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Thursday, 1 September 2005

SEASONAL CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

A warm season despite the snow - Tasmania in winter 2005

Warm days: Many days during winter were warmer than normal, with some sites (as listed below) registering their warmest-ever winter days. Averaged across the three months, daytime temperatures were typically 0.5 to 1.5 degrees above normal, and some sites recorded their highest average maximum temperature for any winter.

Warm nights: There were many relatively warm nights through the winter, often the result of windy conditions. This was especially the case on August 30 when the temperature did not drop below 16.1 °C at Grove, giving it the State's warmest-ever winter night.
Several other sites had their own warmest individual winter nights.

Cold days and snow: Although most days were warmer than normal, a strong cold outbreak on the 10th and 11th of August brought snow to sea level. Some sites recorded their coldest-ever winter days, including Mount Wellington which recorded Tasmania's coldest-ever winter day at -5.0 °C.

Wet in the north and west: There were several bursts of rainy weather in the north, culminating in some very high falls in the central north over the last two days of August. In the west, a relatively dry first half of winter gave way to a very wet second half.

Dry in the east and southeast: Winter totals in the east and southeast were below normal, with a few sites receiving less than 100 mm for the whole three months.

A frosty and foggy start: The wet and windy weather of the second half of winter was in stark contrast to the calm and cold conditions prevalent earlier on. Fogs and frosts were common in June, leading to numerous vehicle crashes and some airport closures.


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

Separate summaries are available for each of the individual months of winter: June, July and August. There is also some information about the warm weather at the start of August and the end of August.

Further information

Ian Barnes-Keoghan
Meteorologist, 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 winter 2005

Highest temperature
Hottest day
23.7 °C Geeveston on 29th Aug
Highest mean daily maximum temperature
Warmest days on average
15.5 °C Bicheno 
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature
Coolest days on average
4.2 °C Mount Wellington
Lowest daily maximum temperature
Coldest day
-5.0 °C Mount Wellington on 11th Aug
a new Tasmanian record for any month
Lowest temperature
Coldest night
-8.0 °C Liawenee on 26th Jun
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature
Coldest nights on average
-0.4 °C Mount Wellington
and Liawenee
Highest mean daily minimum temperature
Mildest nights on average
9.1 °C Swan Island
Highest daily minimum
Warmest night
16.1 °C Grove (old site) on 30th Aug
a new Tasmanian record for August
Highest total rainfall
Wettest overall
1146.0 mm Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall
Driest overall
83.2 mm Friendly Beaches
Highest daily rainfall
Wettest day
250.8 mm Breona (Lower Haulage Road) on 31st Aug
a new Tasmanian record for August



Records

Note: for brevity, only sites with at least 20 years of observations are shown in the tables below. Several shorter-term records were also broken.


Record Highest Mean Maximum Temperature for winter


Mean daily maximum
temperature
for winter 2005 (°C)
Previous highest
for winter
Years of
record
Swansea Post Office 15.1 = 15.1
in 2002
48
Hobart Airport 14.4  14.3
in 2002
47
Launceston 13.7 = 13.7
in 1991
22
Scamander 15.3 = 15.3
in 1988
22
Wynyard Airport 14.0 13.7
in 2001
20

Highest Mean Daily Maximum Temperature for at least 20 years for winter


Mean daily maximum
temperature
for winter 2005 (°C)
Most recent higher
for winter
Bicheno 15.5 15.9
in 1988
Flinders Island Airport 14.6 14.9
in 1988
Strathgordon
10.3 10.8
in 1988
Geeveston 13.2 13.4
in 1993



Record Highest Temperature for winter


Highest temperature
in winter 2005 (°C)
Previous highest
for winter
Years of
record
Bushy Park 23.3
on 29th Aug
22.5
on 26th Aug 1977
67
Burnie 18.9
on 24th Aug
18.8
on 1st Jun 1999
56
Scottsdale 18.9
on 24th Aug
18.7
on 26th Aug 1977
26
Fingal 20.7
on 2nd Jun
= 20.7
on 30th Aug 1999
20



Record Lowest Daily Maximum Temperature for winter


Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in winter 2005 (°C)
Previous lowest
for winter
Years of
record
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse 5.0
on 10th Aug
= 5.0
on 28th Jun 1983
69
Mount Wellington -5.0
on 11th Aug
-4.4
on 2nd Aug 1994
24



Record Highest Mean Daily Minimum Temperature for winter


Mean daily minimum
temperature
for winter 2005 (°C)
Previous highest
for winter
Years of
record
Flinders Island Airport 8.1 = 8.1
in 1991
43
Marrawah 8.1 = 8.1
in 2002
34

Highest Mean Daily Minimum Temperature for at least 20 years for winter


Mean daily minimum
temperature
for winter 2005 (°C)
Most recent higher
for winter
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse 7.8 8.2
in 1988
Strathgordon Village 4.3 4.5
in 1988
Bushy Park 2.4 2.5
in 1991



Record Highest Daily Minimum Temperature for winter


Highest daily minimum
temperature
in winter 2005 (°C)
Previous highest
for winter
Years of
record
Hobart 15.0
on 30th Aug
14.4
on 1st Jun 1976
123
Cape Bruny Lighthouse 15.0
on 30th Aug
14.4
on 7th Jun 1957
80
Grove 16.1
on 30th Aug
14.2
on 15th Aug 1983
49
Hobart Airport 14.3
on 30th Aug
12.5
on 8th Jun 1991
48


