Tuesday, 6 January 2015 - Annual Climate Summary for Brisbane - Product code IDCKGC54L0
Brisbane in 2014: Warm and dry; some very hot days and severe storms
2014 was a warm year across Brisbane, although at most sites it was a few tenths of a degree short of being the warmest on record. Rainfall was below average at most sites, and well below-average at Brisbane Airport. Some heavy rainfall events occurred during the year.
- Equal-second-warmest mean maximum temperature on record at the Brisbane city site (highest occurred in 2004)
- Fourth-driest year on record for Brisbane Airport
- Some very hot days in January, October and November
- Severe thunderstorms in November and December
Stations across Brisbane had mean maximum temperatures about a degree warmer than usual. At the Brisbane city site, the mean maximum of 27.0 °C was 0.6 °C above the historical average for the station, and the equal-second-warmest annual temperature on record (equal with 2005 and 2002). Amberley recorded its equal-third-highest mean maximum temperature of 28.0 °C, 1.3 °C above the historical average. Some very hot days occurred at the beginning of the year: Amberley reached 43.9 °C on 4 January during a heatwave that also saw Archerfield and Logan City set new high temperature records. There were more hot days at the end of October, and on 16 and 17 November.
Mean overnight minimum temperatures were above average at all sites except Amberley. Some chilly nights occurred early in July when cold, southerly air was directed into southern Queensland and along the east coast. Amberley recorded the lowest annual temperature of -2.7 °C on 9 July. The warmest night was on 6 January when the early-year heatwave reached its peak, with the temperature at Brisbane city not dropping below 25.9 °C on the morning of 6 January.
Rainfall was well below average during 2014, with the Brisbane city station recording 790.2 mm for the year, around 20 % below its historical average. Brisbane Airport recorded its fourth-driest annual rainfall total, with 642.2 mm, and well below the historical annual rainfall of 1048.5 mm. It was a particular dry February and October, with record low rainfall at several Brisbane metropolitan sites.
Some heavy downpours occurred during the year including a heavy rainfall event in March, where Amberley recorded its highest March daily rainfall in 73 years. Extremely high hourly rainfall was recorded during a thunderstorm on 19 November with 100 mm recorded in one hour at Inala, and heavy rainfall and very large hail occurred when a line of severe thunderstorms tracked through Brisbane on 27 November.
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Notable events in 2014
Heatwaves
- Severe heat broke records in Brisbane metropolitan and surrounding districts on 4 January; Amberley reached 43.7 °C
- Record-breaking daytime and overnight temperatures at the end of October in Brisbane and the greater southeast
- A heatwave on 15 and 16 November resulted in Amberley reaching 43.0 °C and Brisbane reaching 37.9 °C, both on the 15th.
Thunderstorms and strong winds
There were numerous severe thunderstorms across Brisbane during 2014, with particularly high levels of thunderstorm activity during November and December.
- Very high rainfall rates were observed in and south of Brisbane on 19 November, with 100 mm in one hour near Archerfield. A severe thunderstorm tracking in a northeasterly direction across the site caused widespread flash-flooding in Bowen Hills, Fortitude Valley and metropolitan Brisbane.
- A line of very severe thunderstorms tracked through the greater Brisbane area on 27 November, bringing destructive winds, heavy rainfall and hail at least 7 cm in size to metropolitan Brisbane and surrounding southern and northern suburbs. A wind gust of 141 km/h was recorded at Archerfield Airport.
- Hail up to 3 cm was reported from inner southeast suburbs of Brisbane on 8 December, as severe thunderstorms tracked northeast through greater Brisbane.
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Extremes in 2014 | |
---|---|
Hottest day | 43.9 °C at Amberley AMO on 4 Jan |
Warmest days on average | 28.0 °C at Amberley AMO |
Coolest days on average | 25.4 °C at Redcliffe |
Coldest day | 16.7 °C at Redcliffe on 22 Aug |
Coldest night | -2.7 °C at Amberley AMO on 9 Jul |
Coolest nights on average | 12.9 °C at Amberley AMO |
Warmest nights on average | 17.3 °C at Redcliffe |
Warmest night | 26.5 °C at Redcliffe on 4 Jan |
Warmest on average overall | 21.8 °C at Brisbane |
Coolest on average overall | 20.5 °C at Amberley AMO |
Wettest overall | 1029.9 mm at Hilltop Gardens |
Driest overall | 625.4 mm at Redcliffe |
Wettest day | 172.8 mm at Mt Nebo Post Office on 28 Mar |
Strongest wind gust | 141 km/h at Archerfield Airport on 27 Nov |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Record highest temperature | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Annual average |
|||
Archerfield Airport | 43.5 | on 4 Jan | 43.3 | on 26 Jan 1940 | 41 | 26.2 |
Logan City Water Treatment Plant | 41.9 | on 4 Jan | 41.0 | on 21 Feb 2004 | 23 | 25.9 |
Record highest annual mean daily maximum temperature | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Annual average |
||
Archerfield Airport | 27.4 | = 27.4 | in 1991 | 35 | 26.2 |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Summary statistics for 2014 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Maximum temperatures (°C) |
Minimum temperatures (°C) |
Rainfall (millimetres) |
||||||||||
Mean for 2014 |
Diff from average |
Highest for 2014 |
Mean for 2014 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for 2014 |
Total for 2014 |
Average annual total |
Rank of 2014 |
Fraction of annual average |
|||
Amberley AMO | 28.0 | +1.3 | 43.9 | 4 Jan | 12.9 | -0.2 | -2.7 | 9 Jul | 587.6 | 853.5 | low | 69% |
Archerfield Airport | 27.4 | +1.2 | 43.5 | 4 Jan | 14.9 | +0.5 | 0.5 | 9 Jul | 770.6 | 1064.0 | low | 72% |
Brisbane | 27.0 | +0.6 | 38.9 | 16 Nov | 16.7 | +0.5 | 2.6 | 12 Jul | 790.2 | 991.3 | low | 80% |
Brisbane Airport | 25.8 | +0.5 | 34.3 | 4 Jan | 16.2 | +0.6 | 2.6 | 12 Jul | 642.2 | 1048.5 | v low | 61% |
Logan City Water Treatment Plant | 26.7 | +0.8 | 41.9 | 4 Jan | n/a | n/a | 3.5 | 8 Jul | 721.8 | 1086.6 | v low | 66% |
Redcliffe | 25.4 | +0.3 | 36.4 | 16 Nov | 17.3 | +0.8 | 4.8 | 9 Jul | 625.4 | 1087.6 | v low | 58% |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Notes
The Annual Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Brisbane using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.
A Climate Summary is generally published on the first working day of each month.
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 8 am on Tuesday 6 January 2015. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.
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.
The ACORN-SAT dataset is used for temperature area averages.
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence