Wednesday, 1 June 2005

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

From very dry to very wet - Tasmania in May 2005

Very dry conditions persisted in the northern, northeastern and Midlands districts of Tasmania during May, with many sites recording less than 10 millimetres of rain for the whole month. A few had their driest-ever May. It was a very different story in the west, where solid rain at the end of the month created a wetter than normal May, with several sites reporting totals over 300 millimetres.

Average daytime temperatures were above normal in all areas except the west and far south, despite some rather cold days from the 25th to the 28th. Average overnight temperatures were mostly within half a degree of normal, but there were some record warm nights and some very cold ones.

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

Relatively dry conditions have been experienced in many parts of Tasmania over the last 10 or more months. The hardest hit areas are those of the northwest coast. At the bottom of this statement are lists of some of the places that have record low rainfall for various periods.

A separate statement contains tables of extremes, records and summaries for autumn.

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 May 2005
Highest temperature Hottest day	24.4 °C	Ouse Fire Station on 4th
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	16.9 °C	Bicheno
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	6.0 °C	Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	-0.4 °C	Mount Wellington on 25th
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-7.1 °C	Liawenee on 17th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	-0.1 °C	Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	10.7 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	17.7 °C	Grove (Comparison) on 5th
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	495 mm	Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	1.8 mm	Scamander
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	59 mm	Lake Margaret Power Station on 25th

Details

Temperatures edged gradually higher after a cold first day, reaching a peak on the 4th. The next several weeks saw temperatures mostly close to normal, with  a few warm days but not many especially cold ones, except in the west and far south. Notable warm days occurred on the 11th (in the north and east), the 13th, and from the 21st to the 24th. A cold front dropped temperatures on the 25th, and another front pushed them lower still for the 27th and 28th, bringing snow to some areas. The last few days saw a return to slightly above-normal days. Averaged across the month, temperatures in the eastern half and the northwest coast were above normal by between 0.3 and 0.8 degrees, whilst the southwestern half was below normal by a similar amount.

There were many extremes in overnight temperatures, with bursts of very warm nights. Several records were broken on the 4th and 5th, and there were more warm bursts around the 10th and 23rd.  There were also some very cold nights, especially around the 8th, 13th, 20th and 26th. Averaged across the month, nights were mostly within half a degree of normal; generally below normal in the northeast and southwest but above normal elsewhere.

For most of the month, only very light rain (or none at all) was reported in northern and eastern parts of the state, generally associated with the passage of cold fronts. A significant frontal system brought almost statewide rain on the 24th and 25th, with many sites receiving more in 24 hours than they had for the previous 24 days. In the wake of that change, cold and showery conditions persisted in the west and south, with moderate to heavy falls on several days in the west. Mount Read, which reported 494 mm for the month, received 259 mm in the last 9 days; Stahan received 100 mm in the last 9 days out of 174 mm for the month. But in the north east, many sites reported less than 1 millimetre in those last 9 days.

The state was affected by strong westerly winds for much of the month, with the only lengthy respite being between the 12th and the 21st. Very strong southwest winds on the 26th generated some large waves which caused marked beach erosion in the Hobart area.

Records

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for May
	Total rainfall for May 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for May		Years of record
Devonport Airport	7.8	12.2	in 1996	42
Memana	21.4	28.6	in 1981	41
Launceston	5.0	8.5	in 1991	26
Scamander	1.8	10.8	in 1976	23

Many sites in the north (including Avoca, Fingal, Frankford, Launceston Airport, Lilydale, Mole Creek, Pioneer, Ringarooma, Scottsdale, Westbury and Latrobe) had their driest May since 1991. At St Marys, Pyengana and Campbell Town it was the driest May since 1972.

Record Highest Temperature for May
	Highest temperature in May 2005 (°C)		Previous highest for May		Years of record
Tarraleah Village	22.0	on 4th	21.0	on 1st in 1985	22

Powranna and Ross also had their warmest May day on the 4th, but have only a short period of record.

Record Highest Daily Minimum Temperature for May
	Highest daily minimum temperature in May 2005 (°C)		Previous highest for May		Years of record
Hobart	16.2	on 4th	16.1	on 2nd in 1889	123
Grove	17.7	on 5th	15.7	on 11th in 1969	50
Hobart Airport	16.0	on 5th	15.1	on 4th in 1982	47

Several other sites with short record (including Geeveston, Dover, Maydena, Ross and King Island Airport) also had their highest daily minimum temperature for May.

