Friday, 1 July 2005

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Dry in the west and some warm days - Tasmania in June 2005

There was a fortnight of wet weather in northern Tasmania around the middle of June as a series of fronts and lows passed across the State, but the west coast and highlands received much less rain than normal. Many days were warmer than normal, with some new records set. There were some cold and frosty nights, especially early and again late in the month, and fog was common in many areas.

Included in this summary are 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 many months, especially in the north. Attached to this statement are lists of some of the places that have record low rainfall for various periods.

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 June 2005
Highest temperature Hottest day	20.7 °C	Fingal on 2nd
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	15.4 °C	Flinders Island Airport
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	5.7 °C	Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	1.5 °C	Mount Wellington on 17th
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-8.0 °C	Liawenee on 26th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	-0.7 °C	Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	9.7 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	14.3 °C	Maatsuyker Island on 11th
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	191.8 mm	Mount Victoria
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	23.6 mm	Campania (Kincora)
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	89.8 mm	Mount Wellington on 22nd

Details

The west coast and highlands of Tasmania were much drier than normal, despite receiving some rain on almost every day. Totals there were mostly below 80 mm, in a month when over 200 mm normally falls. Lake Margaret Power Station, Strathgordon and Zeehan all had their driest June since 1978. Mount Read, often one of the wettest places in the State, registered 164 mm in June 2005; in June 2004 it registered 731 mm.
A fortnight of wet weather in north of Tasmanian in the middle of the month provided some relief to the extended dry that has been experienced their, but totals were mostly not much higher than those normal for June.
In the southeast, totals of around 40 mm were common in areas where normal June rainfall is around 60 mm. Much of this fell around the 22nd and 23rd, with Mount Wellington registering 134 mm in 48 hours.

June’s rainfall has done little to relieve the long-term deficiencies that exist in the north of the state. The tables below list some of the sites experiencing their driest periods on record.

Most days saw above-normal maximum temperatures. There were some unseasonably warm days, particularly the 2nd, the 8th to the 14th, and the 28th and 29th. Among others, Launceston recorded its warmest June day ever, reaching 18.4 °C on the 10th, although it was on the 2nd that Fingal registered its warmest June day ever (and the warmest day for June 2005).
The 5th was a cool day, and on the 6th temperatures struggled to reach double digits (except in the north). Cool weather also prevailed from the 17th to the 21st.
Averaged across the month, maximum temperatures were above normal: typically by around half a degree in the east and around one degree in the west.

Some very low minimum (overnight) temperatures were recorded, particularly in the first four days of the month and again from the 24th to the 28th. However, the period from the 9th to the 15th brought some especially mild nights (especially the 11th), as did the 22nd and 23rd.
Averaged across the month, minimum temperatures were mostly within half a degree of normal: slightly below in the southeast and the west, but slightly above in the north and along the east coast.

Fog was common, with many areas experiencing fogs on most days during the month. Launceston Airport was closed, and flights to diverted or cancelled, on several occasions as a result of fog.

Frost was also common in many areas, especially from the 2nd to the 6th and the 23rd to the 28th. Numerous motor vehicle accidents resulted from slippery conditions, especially from the 25th to the 27th.

There were only a few days with strong winds during June 2005, although gusts in excess of 90 km/h were registered on in the first two days, around the 11th, and again on the 28th.

Records

Record Highest Mean Maximum Temperature for June
	Mean daily maximum temperature for June 2005 (°C)	Previous highest for June		Years of record
Tarraleah Village	10.2	9.9	in 1991	21
Wynyard Airport	14.1	= 14.1	in 2001	20

Record Highest Temperature for June
	Highest temperature in June 2005 (°C)		Previous highest for June		Years of record
Launceston Airport (old site)	17.3	on 10th	16.7	on 4th in 1958	67
Flinders Island Airport	20.3	on 10th	= 20.3	on 5th in 2001	43
Launceston	18.4	on 10th	18.2	on 4th in 1987	22
Fingal	20.7	on 2nd	19.6	on 3rd in 1988	20

