MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY - VICTORIAN REGIONAL OFFICE

Cool summer for Victoria

Victoria has experienced a relatively cool summer with maximum and minimum temperatures typically 1 to 3 degrees below average across the State (table 1),, the coolest since 1995 in some areas. Parts of northwestern Victoria experienced cold summer nights, with the summer average minimum temperatures at Mildura, Walpeup, Nhill, Warracknabeal and Horsham the lowest on record. The highest temperature recorded this summer was 41.0 degrees in Swan Hill on the 6th of January, while the lowest was -4.2 degrees at Mount Hotham on the 27th of December in association with a snowfall event, while bushfires raged around Sydney. Rainfall for this summer was close to average, except in northwestern districts where rainfall was up to 60% below the mean.

February saw an increase in rainfall across most of the State, with several days of significant thunderstorm activity. As a result rainfall was above average in most districts, the Mallee again missing out on substantial falls. (table 2),. East Gippsland was notable in receiving around 3 times the monthly average rainfall. The majority of this rain can be attributed to a low pressure system that developed over far Eastern Bass Strait on the 10th and 11th of February, bringing falls of over 100mm in 24 hours at numerous sites. Club Terrace received the most rain this February with 270.4mm, followed by Combienbar with 265.6mm.

Maximum temperatures for February were generally about 2 degrees below normal, Mildura the only place to average over 30 degrees, with 30.3 degrees. Minimum temperatures for February were mostly 1 degree below average, although in the Wimmera the nights were cooler with Nhill having night-time average temperatures 3.7 degrees below the mean.

Melbourne has experienced temperatures close to average this month, after the cool start to summer. The average maximum temperature in Melbourne this February was 25.4 degrees (normal 26.0 degrees), while the average minimum temperature was 15.2 degrees (normal 15.5 degrees). (table 3), Over the summer as whole, Melbourne experienced a mean maximum air temperature of 24.0 degrees, the coldest since 1995/1996 when the maximum temperature averaged only 23.4 degrees. Melbourne had 6 days when thunderstorms were observed this month, which was the highest number of days for February on record. Rainfall in the city totalled 68.4mm for February (normal 45.8mm) and 156mm for summer (normal 152.8mm). The city's hottest day this summer was 37.3 degrees on the 26th of January, while the coldest night was 9.6 degrees on the 26/27th of December. The mercury did not exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit (37.8 degrees Celsius) this summer. The last time this happened was in the summer of 1989-1990.

Further information:
Peter Newham, tel: (03) 9669 4906 (BH)
Shift Supervisor, tel: (03) 9669 4916 (AH)

Table 1. Provisional Summer 2001-2002 data for Regional Towns, Alpine, and also for the Melbourne Metropolitan Area. Normals are mainly 30 year means (1961-1990).

Town	Rainfall (millimetres)		Minimum temp (°C)		Maximum temp (°C)
.	Observed	Normal	Observed	Normal	Observed	Normal
Albury-Wodonga	117.8	144.4	14.0	14.5	28.8	29.8
Alpine	211.1	273.3	5.6	6.3	13.6	15.3
Bairnsdale	193.0	161.3	11.5	12.6	22.7	25.5
Ballarat	130.8	128.1	9.2	10.8	21.7	24.2
Bendigo	42.4	103.0	11.3	13.9	26.4	28.0
Echuca	57.6	88.3	12.4	14.3	28.6	29.9
Geelong	114.8	100.0	11.3	12.6	22.2	24.4
Hamilton	89.8	92.2	8.7	10.5	22.8	25.6
Horsham	59.6	71.7	9.6	12.8	26.0	28.9
Latrobe Valley	146.6	170.0	11.4	12.1	22.8	25.5
Laverton	125.0	138.8	12.1	13.3	23.2	25.2
Melbourne CBD	156.0	152.8	14.2	14.7	24.0	25.4
Mildura	17.4	62.5	14.1	15.9	30.0	31.2
Mt Dandenong	234.0	219.6	9.9	11.3	18.7	21.6
Mornington Peninsula	105.0	141.2	13.7	15.4	21.6	24.6
Noojee	240.4	222.5	10.2	9.9	21.3	24.1
Orbost	296.6	198.5	12.5	13.0	23.0	24.9
Portland	128.6	107.5	10.8	11.9	19.2	21.4
Sale	175.2	138.3	11.8	12.5	22.5	24.7
Scoresby	202.8	172.4	11.8	13.1	23.0	25.3
Seymour	72.0	118.1	11.7	13.3	27.0	28.5
Shepparton	69.2	108.4	12.5	14.0	28.1	29.2
Stawell	91.2	89.9	10.9	12.3	25.0	27.1
Swan Hill	48.8	71.8	12.7	15.1	29.6	30.7
Tullamarine	112.2	134.1	11.9	12.9	23.4	25.6
Walpeup	16.8	66.0	12.7	14.6	29.2	30.9
Warrnambool	114.2	146.6	9.9	11.1	20.7	22.2
Watsonia	164.4	179.4	12.4	12.2	24.2	26.1
Wonthaggi	170.8	146.7	12.4	12.1	21.5	23.3
Yarra Glen	192.2	132.8	10.2	11.3	23.6	27.4

Table 2: Provisional February 2002 data for Regional Towns, Alpine, and also for the Melbourne Metropolitan Area. Normals are mainly 30 year means (1961-1990).

Table 3: February 2002 data for the Melbourne CBD.