Monday, 5 January 2009 - Annual Climate Summary for Sydney - Greater Sydney - Product code IDCKGC25L0

Year 2008: Sydney has slightly cooler year

Summary

  • Average annual maximum temperatures slightly above average in coastal Sydney, close to average elsewhere
  • Average maximum temperatures at Observatory Hill coolest since 1995
  • Average annual minimum temperatures slightly above average in coastal Sydney but slightly below average over inland Sydney
  • Average minimum temperatures at Observatory Hill coolest since 1996
  • Close to average rainfall over much of the Sydney metropolitan area
  • Slightly below average sunshine, lowest since 1999

An archive of previous annual summaries for Sydney - Greater Sydney is also available, as are summaries for other states and many other climate summaries and diagnostics.

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Rainfall

Sydney's total annual rainfall of 1082.6 mm recorded at Observatory Hill, was close to the historic annual average of 1216 mm or 89% of the normal annual rainfall. Rainfall was distributed unevenly throughout 2008. February was the wettest month (with 258 mm) with April and September also above average. May was the driest month with only 3 mm recorded at Observatory Hill with January, March, July, August, October, November and December all below average.

There were 143 rain days during the year which is above the historic average of 138 rain days and the highest number since 1999. The western suburbs were drier than the coast but still close to the historic average, and in some locations, slightly above average. Annual rainfall extremes ranged from 1310.4 mm at Turramurra and 1310.0 mm at Belrose on the north shore to 772.8 mm at Glenmore Park in the far west.

Sydney's Warragamba Dam catchment received below average rainfall during 2008 with totals ranging from around 800 mm in the lower catchment to 588 mm at Goulburn in the upper catchment. Over the year water levels rose slightly from 61% of capacity in early January to 63% at the end of December. Recent rainfall and current levels in Sydney's water catchments can be found on the Sydney Catchment Authority web site http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/dams/rainfall.html

Maximum temperatures

Sydney experienced generally mild days during 2008. The average annual maximum (daytime) temperature at Observatory Hill was 22.1°C, or 0.4°C above the historical annual average. Although this is the coolest year since 1995, it is now the 16th consecutive year with above average annual maximum temperatures at Observatory Hill. However away from the coast, most of inland Sydney recorded slightly below average annual maximum temperatures (see table below).

The year began with La Nina conditions in the Pacific Ocean and it is typical for La Nina years to be cooler with more cloud than usual.

The highest temperature at Sydney (Observatory Hill) during 2008 was 35.0°C on 31 October while the highest in the Sydney metropolitan area was 38.4°C at Penrith on 13 January.

Minimum temperatures

Average minimum (night-time) temperatures at Sydney Observatory Hill were slightly above the historic average1 during 2008.  The average annual minimum of 14.3°C was 0.5°C above the historic average1. This ranks 31st warmest out of 150 years of record and is the coolest year for minimum temperatures since 1996. Sydney's western suburbs recorded annual minimum temperatures several degrees cooler than along the coast and were generally slightly below the historic average (see table below).

The lowest temperature at Sydney Observatory Hill during 2008 was 5.3°C on 19 August while the lowest in the Sydney metropolitan area was −2.9°C at Richmond also on 19 August.

Wind

There were 65 strong wind days* recorded at Sydney Airport during 2008 compared to the historic average of 62 days. This included one gale on 22 October which caused power outages to 5000 homes in western and northern Sydney. The highest wind gust in metropolitan Sydney during 2008 was 102 km/hr at Penrith Lakes AWS caused by a severe thunderstorm on 13 January.

Other phenomena

Thunderstorms: Sydney recorded 26thunderstorms during 2008 compared to the historic average of 28 storms. The most severe were in January and February when localised downpours caused flash flooding in many western suburbs with hail and strong winds causing considerable damage to property.

Sunshine: the amount of sunshine in Sydney during 2008 averaged 7.1 hours per day which is slightly below the historic average of 7.2 hours per day and the lowest amount since 1999.  However, monthly averages varied considerably from 4.7 hours per day in June to a very sunny 8.9 hours per day in March, which is the highest for March since sunshine records commenced in 1955.

Further information

NSW Climate Services Centre
NSW Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au

* string wind day defined as average wind speed of 40 km/hr or more over a 10 minute period.

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 38.4°C at Penrith Lakes AWS on 13 Jan
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 23.6°C at Penrith Lakes AWS
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 21.0°C at Terrey Hills AWS
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 10.5°C at Terrey Hills AWS on 22 Aug
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 −2.9°C at Richmond RAAF on 19 Aug
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 10.1°C at Badgerys Creek AWS and at Campbelltown AWS
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 14.3°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill)
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 23.4°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill) on 30 Jan
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 1310.4 mm at Turramurra
1310.0 mm at Belrose
Driest overall
Lowest total rainfall		 772.8 mm at Glenmore Park
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 149.0 mm at Ruse on 5 Feb
148.8 mm at Camden Airport AWS on 5 Feb
Highest wind gust
 102 km/h at Penrith Lakes AWS on 13 Jan

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Records

Nil recorded

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Summaries

This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.

Summary statistics for 2008
Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean
for
2008		 Diff
from
average		 Highest
for
2008		 Mean
for
2008		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest
for
2008		 Total
for
2008		 Average
annual
total		 Rank
of
2008		 Fraction
of annual
average
Sydney (Observatory Hill) 22.1 +0.4 35.0 31 Oct 14.3 +0.5 5.3 19 Aug 1082.6 1216.1 average 89%
Camden Airport AWS 23.0 −0.6 37.1 6 Dec 10.0 −0.2 −2.4 30 Jun 840.8 791.6 average 106%
Liverpool 23.4 +0.2 37.5 13 Jan 10.8 −0.8 −1.0 12 Jul 995.4 865.1 high 115%
Parramatta 22.8 −0.5 36.1 13 Jan 11.9 −0.2 1.8 19 Aug 990.0 978.3 average 101%
Prospect Reservoir 23.1 0.0 37.1 13 Jan 11.7 −0.6 1.0 9 Aug 914.0 872.4 average 105%
Richmond RAAF 22.8 −1.3 37.7 13 Jan 10.2 −0.7 −2.9 19 Aug 800.0 740.6 average 108%
Springwood* 21.6   34.8 13 Jan 11.4   2.4 12 Jul 943.2 1094.7 average 86%
Terrey Hills* AWS 21.0   34.9 31 Oct 12.6   2.9 12 Jul 1170.2

* new stations, no historic average temperatures available and no historic average rainfall available for Terrey Hills

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 9 am on Monday 5 January 2009. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Averages 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.

Further information

NSW Climate Services Centre
NSW Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au