Summaries

Summary statistics for June 2005
	Maximum temperatures for June (°C)			Minimum temperatures for June (°C)			Rainfall for June (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	12.8	+0.9	16.4	4.7	-0.5	1.3	38	55	normal
Launceston	13.5	+0.5	18.4	3.0	+0.1	-3.1	76	68	normal
Burnie	14.5	+1.1	17.2	8.3	+1.6	5.0	106	107	normal
Devonport	13.9	+0.7	17.4	5.5	+0.4	0.8	89	83	normal
Swansea	14.4	+0.5	17.6	3.5	-0.9	0.0	33	58	normal
Strahan	13.6	+1.0	19.9	5.9	-0.1	0.6	62	174	lowest
Strathgordon	10.7	+1.2	15.5	3.8	0	-0.1	79	221	very low
King Island Airport	14.8	+1.0	20.3	7.4	-1.0	0.0	80	98	low
Flinders Island Airport	15.4	+1.4	20.3	7.3	+0.2	0.2	48	74	low
Bicheno	15.1	+0.7	18.5	6.8	+0.2	3.8	37	61	normal
Bridport	14.4	+0.5	17.7	7.2	+0.9	2.1	135	105	high
Bull Bay	13.1	+0.5	16.6	5.9	-0.5	2.3	36	46	normal
Bushy Park	11.2	0	16.6	1.2	-0.9	-4.1	36	49	normal
Campania	14.1		19.0	2.5		-2.5	24
Cape Bruny	12.9	+1.3	16.5	7.2	+0.5	3.6	40	90	very low
Cape Grim	13.7	+0.6	15.0	9.1	+0.1	5.0	84	81	normal
Cressy	12.2		17.7	1.6		-6.5	71
Dover	13.4	+0.9	16.6	3.3	-0.7	-0.6	35	80	very low
Eddystone Point	14.8	+1.1	18.4	8.5	+0.5	3.8	66	75	normal
Fingal	13.3	+0.6	20.7	0.4	-0.7	-5.9	37	65	normal
Friendly Beaches	14.7		18.6	6.1		0.7	32
Geeveston	12.9	+0.7	16.9	1.7	-0.5	-3.2	34	73	low
Grove	13.1	+1.0	19.1	1.3	-1.2	-2.7	57	62	normal
Hartz Mountain	8.5		14.3	3.4		-0.4	71
Hobart Airport	13.8	+0.9	17.7	4.3	-0.4	0.6	27	31	normal
Lake Leake	10.6	+1.7	15.9	-0.4	-1.2	-5.7	61	88	normal
Lake St Clair	8.9	+1.3	12.3	0.1	-0.2	-5.6	83	186	low
Launceston Airport	12.3		17.9	2.4		-4.1	70
Launceston Airport (old site)	12.0	+0.6	17.3	2.5	-0.4	-3.7	71	63	high
Liawenee	7.7		12.7	-0.7		-8.0	86
Low Head	13.7		16.3	7.0		3.0	134
Luncheon Hill	12.4		14.5	7.0		3.5	76	155	low
Maatsuyker Island	12.7	+1.3	18.8	8.9	+1.7	6.1	66	120	low
Maria Island	13.8		16.4	8.2		5.4	47
Marrawah	13.7	+1.0	16.2	8.1	+0.7	4.8	110	127	normal
Maydena	10.9	0	15.4	2.4	-0.1	-1.8	54	110	low
Melton Mowbray	12.1		17.6	1.2		-3.6	46
Moogara	10.2	+1.3	14.6	3.0	+0.5	-3.8	42	74	low
Mount Read	5.8		11.2	2.2		-1.7	164
Mount Wellington	5.7		10.3	1.1		-3.7	156	66
Orford	13.7	+0.3	16.6	4.2	+0.1	0.3	42	52	normal
Ouse	10.8		17.3	0.5		-5.0	41
Powranna	12.7	+0.8	17.1	2.5	0	-4.5	57	52	high
Ross	12.1	+0.3	18.7	1.4	-0.8	-5.7	40	41	normal
Scamander	14.7	+0.2	18.2	5.6	+0.1	1.6	76	51	high
Scotts Peak Dam	10.5		15.5	4.0		-0.3	45
Scottsdale	13.6	+1.0	17.9	5.1	+1.0	-0.1	115	109	normal
Sheffield	12.3		16.7	4.3		0.1	152
Smithton	14.2		16.3	5.1		-1.6	89
St Helens	14.4		18.8	4.8		0.7	65
Swan Island	14.2		16.2	9.7		6.6	79
Tarraleah	10.1	+1.4	14.5	1.6	+1.0	-3.1	80	104	normal
Tasman Island	12.2		17.9	8.1		5.4	60
Tunnack	11.0		15.8	2.1		-4.2	74
Warra	10.1		14.6	4.0		-1.8	43
Wynyard	14.1	+1.0	17.5	4.0	-0.3	-0.3	155	117	high

Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Friday 1 July 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.

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Record Low Total Rainfall for longer periods

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 6 months from January to June
	Total rainfall for January to June 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for January to June		Years of record
Scottsdale	249.2	311.1	in 1972	33
Westbury	189.8	210.5	in 2002	27
Launceston	186.4	190.0	in 2002	25

Many other sites (including Forthside, Lilydale, Pioneer, Frankford, Ringarooma, Burnie, Devonport, Latrobe and Ulverstone) have had their driest January-to-June since 1967.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 10 months from September to June
	Total rainfall for September 2004 to June 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for September to June		Years of record
Frankford	478.4	492.1	in 1935	110
Ulverstone	430.7	445.0	in 1935	99
City of Melbourne Bay	545.0	561.1	in 1940	70
Burnie	411.0	506.2	in 1983	55
Lorinna	612.8	618.1	in 1933	44
Devonport	374.4	398.8	in 1999	41
Pyengana	574.9	640.4	in 1966	40
Barrington	540.0	597.1	in 1965	37
Forthside	453.9	535.5	in 1977	35
Marrawah	615.2	616.6	in 1973	34
Scottsdale	490.6	546.8	in 1987	33
Westbury	348.0	479.9	in 1981	25

Several other sites in the north have had their driest September-to-June for at least 30 years.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 11 months from August to June
	Total rainfall for August 2004 to June 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for August to June		Years of record
Ulverstone	528.9	535.5	in 1940	99
Launceston Airport (old site)	385.8	390.9	in 1966	73
Burnie	505.6	587.5	in 1965	54
Devonport	437.4	479.3	in 1977	41
Pyengana	664.9	749.6	in 1966	39
Barrington	640.0	661.8	in 1965	37
Forthside	487.1	627.1	in 1977	34
Scottsdale	554.4	612.0	in 1987	33
Westbury	406.0	522.9	in 1982	25
Launceston	422.1	469.4	in 1997	24
Port Arthur	851.1	856.6	in 1983	23

Several other sites in the north have had their driest August-to-June for at least 30 years.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 12 months from July to June
	Total rainfall for July 2004 to June 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for July to June		Years of record
Lewis Hill	407.6	417.0	in 1999	68
Burnie	629.6	681.6	in 1997	54
Pyengana	773.5	846.7	in 1965	39
Forthside	630.5	671.3	in 1977	34
Scottsdale	646.8	728.6	in 1987	32
Westbury	517.1	575.7	in 1982	25
Launceston	470.5	509.2	in 1997	24

Several other sites have had their driest July-to-June for at least 30 years.

Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Friday 1 July 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.

Further information

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