Monday, 2 May 2005

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

A very warm month - Tasmania in April 2005

Campania recorded 32.0 °C on the 1st of April, heralding one of the warmest Aprils Tasmania has experienced - one that was warmer than March. Average maximum (day time) temperatures were above normal by between 1.5 and 2 degrees, and average minimum (night time) temperatures were above normal by between 1 and 1.5 degrees. Rainfall was close to normal in most parts of Tasmania, although it was well down in the far southeast and on Flinders Island.

The warm weather combined with the only moderate rainfall totals has put further pressure on soil moisture which has been severely reduced in recent months, especially in the northwest. Many sites in the northwest (including Burnie, Wynyard and Barrington) have had their driest September-to-April on record.

April 2005 was the warmest April recorded in Australia since at least 1950. The first four months of 2005 have been much warmer than normal in most parts of Australia, but Tasmania had a generally cool January, February and March.

Included in this summary are a table of State extremes, some more details, some new records, and summaries 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 April 2005
Highest temperature
Hottest day		 32.0 °C Campania (Kincora) on 2nd
Highest April temperature ever recorded in Tasmania
Highest mean daily maximum temperature
Warmest days on average		 20.8 °C Swansea Post Office
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature
Coolest days on average		 9.6 °C Mount Read
Lowest daily maximum temperature
Coldest day		 3.2 °C Mount Wellington on 14th
Lowest temperature
Coldest night		 -4.4 °C Liawenee on 15th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature
Coldest nights on average		 2.6 °C Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature
Mildest nights on average		 13.5 °C Swan Island
Highest daily minimum
Warmest night		 19.4 °C Flinders Island Airport on 10th
Highest total rainfall
Wettest overall		 273.6 mm Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall
Driest overall		 14.4 mm Flinders Island Airport
Highest daily rainfall
Wettest day		 47.6 mm Mole Creek on 9th

Details

The month started very warm, with a new highest Tasmanian April temperature of 32.0 °C being set at Campania on the 1st. This exceeded the previous high of 31.7 °C at Grove on the 12th in 1985. Several other sites in also set new records on that day, or on the 2nd (see below). A week of cooler weather followed, with an especially cool day on the 7th, but another burst of warmth followed, with more records broken on the 10th. After a cool spell on the 14th and 15th, there followed a fortnight with temperatures just a little above normal. Another warm spell peaked on the 28th, with temperatures well into the mid-20s in several areas, but this was followed by a much cooler end to the month.
Averaged across the month, most sites recorded maximum temperatures between 1.5 and 2 degrees above the April normal. At almost all places it was warmer in April than it had been in March. Several locations in the east had their warmest April on record (see below), and for several others in the east it was the warmest for at least 12 years. However, for most of the north and west, it was warmer in 2002 than it was this year.

Minimum (night-time) temperatures were above normal by a degree or more on most nights, with the mornings of the 1st, the 3rd and the 10th especially warm. There were some cooler periods around the 5th, the 15th, the 21st and at the very end of the month.
At almost all places nights were warmer on average in April than they had been in March. For many, April 2003 was warmer than April 2005, but at some (Maydena, Grove and Launceston Airport) the most recent warmer April was in 1994, and for others (Hobart Airport, Lake Leake and Marrawah) it was in 1990.

Cold fronts were responsible for most of the rainfall during April. These were spread throughout the month, although most events gave only light or moderate totals. The biggest falls were in the north on 8th and 9th, from thunderstorms and heavy showers.
Totals for the month were close to normal in most areas. In the southeast they were down on normal, especially at Cape Bruny at Port Arthur. Flinders Island also had totals well below normal, with the Airport site having its driest April since 1958. Rain was also below normal along the north coast was below normal. A few sites in the Midlands had above-normal totals, having received some solid rain around the 3rd, the 18th and the 23rd.

There were many windy days through April, and both the start and the end of the month were particularly windy, with gusts well in excess of 100 km/h reported at many sites. The highest recorded was 154 km/h at Maatsuyker Island on the 29th.

Records


Record Highest Mean Maximum Temperature for April

Mean daily maximum
temperature
for April 2005 (°C) 		Previous highest
for April 		Years of
record
Swansea Post Office 20.8 20.4
in 1994
 49
Grove 19.4 = 19.4
in 1993
 48
Eddystone Point 19.9 19.5
in 2002
 47
Hobart Airport 20.0 19.8
in 1993
 47
Flinders Island Airport 20.5 20.3
in 1989
 42
Bicheno 20.4 20.2
in 1973
 31
Mount Wellington 10.2 10.0
in 2002
 24
Tarraleah Village 16.1 15.9
in 2002
 21
Wynyard Airport 19.0 = 19.0
in 2002
 20


Record Highest Temperature for April

Highest temperature
in April 2005 (°C) 		Previous highest
for April 		Years of
record
Bushy Park 30.6
on 1st
 30.5
on 4th in 1992
 71
Swansea Post Office 30.1
on 1st
 29.3
on 6th in 1978
 49
Eddystone Point 26.5
on 10th
 25.0
on 23rd in 1993
 47
Hobart Airport 30.7
on 1st
 30.1
on 4th in 1992
 47
Flinders Island Airport 31.7
on 10th
 30.6
on 10th in 1969
 42
Orford 30.0
on 1st
 28.0
on 5th in 1988
 37
Marrawah 27.0
on 2nd
 23.5
on 3rd in 1989
 31
Scottsdale 26.5
on 2nd
 26.2
on 4th in 1992
 27
Mount Wellington 19.2
on 9th
 18.6
on 7th in 2001
 24
Tarraleah Village 25.5
on 2nd
 = 25.5
on 12th in 1985
 21
Fingal 28.7
on 2nd
 27.8
on 5th in 1987
 20
Wynyard Airport 26.5
on 1st
 23.4
on 1st in 2003
 20


