Monday, 1 August 2005

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Warm and windy, wet in the west, dry in the east - Tasmania in July 2005

July was warmer than normal across Tasmania, with some new records set, including at Hobart where mean minimum (overnight) temperatures were the highest for any July since 1946. Strong westerly winds were common, especially in the last two weeks. Rainfall varied widely across the State; the west coast and highlands received above-average totals (and had a very wet final week), but totals in the eastern half were below the July normal. For more details, see below.

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 July 2005
Highest temperature Hottest day	18.5 °C	Bicheno on 22nd
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	15.4 °C	Bicheno
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	3.1 °C	Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	-0.8 °C	Mount Wellington on 8th
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-5.2 °C	Liawenee on 9th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	-1.1 °C	Mount Wellington
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	9.2 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	13.1 °C	Flinders Island Airport on 1st
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	554.2 mm	Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	12.8 mm	Scamander
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	64.4 mm	Mount Read on 30th

Details

Westerly winds and cold fronts were the dominant weather patterns over Tasmania during July, with the main respite being about a week from the 8th to the 15th.

Most days were warmer than normal, especially from the 1st to the 6th, the 19th to the 25th, and again from the 27th to the 31st. Records for highest mean July maximum were set at Bushy Park, Scamander and Wynyard (see the table below), but not for warmest July day. Averaged across the month, maximum temperatures were about 0.5 to 1.5 degrees above the July normal.

The windiness ensured that overnight temperatures were above normal most of the time, although there were several cold mornings from the 8th to the 18th. Cape Bruny, Grove, Flinders Island Airport, Strathgordon and Marrawah all set new records for highest mean July minima (see the table below). In Hobart, the mean minimum of 6.2 °C was the highest for any July since 1946; Launceston's 3.5 °C  was the highest their since 1993. There were several especially mild nights, with Burnie (on the 6th) and Marrawah (on the 24th) setting new high overnight temperature records. Averaged across the month, minimum temperatures were mostly 1 to 1.5 degrees above the July normal, except along the East Coast where they were about 0.5 degrees above normal.

The persistent westerly winds brought plenty of rain to the western half of the State, but much less to the east. Mount Read topped the list with 554 mm, whilst Scamander had less than 13 mm for the whole month (their driest July since 1979). Big falls on the 2nd contributed to above-average totals on Flinders Island, where Lady Barron had its wettest July since 1974. The far northwest and King Island, despite having totals around the 80 to 100 mm mark, was drier than normal for July.

Strong winds were common, especially in the second half of the month. Many gusts in excess of 100 km/h were recorded, with the 24th to the 26th being especially windy.

Records

Record Highest Mean Maximum Temperature for July
	Mean daily maximum temperature for July 2005 (°C)	Previous highest for July		Years of record
Bushy Park	13.7	13.4	in 2002	68
Launceston Airport (old site)	12.3	= 12.3	in 2001	67
Scamander	15.0	14.9	in 1988	22
Wynyard Airport	13.9	13.6	in 2001	20

Record Highest Mean Daily Minimum Temperature for July
	Mean daily minimum temperature for July 2005 (°C)	Previous highest for July		Years of record
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	7.8	7.7	in 2002	81
Grove	4.5	3.7	in 1975	49
Flinders Island Airport	8.3	8.1	in 1970	44
Strathgordon Village	4.6	4.5	in 1988	36
Marrawah	8.1	= 8.1	in 2002	35
Tarraleah Village	2.6	2.1	in 2002	21

Record Highest Daily Minimum Temperature for July
	Highest daily minimum temperature in July 2005 (°C)		Previous highest for July		Years of record
Burnie	12.7	on 6th	12.5	on 3rd in 1985	56
Marrawah	12.7	on 24th	12.2	on 4th in 1994	35