Summaries


Summary statistics for winter 2005


Maximum temperatures
for winter
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
for winter
(°C)
Rainfall
for winter
(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 13.5 +1.4 22.0 5.9 +1.0 1.1 121 161 normal
Launceston 13.7 +0.6 19.2 3.4 +0.6 -3.1 305 230 high
Burnie 14.1 +1.1 18.9 7.7 +1.6 0.2 360 346 normal
Devonport
13.7 +0.7 17.4 5.8 +0.8 -0.6 315 272 high
Swansea
15.1 +1.4 23.1 4.5 +0.3 -1.4 92 150 low
Strahan
13.1 +0.4 21.2 6.6 +0.9 -1.6 507 526 normal
Strathgordon
10.3 +0.9 20.5 4.3 +0.9 -1.4 798 780 normal
King Island Airport 14.1 +0.7 20.3 8.2 +0.4 0.0 277 325 normal
Flinders Island Airport 14.6 +0.9 20.8 8.1 +1.5 0.2 229 235 normal
Bicheno 15.5 +1.3 21.7 6.6 +0.3 1.4 87 164 low
Bridport 14.0 +0.3 18.3 6.5 +0.8 -1.0 306 263 high
Bull Bay 13.6 +0.9 19.5 6.4 +0.3 0.0 119 161 low
Bushy Park 13.3 +1.6 23.3 2.4 +0.4 -4.1 129 152 normal
Campania 14.4
20.9 4.2
-2.5 90

Cape Bruny
12.8 +1.3 19.4 7.5 +1.1 1.6 268 278 normal
Cape Grim
13.2 +0.5 16.4 8.9 +0.3 3.0 245 266 normal
Cressy
12.7
18.1 2.5
-6.5 285

Dover 13.6 +1.0 22.6 4.7 +0.9 -0.6 194 255 low
Eddystone Point 14.6 +1.3 18.4 8.0 +0.7 0.8 166 224 low
Fingal 13.6 +0.9 20.7 1.0 +0.2 -5.9 146 180 normal
Friendly Beaches 15.1
23.5 6.7
0.7 83

Geeveston 13.2 +0.9 23.7 4.0 +1.6 -3.2 210 264 low
Grove 13.6 +1.4 23.5 3.7 +1.3 -2.7 183 213 normal
Grove 13.3
22.7 3.2
-3.3 185

Hartz Mountain 7.0
16.2 2.3
-4.4 236

Hobart Airport 14.4 +1.5 21.3 5.3 +0.9 -0.1 84 123 low
Lake Leake 10.0 +1.1 16.9 0.9 +0.4 -5.7 254 244 normal
Lake St Clair8.5 +0.9 16.7 1.0 +0.9 -5.6 601 639 normal
Launceston Airport 12.8
19.3 3.0
-4.1 331

Launceston Airport (old site)
12.3 +0.9 18.3 3.4 +0.7 -3.7 352 217 very high
Liawenee 6.9
14.4 -0.4
-8.0 366

Low Head 13.3
16.3 7.9
2.5 340

Luncheon Hill 11.4
17.9 5.8
-0.7 564

Maatsuyker Island
11.8 +0.6 19.7 7.8 +1.1 1.3 416 374 normal
Maria Island 14.0
18.9 8.1
1.8 91

Marrawah 13.3 +0.8 17.2 8.1 +1.1 2.5 364 397 normal
Maydena11.5 +0.3 22.1 3.2 +0.9 -3.5 313 378 normal
Melton Mowbray 12.5
21.3 3.4
-3.6 125

Moogara 9.9 +1.0 19.0 3.1 +1.0 -3.8 199 259 low
Mount Read 4.5
12.0 0.9
-5.0 1146

Mount Wellington 4.2 +1.5 12.0 -0.4 +1.1 -7.4 249 224 normal
Orford 14.2 +0.7 20.4 4.6 +0.7 -1.0 118 173 low
Ouse13.0
22.2 2.4
-5.0 157

Powranna 12.7 +0.8 18.4 3.2 +0.9 -4.5 258 168 highest
Ross 12.5 +0.8 18.7 2.5 +0.6 -5.7 190 132 highest
Scamander 15.3 +1.0 22.2 5.5 +0.5 0.5 140 168 normal
Scotts Peak Dam 10.0
19.5 4.0
-2.0 486

Scottsdale 13.0 +0.6 18.9 4.5 +0.7 -3.8 373 354 normal
Sheffield11.9
17.7 4.4
-1.6 485

Smithton
13.9
16.6 5.4
-1.6 324

St Helens
14.5
20.9 5.4
-0.6 146

Swan Island 13.8
17.6 9.1
2.6 207

Tarraleah
9.9 +1.2 18.5 2.3 +1.8 -5.0 337 344 normal
Tasman Island 11.9
17.9 7.4
-0.2 206

Tunnack
10.7
15.9 2.6
-4.2 167

Warra 9.7
20.3 3.8
-2.2 420

Wynyard
14.0 +1.1 17.6 4.2 +0.3 -2.4 445 360 high


Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Thursday 1 September 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

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



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