Summaries

Summary statistics for April 2005


 Maximum temperatures
for April
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for April
(°C)		 Rainfall
for April
(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 19.0 +1.7 29.7 9.6 +0.6 5.3 35 52
Launceston 19.8 +1.0 26.8 8.3 +0.9 2.4 38 52
Burnie 18.9 +1.2 25.2 11.1 +1.2 7.4 41 76
Devonport
 18.4 +1.0 24.9 9.6 +1.3 4.2 33 62
Swansea20.8 +2.2 30.1 8.8 +0.5 3.0 32 52
Strahan
 17.7 +1.4 27.6 9.7 +1.5 2.2 130 110
Strathgordon
 15.6 +1.4 26.2 7.9 +1.0 1.0 161 203
King Island Airport 19.5 +2.1 29.4 11.1 +1.0 5.6 46 55
Flinders Island Airport 20.5 +1.9 31.7 12.2 +1.4 3.9 14 60
Bicheno 20.4 +1.6 30.4 11.1 +0.8 6.1 44 61
Bridport 18.8 +0.7 25.8 10.8 +1.6 5.2 49 57
Bull Bay 19.1 +1.9 26.5 10.2 +0.6 5.6 23 48
Bushy Park 19.5 +1.6 30.6 5.9 -0.3 -1.7 47 47
Campania 20.6
32.0 8.2
2.0 45
Cape Bruny
 17.3 +1.9 25.2 10.5 +0.9 5.2 34 80
Cape Grim
 18.0 +1.8 24.0 12.0 +0.9 6.0 51 63
Cressy
 18.7
27.5 6.8
0.1 48
Dover 18.5 +1.8 28.6 7.8 +0.6 1.3 29 67
Eddystone Point 19.9 +1.9 26.5 12.2 +0.8 7.6 32 66
Fingal 19.6 +1.2 28.7 5.8 +0.4 -1.4 36 53
Friendly Beaches 20.3
31.4 10.7
5.0 42
Geeveston 18.6 +1.5 28.5 7.1 +1.0 -0.9 48 63
Grove 19.4 +1.9 30.7 6.6 +0.4 -0.3 38 62
Grove 19.3
30.4 6.2
-1.0 41
Hartz Mountain 12.5 +1.8 21.9 5.2 +1.0 -0.4 56 61
Hobart Airport 20.0 +2.0 30.7 9.9 +1.2 6.0 31 44
Lake Leake 15.8 +1.7 23.4 5.3 +1.2 0.1 52 71
Lake St Clair
 14.7 +1.8 23.5 3.8 +1.1 -3.3 127 131
Launceston Airport 19.3
27.6 7.8
3.3 42
Launceston Airport (old site)
 18.6 +1.3 26.4 7.4 +0.8 1.7 42 54
Liawenee 13.8
22.2 2.6
-4.4 56
Low Head 18.0
23.1 12.0
7.3 45
Luncheon Hill 17.0 +1.6 26.3 9.4 +1.6 4.1 109 95
Maatsuyker Island
 15.5 +1.0 25.5 10.2 +0.7 5.6 89 110
Maria Island 18.9
25.0 11.4
8.4 36
Marrawah 18.0 +1.2 27.0 11.2 +0.9 5.0 80 86
Maydena
 17.4 +1.5 28.5 6.0 +0.8 -1.5 78 88
Melton Mowbray 19.1
30.2 6.8
0.4 45
Moogara 15.7 +2.2 25.6 6.5 +1.4 1.9 63 63
Mount Read 9.6
18.3 4.0
-0.9 274
Mount Wellington 10.2 +2.1 19.2 3.0 +1.1 -3.2 55 85
Orford 20.0 +1.6 30.0 8.8 +0.5 4.1 46 60
Ouse
 19.6
30.5 5.9
-1.9 54
Powranna 18.3 +0.5 22.2 7.5 +1.5 1.9 45 43
Ross 19.1 +1.9 28.9 7.3 +1.9 2.0 50 40
Scamander 19.7 +0.9 28.9 10.1 +0.6 4.2 61 72
Scotts Peak Dam 15.5
24.5 7.0
0.5 86
Scottsdale 18.6 +0.6 26.5 8.9 +1.1 2.9 73 83
Sheffield
 17.6
27.3 7.9
2.4 62
Smithton
 18.8
27.5 8.3
1.9 46
St Helens
 19.3
28.1 10.0
3.4 38
Swan Island 18.8
24.2 13.5
9.1 32
Tarraleah
 16.1 +2.2 25.5 5.7 +1.7 0.8 87 96
Tasman Island 16.7
24.5 10.2
5.0 37
Tunnack
 16.6
28.3 6.4
-2.2 48
Warra 15.2
25.4 7.0
0.4 113
Wynyard
 19.0 +1.7 26.5 7.9 +1.1 1.5 63 75

Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Monday 2 May 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