Summaries

Summary statistics for May 2005
	Maximum temperatures for May (°C)			Minimum temperatures for May (°C)			Rainfall for May (mm)
	Mean for 2005	Difference from normal	Highest for 2005	Mean for 2005	Difference from normal	Lowest for 2005	Total for 2005	Normal total	Ranking
Hobart	15.2	+0.8	23.2	7.7	+0.8	2.9	39	47	normal
Launceston	16.3	+0.6	21.4	4.2	-0.9	-1.4	5	63	lowest
Burnie	15.7	+0.4	19.6	8.4	+0.1	3.0	23	95	very low
Devonport	15.8	+0.7	18.9	6.6	0	1.5	8	76	lowest
Swansea	16.7	+0.8	22.4	6.5	+0.3	-0.8	6	47	very low
Strahan	14.0	-0.3	20.0	7.4	0	1.2	174	139	normal
Strathgordon	10.9	-0.6	19.5	5.7	+0.3	1.6	300	238	high
King Island Airport	15.7	+0.2	21.8	9.7	+0.6	4.0	32	86	very low
Flinders Island Airport	16.6	+0.4	23.8	9.6	+0.6	0.8	19	81	very low
Bicheno	16.9	+0.5	21.3	8.0	-0.4	4.5	9	57	very low
Bridport	15.9	-0.1	21.1	7.3	-0.6	1.8	15	57	lowest
Bull Bay	15.4	+0.4	22.0	7.9	-0.3	2.8	43	40	normal
Bushy Park	15.2	+1.0	24.3	3.6	-0.5	-2.0	51	46	high
Campania	16.1		23.0	6.0		-1.0	22
Cape Bruny	14.1	+0.7	20.5	8.3	+0.1	6.0	85	85	normal
Cape Grim	14.5	-0.1	18.0	10.2	0	7.0	23	74	very low
Cressy	15.4		21.8	3.1		-4.4	9
Dover	14.8	+0.1	21.9	6.7	+0.9	0.7	66	72	normal
Eddystone Point	16.4	+0.7	20.1	9.5	-0.1	4.5	9	67	very low
Fingal	15.7	+0.5	22.2	3.0	+0.1	-4.2	5	51	very low
Friendly Beaches	16.4		21.4	7.8		3.1	10
Geeveston	14.4	-0.1	22.0	5.1	+0.7	-1.5	81	71	normal
Grove	15.2	+0.7	23.1	5.3	+1.0	-1.6	54	60	normal
Grove	15.1		22.8	4.8		-2.2	56
Hartz Mountain	8.3		16.2	3.1		-2.5
Hobart Airport	16.1	+0.9	23.7	7.7	+1.1	3.3	23	36	normal
Lake Leake	11.5	+0.1	18.3	2.4	+0.3	-4.3	24	74	low
Lake St Clair	10.0	-0.3	17.8	2.1	+0.6	-3.7	180	158	normal
Launceston Airport	15.5		21.7	3.8		-2.6	7
Launceston Airport (old site)	14.9	+1.0	20.9	3.8	-0.8	-2.6	9	60	very low
Liawenee	9.0		16.4	-0.1		-7.1
Low Head	15.5		18.3	9.6		4.9	13
Luncheon Hill	12.6	-0.6	15.7	6.8	-0.2	2.7	115
Maatsuyker Island	12.5	-0.2	20.4	8.3	-0.1	2.2	72	116	low
Maria Island	15.4		19.3	9.1		4.0	16
Marrawah	14.5	-0.3	17.7	9.1	0	5.3	56	104	low
Maydena	13.0	-0.2	21.8	4.1	0	-1.0	126	95	high
Melton Mowbray	14.5		22.5	5.2		-3.1	19
Moogara	11.2	+0.2	19.2	4.2	0	-0.2	84	60	high
Mount Read	6.1		10.8	1.8		-3.0	495
Mount Wellington	6.0	+0.7	12.4	0.4	0	-5.7
Orford	15.7	0	19.1	6.8	+0.6	1.5	24	60	low
Ouse Fire Station	15.0		24.4	4.1		-2.8	36
Powranna	15.1	+0.7	22.0	3.9	-0.1	-3.0	8	43	lowest
Ross	14.8	+0.6	21.7	3.4	+0.1	-4.1	9	24	low
Scamander	16.7	+0.2	22.9	7.6	+0.1	4.0	2	57	lowest
Scotts Peak Dam	11.3		17.8	5.4		0.5
Scottsdale	14.8	-0.1	20.2	4.9	-1.0	-0.2	13	101	very low
Sheffield	13.9		19.0	5.4		1.5	20
Smithton	15.4		19.2	6.2		0.0	43
St Helens	16.0		22.1	7.0		1.1	7
Swan Island	15.7		21.6	10.7		6.5	14
Tarraleah	11.4	+0.4	22.0	2.9	+0.6	-0.5	92	103	normal
Tasman Island	13.0		19.6	8.0		1.1	78
Tunnack	12.4		18.2	3.7		-3.3	23
Warra	11.1		18.2	4.8		-0.1
Wynyard	15.4	+0.4	18.9	5.0	-0.1	-0.5	34	97	very low

