Tuesday, 3 January 2006

MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - TASMANIA

Warm nights, wet, windy - Tasmania in December 2005

Warm nights: Hobart's mean minimum (overnight) temperature was 12.8 °C, 2.1 degrees above normal and the highest for any December in 124 years of record. Several other sites in the southeast also set similar warm-night records, although nowhere had their warmest individual December night. Almost all nights were warmer than normal, especially near the start and the end of the month.

Wet in the west: Much of Tasmania had more rain than normal during December, with the western half especially affected. Mount Read registered 602 mm for the month, Lake Margaret's 503 mm was the wettest December there since 1976, and Strahan's 196 mm was the wettest December on record for them. Launceston had its wettest December since 1985, and at several other sites in the north it was the wettest December since 1993. At some in the southeast it was the wettest December since 1995. Rain was below normal on some of the East Coast, with Bicheno registering just 27 mm for the whole month.

Windy: Strong westerly winds were common right through December, and especially noticeable from the 6th to the 10th and again from the 21st to the 30th. Gusts in excess of 100 km/h were reported by a number of sites, and Hobart reached 98 km/h on the 25th (its second-strongest Christmas Day gust in 59 years of record). Such persistent westerlies are more often a feature of spring, rather than summer, weather.

A few warm days: The month started off with a few warm days, but there was not an extended period of hot weather. The highest temperatures were on the 21st when several sites in the eastern half reached into the low 30s, but by the 24th many were back to the mid-teens. Averaged across the month, maximum temperatures were above normal by about 0.5 to 1.5 degrees in most areas (slightly warmer in the southeast), but below normal by about 0.5 degrees in the north.

Warm on Macquarie Island: Sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island (technically part of Tasmania, but 1500 km to the southeast of Hobart) had a record-breaking warm December as well. The mean daily maximum of 9.9 °C was 2.0 degrees above normal, and a new record high. The mean daily minimum of 6.6 °C was 2.4 degrees above normal, and also a new record high. On the 20th, Macquarie Island registered a new warmest December night, with a minimum of 8.8 °C. There are 56 years of meteorological records from the Island.

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

A summary of the whole of 2005 will be released on 4 January 2006, and available from this web site.

Further information

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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Extremes

Weather extremes during December 2005
Highest temperature Hottest day	33.1 °C	Friendly Beaches on 21st
Highest mean daily maximum temperature Warmest days on average	23.2 °C	Friendly Beaches
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature Coolest days on average	11.6 °C	Mount Read
Lowest daily maximum temperature Coldest day	4.6 °C	Mount Wellington on 24th
Lowest temperature Coldest night	-0.4 °C	Mount Wellington on 25th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature Coldest nights on average	4.1 °C	Mount Wellington
Highest mean daily minimum temperature Mildest nights on average	13.7 °C	Swan Island
Highest daily minimum Warmest night	19.2 °C	Swansea on 30th
Highest total rainfall Wettest overall	601.8 mm	Mount Read
Lowest total rainfall Driest overall	27.0 mm	Bicheno
Highest daily rainfall Wettest day	67.0 mm	Mount Read on 18th
Strongest wind gust Peak wind speed	130 km/h	Maatsuyker Island on 24th

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Records

Record Highest Total Rainfall for December
	Total rainfall for December 2005 (mm)	Previous highest for December		Years of record
Strahan Aerodrome	196.4	186.8	in 1986	21

Highest Total Rainfall for at least 20 years for December
	Total rainfall for December 2005 (mm)	Most recent higher for December
Lorinna	164.8	170.7	in 1922
Waratah	234.2	234.5	in 1956
Lake Margaret Power Station	502.6	519.2	in 1976
Strathgordon Village	440.1	441.4	in 1976
Savage River Mine	239.8	299.0	in 1976
Zeehan	292.8	294.5	in 1979
Bushy Park	106.4	140.6	in 1985
Launceston	87.4	145.1	in 1985
Launceston Airport Comparison	82.8	125.6	in 1985
Mole Creek	152.2	162.5	in 1985
Tarraleah Village	160.1	194.2	in 1984

At several sites in the north (including Latrobe, Scottsdale, Wynyard and Westbury) it was the wettest December since 1993. At some in the southeast (including Hobart Airport, Bagdad, Risdon Vale and Lunawanna) it was the wettest December since 1995.

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Record Highest Mean Daily Minimum Temperature for December
	Mean daily minimum temperature for December 2005 (°C)	Previous highest for December		Years of record
Hobart	12.8	12.6	in 1973	124
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	12.5	= 12.5	in 1940	80
Hobart Airport	12.7	12.3	in 1973	48
Grove	10.5	= 10.5	in 1985	47
Swansea Post Office	12.6	12.1	in 2002	47

Highest Mean Minimum Temperature for at least 20 years for December
	Mean daily minimum temperature for December 2005 (°C)	Most recent higher for December
Bushy Park	10.1	10.7	in 1985
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	11.1	11.4	in 1985
Marrawah	11.8	11.9	in 1985

