		6.8	217
Swan Island	20.0		25.6	14.0		8.2	196
Tarraleah	18.7	-0.1	30.6	7.3	+0.6	1.0	193	224
Tasman Island	16.8		25.8	10.7		5.8	193
Tunnack	20.0		31.9	8.1		0.8	144
Warra	17.6		31.4	8.0		2.8	344
Wynyard	21.0	+0.4	26.6	10.2	-0.3	4.2	123	153

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