Summaries

Summary statistics for July 2005
	Maximum temperatures for July (°C)			Minimum temperatures for July (°C)			Rainfall for July (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	13.3	+1.6	17.4	6.2	+1.6	1.1	34	53	normal
Launceston	13.5	+1.1	16.9	3.5	+1.4	-1.2	46	77	low
Burnie	14.0	+1.3	16.5	7.8	+2.0	0.2	99	127	normal
Devonport	13.6	+1.0	16.6	5.9	+1.4	-0.6	74	99	normal
Swansea	14.9	+1.7	17.9	4.1	+0.5	-1.4	16	48	low
Strahan	12.6	+0.4	15.0	6.9	+1.9	-1.6	186	168	normal
Strathgordon	9.8	+0.8	13.5	4.6	+1.6	-0.4	314	272	normal
King Island Airport	13.8	+0.7	15.3	8.4	+0.9	1.0	72	113	low
Flinders Island Airport	13.9	+0.6	17.1	8.3	+2.1	1.5	97	85	normal
Bicheno	15.4	+1.4	18.5	6.3	+0.3	2.0	16	53	low
Bridport	13.6	+0.4	16.0	6.6	+1.5	2.0	55	74	low
Bull Bay	13.5	+1.1	18.0	6.7	+0.7	2.8	33	55	low
Bushy Park	13.7	+2.6	17.3	2.5	+1.0	-4.1	47	50	normal
Campania	13.8		18.3	4.6		-1.2	27
Cape Bruny	12.5	+1.3	16.2	7.8	+1.7	4.5	87	96	normal
Cape Grim	13.2	+0.7	16.0	9.0	+0.6	3.0	76	99	normal
Cressy	12.9		16.4	2.5		-2.6	44
Dover	13.2	+0.9	16.1	5.1	+1.4	-0.5	57	87	low
Eddystone Point	14.4	+1.4	17.3	8.1	+1.1	4.2	58	77	normal
Fingal	13.2	+1.0	15.7	0.9	+0.6	-3.3	26	56	low
Friendly Beaches	14.7		18.3	6.7		1.4	18
Geeveston	13.0	+0.9	16.0	4.5	+2.3	-2.2	66	92	normal
Grove	13.4	+1.7	17.6	4.5	+2.5	-1.9	58	74	normal
Hartz Mountain	6.0		9.6	1.9		-1.8	61
Hobart Airport	14.1	+1.8	18.2	5.0	+1.0	0.8	24	44	low
Lake Leake	9.3	+0.8	12.3	1.1	+1.0	-3.7	46	79	low
Lake St Clair	8.0	+0.8	11.0	1.6	+1.7	-3.0	218	208	normal
Launceston Airport	12.8		16.2	3.2		-1.9	48
Launceston Airport (old site)	12.3	+1.4	15.7	3.6	+1.3	-2.1	51	78	normal
Liawenee	6.1		9.1	0.0		-5.2	66
Low Head	13.1		14.5	8.5		2.5	74
Luncheon Hill	11.0		13.9	5.7		0.8	244
Maatsuyker Island	11.3	+0.3	15.1	7.8	+1.2	4.4	149	130	high
Maria Island	13.8		16.9	8.1		4.9	15
Marrawah	13.3	+1.0	15.1	8.1	+1.5	2.7	105	140	low
Maydena	11.2	+0.4	15.2	3.5	+1.2	-3.5	110	113	normal
Melton Mowbray	12.1		16.6	4.1		-2.1	35
Moogara	9.1	+0.7	12.6	3.3	+1.3	-1.0	64	79	low
Mount Read	3.8		6.9	0.6		-3.1	554
Mount Wellington	3.1	+0.9	7.5	-1.1	+0.6	-4.7	61	73	normal
Orford	13.9	+0.8	17.3	4.2	+0.8	0.2	22	59	low
Ouse	13.4		17.3	2.9		-2.5	60
Powranna	12.4	+1.0	15.0	3.1	+1.1	-1.2	42	58	low
Ross	12.6	+1.5	15.7	2.8	+1.3	-2.3	27	42	low
Scamander	15.0	+1.2	18.0	5.0	+0.7	1.7	13	55	very low
Scotts Peak Dam	9.4		13.8	4.0		-2.0	183
Scottsdale	12.5	+0.5	15.1	4.7	+1.1	0.4	75	122	low
Sheffield	11.6		14.2	4.6		-1.6	142
Smithton	13.9		16.3	5.3		-1.3	94
St Helens	14.2		17.3	5.8		0.9	22
Swan Island	13.6		15.4	9.2		5.6	64
Tarraleah	9.3	+1.1	13.5	2.6	+2.3	-3.5	130	118	high
Tasman Island	11.4		15.6	7.3		3.1	58
Tunnack	10.2		13.7	2.7		-2.4	41
Warra	8.8		12.3	3.8		-1.7	159
Wynyard	13.9	+1.5	16.2	4.2	+0.7	-2.2	147	135	normal

Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Monday 1 August 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 7 months from January to July
	Total rainfall for January to July 2005 (mm)	Previous lowest for January to July		Years of record
Frankford	347.5	368.5	in 1967	111
Ulverstone	342.6	346.0	in 1925	102
Elliott	429.4	430.1	in 1934	78
Burnie	342.1	382.2	in 1949	59
Devonport Airport	252.0	301.3	in 1976	41
Scottsdale	324.4	413.2	in 2001	33
Westbury	258.5	303.1	in 2002	27
Launceston	232.0	275.5	in 2002	25

For several other sites in the north (including Lilydale, Yolla, Latrobe, Ringarooma and Pyengana) it was the driest January-to-July since 1967; for City of Melbourne Bay and Irishtown it was the driest January-to-July since 1959.

Record Lowest Total Rainfall for the 12 months from August to July
	Total rainfall for August to July 2004-05 (mm)	Previous lowest for August to July		Years of record
Ulverstone	636.5	669.4	in 1940	98
Burnie	604.4	682.1	in 1983	54
Devonport Airport	511.6	575.1	in 1977	41
Pyengana	774.5	898.8	in 1965	39
Barrington	762.6	839.3	in 1982	37
Forthside	601.1	734.5	in 1983	34
Marrawah	821.8	828.4	in 2000	34
Scottsdale	629.6	799.8	in 2000	33
Westbury	474.7	567.5	in 1982	25
Launceston	467.7	548.0	in 1997	24

Many other sites have head their driest August-to-July for many years.

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Further information

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