Thursday, 10 January 2019 - Annual Climate Summary for Australian Capital Territory - Product code IDCKGC55L0
Australian Capital Territory in 2018: dry with record warm days
The Australian Capital Territory had another warm and dry year in 2018. It was Canberra Airport's warmest year on record for mean maximum temperature and third-warmest year on record for mean temperature. Mean minimum temperature was also warmer than average. Rainfall was below average for the ACT.
The Australian annual climate statement provides a comprehensive summary of Australia's climate during 2018. Information about changes and long-term trends in Australia's climate can be found in State of the Climate 2018.
Dry year overall
- Overall rainfall was very much below average across most of the ACT
- Total rainfall for Canberra Airport was 472.0 mm, which is 76% of the long term average of 617.4 mm
- It was the driest autumn since 2004, and driest winter since 1994 at Canberra Airport which contributed to a very dry year overall
- February, November and December were wetter than average months
- The wettest day for the ACT was 26 February, when a cold front brought heavy rain; Mitchell (Exhibition Park) reported its highest daily rainfall on record in the 24 hours to 9am on the 26th
- There were 86 rain days recorded at Canberra Airport, below the average of 105 days, and the least number of wet days since 2006 (which experienced 65 days)
Third-warmest year on record
- Third-warmest year on record for Canberra Airport, with a mean temperature of 1.3 °C above average and warmest since 2009
- The mean maximum temperature at Canberra Airport was 22.0 °C, 1.7 °C above average and the warmest on record
- The daytime temperatures at Canberra Airport were above average for every month of the year with notable months including an equal fourth-warmest January, the warmest April (as detailed in the Special Climate Statement Persistent summer-like heat sets many April records), second-warmest July and fifth-warmest December on record
- A heatwave in January (as detailed in the Special Climate Statement Record warmth in the Tasman Sea, New Zealand and Tasmania) brought very warm days for Canberra, with the airport reaching a maximum temperature of 40.6 °C on 7th
- 63 days reached 30 °C or more at Canberra Airport during the year, close to double the long-term average of 33 days
- Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS saw its highest annual mean daily maximum temperature on record
- The mean minimum temperature at Canberra Airport was 6.9 °C, 0.4 °C above average
- Canberra Airport saw 88 nights during the year that dropped below 2 °C, which is 5 days less than average
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Extremes in 2018 | |
|---|---|
| Hottest day | 40.6 °C at Canberra Airport on 7 Jan |
| Warmest days on average | 22.0 °C at Canberra Airport |
| Coolest days on average | 12.2 °C at Mount Ginini AWS |
| Coldest day | -3.2 °C at Mount Ginini AWS on 19 Aug |
| Coldest night | -8.0 °C at Mount Ginini AWS on 20 Aug |
| Coolest nights on average | 3.7 °C at Mount Ginini AWS |
| Warmest nights on average | 7.0 °C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS |
| Warmest night | 22.6 °C at Canberra Airport on 8 Jan |
| Warmest on average overall | 14.5 °C at Canberra Airport |
| Coolest on average overall | 7.9 °C at Mount Ginini AWS |
| Wettest overall | 921.2 mm at Mount Ginini AWS |
| Driest overall | 403.4 mm at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS |
| Wettest day | 107.2 mm at Mitchell (Exhibition Park) on 26 Feb |
| Strongest wind gust | 113 km/h at Mount Ginini AWS on 12 May |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Record highest daily rainfall | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (mm) |
Old record |
Years of record |
||||
| Mitchell (Exhibition Park) | 107.2 | on 26 Feb | 102.6 | on 5 Feb 2002 | 48 | |
| Record highest annual mean daily maximum temperature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Annual average |
||
| Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS | 21.8 | 21.7 | in 2006 | 21 | 20.8 |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Summary statistics for 2018 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures (°C) |
Minimum temperatures (°C) |
Rainfall (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for 2018 |
Diff from average |
Highest for 2018 |
Mean for 2018 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for 2018 |
Total for 2018 |
Average annual total |
Rank of 2018 |
Fraction of annual average |
|||
| Canberra Airport | 22.0 | 40.6 | 7 Jan | 6.9 | -7.4 | 23 Jul | 472.0 | 605.7 | low | 78% | ||
| Mount Ginini AWS | 12.2 | +0.4 | 30.3 | 7 Jan | 3.7 | +0.2 | -8.0 | 20 Aug | 921.2 | 1041.9 | low | 88% |
| Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS | 21.8 | +1.0 | 39.4 | 7 Jan | 7.0 | 0.0 | -7.9 | 23 Jul | 403.4 | 620.0 | v low | 65% |
|
Note:
Observations for “Canberra Airport” are taken from the current site
(Bureau number 070351), which opened in late 2008.
Comparisons are made against data from the previous site Canberra Airport Comparison (070014), which ran from 1939 to 2010, combined with the current site from March 2010 onwards. | ||||||||||||
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
Notes
The annual climate summary lists the main features of the weather in the Australian Capital Territory using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.
The Australian annual climate statement provides a comprehensive summary of Australia's climate during 2018. Information about changes and long-term trends in Australia's climate can be found in State of the Climate 2018.
This summary includes data from observing sites in or near the Australian Capital Territory “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” (GCCSA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics designed the GCCSAs to “include the population within the urban area of the city, as well as people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the city, and live in small towns and rural areas surrounding the city. It is important to note that GCCSAs do not define the built up edge of the city. They provide a stable definition for these cities and are designed for the output of a range of social and economic survey data.”
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 1 pm on Wednesday 9 January 2019. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.
In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.
Averages for individual sites are long-term means based on observations from
all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site.
They are not shown for sites with less than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median
is sometimes more representative than the
mean
of long-term average rain.
The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
decile ranking
(very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3,
average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a
percentage of the long-term mean.
Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