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Record Low Total Rainfall for longer periods

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for January to May
	Total rainfall for January to May 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for January to May		Years of record
Frankford	132.6	133.1	in 1967	111
Ulverstone	137.4	139.3	in 1967	103
Burnie	137.1	162.0	in 2002	59
Lorinna	219.0	238.8	in 1953	49
Devonport	89.0	121.1	in 1967	41
Forthside	123.6	134.3	in 1967	40
Scottsdale	133.8	198.6	in 2002	33
Wynyard	171.2	176.0	in 2002	32
Westbury	128.2	146.4	in 1991	27
Launceston	110.6	131.0	in 2002	25

Several other sites (including Lilydale, Pioneer, Elliot, Flinders Island Airport, Ringarooma, Latrobe, Gladstone, Lady Barron, Launceston Airport and Memana) have had their driest January-to-May since 1967.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 9 months September to May
	Total rainfall for September 2004 to May 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for September to May		Years of record
Frankford	361.2	368.5	in 1897	110
Ulverstone	333.1	347.7	in 1935	99
Latrobe	342.8	345.3	in 1940	98
Launceston Airport (old site)	279.0	281.8	in 1935	74
City of Melbourne Bay	440.6	482.3	in 1940	70
Burnie	304.8	436.2	in 1990	55
Lorinna	483.6	527.6	in 1919	45
Devonport	285.6	345.4	in 1999	41
Pyengana	479.9	543.2	in 1966	41
Barrington	419.8	495.6	in 1994	37
Forthside	342.7	457.2	in 1994	35
Marrawah	505.2	539.2	in 2002	34
Scottsdale	375.2	416.8	in 1987	33
Wynyard	409.3	447.6	in 1965	31
Westbury	286.4	374.4	in 1990	25
Launceston	300.4	345.0	in 1997	24

Some other sites have had their driest September-to-May for many years, for some as far back as 1920.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 10 months August to May
	Total rainfall for August 2004 to May 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for August to May		Years of record
Irishtown	613.8	617.4	in 1940	90
Launceston Airport (old site)	312.0	326.8	in 1935	74
Burnie	399.4	512.8	in 1965	54
Devonport	348.6	387.4	in 1994	41
Pyengana	569.9	652.4	in 1966	40
Barrington	519.8	540.8	in 1994	37
Forthside	375.9	491.2	in 1994	34
Scottsdale	439.0	482.0	in 1987	33
Westbury	344.4	427.5	in 1987	25
Launceston	346.3	396.6	in 1997	24

Several sites (including Yambacoona, Ulverstone, Mole Creek, City of Melbourne Bay, Frankford, Yolla, Latrobe and Ringarooma) have had their driest August-to-May since at least 1940.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 12 months June to May
	Total rainfall for June 2004 to May 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for June to May		Years of record
Forthside	578.5	642.2	in 1994	34
Launceston	472.5	473.4	in 1997	24
Scamander	496.1	505.4	in 1979	20

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Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Wednesday 1 June 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 shown do no have sufficient record for them to be calculated reliably.

The "Ranking" indicates about where rainfall this time ranks in the climate record for the site.

Further information

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