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Summaries

Summary statistics for December 2005
	Maximum temperatures for December (°C)			Minimum temperatures for December (°C)			Rainfall for December (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	21.9	+1.7	30.7	12.8	+2.1	9.1	76	57	high
Launceston	22.1	-0.4	30.4	11.5	+1.0	6.2	87	47	very high
Burnie	19.7	+0.2	25.0	12.3	+1.2	8.2	119	65	high
Devonport	19.3	-0.2	25.8	11.8	+1.4	7.2	109	54	very high
Swansea	23.1	+2.6	32.6	12.6	+2.2	7.8	40	61	normal
Strahan	19.6	+0.4	27.2	11.1	+1.6	8.3	196	91	highest
Strathgordon	18.0	+0.7	28.4	9.5	+1.3	6.4	440	203	very high
King Island Airport	19.7	+1.4	25.5	12.4	+1.6	6.9	46	49	normal
Flinders Island Airport	21.6	+1.6	29.4	13.5	+1.8	7.1	70	58	high
Bicheno	22.1	+2.3	32.2	12.7	+1.3	9.4	27	70	low
Bridport	19.8	-0.4	25.2	12.5	+1.5	9.8	62	40	high
Bull Bay	21.4	+1.8	28.0	11.8	+1.2	7.2	77	65	high
Bushy Park	22.1	+0.1	30.0	10.1	+1.0	5.3	106	51	very high
Campania	22.9		31.3	11.3		6.5	65
Cape Bruny	19.5		28.2	12.0		8.6	84
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	19.1	+2.2	27.0	12.5	+2.2	9.4	99	77	high
Cape Grim	18.0	+0.8	22.2	12.5	+0.6	10.5	65	41	high
Cressy	22.1		29.8	9.4		3.5	101
Dover	20.9	+2.1	28.9	11.0	+2.0	7.4	84	75	normal
Eddystone Point	21.1	+1.9	27.6	12.7	+0.5	7.9	55	61	normal
Fingal	21.8	+0.4	29.6	9.6	+1.0	4.1	57	50	normal
Friendly Beaches	23.2		33.1	12.9		9.7
Geeveston	21.0	+1.2	29.4	10.9	+2.2	6.0	118	74	high
Grove Comparison	21.6	+1.4	29.7	10.5	+1.9	5.7	92	63	high
Grove	21.4		29.9	9.7		4.8	92
Hartz Mountain	15.1	+0.4	27.7	6.3	+1.3	2.1	102	80	high
Hobart Airport	22.3	+1.8	31.3	12.7	+2.0	8.9	74	54	high
Lake Leake	18.6	+1.1	25.3	8.0	+1.0	3.3	63	74	normal
Lake St Clair	6.6	-0.7	25.6	6.4	+1.6	0.8	302	137	highest
Launceston Airport	21.7		29.2	9.6		4.2	78
Launceston Airport Comparison	21.2	0	28.9	9.5	+0.8	4.0	83	51	high
Liawenee	16.2		24.8	5.0		0.4	172
Low Head	18.7		24.2	13.5		10.1	77
Luncheon Hill	17.8	-0.9	27.6	9.7	+1.3	6.8	165	93	highest
Maatsuyker Island	16.9	+1.3	26.5	11.1	+1.5	6.9	143	91	high
Maria Island	21.8		31.1	13.2		10.0	63
Marrawah	18.7	+0.5	25.5	11.8	+1.3	8.7	89	64	high
Maydena	19.2	-0.5	29.2	9.2	+1.9	3.9	212	92	highest
Melton Mowbray	21.7		30.1	10.1		4.8	77	38	high
Moogara	17.7	+0.3	26.8	8.5	+1.7	4.9	121	64	highest
Mount Read	11.6	-0.1	21.9	4.3	+0.3	0.5	602
Mount Wellington	12.5	+1.8	22.2	4.1	+1.4	-0.4	103	90	high
Orford	22.0	+1.8	31.7	12.0	+1.6	8.5	73	65	normal
Ouse Fire Station	22.1		30.4	9.8		4.2	86
Powranna	21.6	-0.9	30.4	10.1	+1.4	5.0	85	44	high
Ross	23.0	+0.5	30.2	9.5	+1.0	3.9	53	40	normal
Scamander	21.5	+1.3	31.7	12.1	+0.8	8.5	43	63	normal
Scotts Peak Dam	18.2		32.2	9.0		4.6	269
Scottsdale	20.4	-0.5	27.4	10.1	+1.0	4.9	86	70	high
Sheffield	9.2		25.3	9.6		6.2	148
Smithton	19.4	0	23.1	11.0	+1.5	4.9	107
St Helens	21.9		29.4	12.5		7.4	52
Swan Island	19.5		24.0	13.7		10.1
Tarraleah	18.0	+0.3	25.2	7.2	+1.1	2.5	160	92	very high
Tasman Island	17.8		24.9	11.5		8.6	84
Tunnack	19.5		27.5	8.7		3.6	79
Warra	17.1		25.7	8.4		4.9	237
Wynyard	20.0	+0.5	26.5	10.7	+1.4	6.2	141	63	very high
Macquarie Island	9.9	+2.0	13.6	6.6	+2.4	2.1	118	78	very high

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Note

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Tuesday 3 January 2006 . 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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Further information

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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