Wednesday, 1 January 2014 - Annual Climate Summary for Brisbane Metro - Product code IDCKGC34R0

Brisbane Metro in 2013: Warm year, average rainfall

  • Average rainfall for all Brisbane metropolitan sites
  • Warm days and warm nights
  • Severe thunderstorm activity over the greater southeast during November and December

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Extreme rainfall and flooding affected parts of Queensland including the Brisbane metropolitan area in the last week of January when the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Oswald passed by, as discussed in Special Climate Statement 44. Logan City had its wettest January day (with 192.5 mm in the 24 hours to 9 am on the 28th) and its wettest January with 1395.2 mm (although records from there only go back to 1993). February and April also brought well above average rain, and above-normal totals were seen in March, June and July. By contrast, Brisbane Airport had no rain at all in August, and October was also quite dry.
Overall, rainfall for 2013 was slightly above average at all sites in the Brisbane area.

Maximum temperature

Very hot weather affected much of Australia at the beginning of the year (see Special Climate Statement 43 for details), and Brisbane was no exception: Amberley reached 40.2 °C on 19 January. Daytime temperatures around Brisbane were generally below average from February to June: Brisbane Airport reached only 13.3 °C on 21 June. Days were much warmer than normal from August to October and then in late December, hot conditions across the Brisbane metropolitan area saw Amberley reach 40.4 °C on 29 December, the highest recorded temperature for 2013 in the Brisbane metropolitan area.  Amberley also had the warmest days on average, with 27.4 °C.
Averaged over the year, daytime maximum temperatures were above average at most locations.

Minimum temperature

Overall, overnight minimum temperatures were above average for most sites around Brisbane. Most months were warmer than normal by night, but there were plenty of individual cold nights. The coldest nights were at Amberley with -1.4 °C on 21 August, -1.1 °C on the 22nd and -0.5 °C on the 23rd.

Redcliffe had the warmest nights on average were at Redcliffe with 17.1 °C, while the warmest night was at Logan City Water Treatment Plant with 26.2 °C on 12 January.

Severe Thunderstorms

Severe thunderstorms in the greater Southeast are during November include:
(Reports and observations of severe thunderstorms for the month (thunderstorms can be very isolated, and not all reports are received by the Bureau)
  • 10th - Reports of 'golf-ball' sized hail at Marsden at approximately 2:10 pm; hail with a diameter of 2-4 cm reported from Kingston and Loganlea;
  • 16th - Various reports of large hail with diameter of:
    • 3 - 5 cm at Greenbank, Jimboomba, Rainbow Beach, Maleny, Mooloolah;
    • 6 - 8 cm (or approximately 'tennis ball-sized' and 'cricket ball-sized') at Marcoola, Maroochydore, Maleny, Mooloolah Valley, Buderim, Munruben; and;
    • 9 cm (or approximately 'softball-sized') at Mooloolah Valley and Mudjimba;
  • 18th - Reports of hails larger than 2cm in diameter at: Upper Coomera, Bowen Hills, Albion, Bridgeman Downs, Samford Valley, Canungra, Oxenford, Coomera, Beaudesert, and Yandina;
  • 23rd - Reports of hail 2 cm in diameter from Leichardt (near Ipswich), along with a wind gust of 92 km/hr at Amberley and multiple reports of damage to or loss of roofs near and west of Ipswich;
  • 24th - Reports of hail from 2 - 6 cm in diameter from Spring Hill, Wynnum West, Hemmant, Oxley, Daisy Hill, and Coomera areas
Severe thunderstorms in the greater Southeast area during December include:
  • 5th: Reports of trees and power lines down due to localised wind gusts in Beerwah, Landsborough, and Crohamhurst
  • 29th: Widespread power outages across the greater southeast due to thunderstorms
More information on Severe Thunderstorms and Warning Services

Further information

Tamika Tihema
Queensland Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (07) 3239 8662
Email qld.climate@bom.gov.au
Extremes in 2013
Hottest day 40.4 °C at Amberley on 29 Dec
Warmest days on average 27.4 °C at Amberley 
Coolest days on average 25.2 °C at Redcliffe
Coldest day 13.3 °C at Brisbane Aero on 21 Jun
Coldest night -1.4 °C at Amberley AMO on 21 Aug
Coolest nights on average 13.1 °C at Amberley AMO
Warmest nights on average 17.1 °C at Redcliffe
Warmest night 26.2 °C at Logan City Water Treatment Plant on 12 Jan
Warmest on average overall 21.6 °C at Brisbane
Coolest on average overall 20.2 °C at Amberley 
Wettest overall 1395.2 mm at Logan City Water Treatment Plant
Wettest day 192.5 mm at Logan City Water Treatment Plant on 28 Jan
Highest wind gust 94 km/h at Brisbane Aero and Redcliffe on 27 Jan and again at Redcliffe on 28 Jan

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps
ObservedAnomalyDecile rank
Total
rainfall		 Map of Rainfall totals Map of Percentage of normal rainfall Map of Rainfall deciles
Mean
daily
maximum
temperatures		 Map of Mean maximum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean maximum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean maximum temperature
Mean
daily
minimum
temperatures		 Map of Mean minimum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean minimum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean minimum temperature

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window



Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for 2013
Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean
for
2013		 Diff
from
average		 Highest
for
2013		 Mean
for
2013		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest
for
2013		 Total
for
2013		 Average
annual
total		 Rank
of
2013		 Fraction
of annual
average
Moreton South Coast (district 40)
Amberley AMO 27.4 +0.7 40.4 29 Dec 13.1 0.0 -1.4 21 Aug 986.8 863.5 average 114%
Archerfield Airport 27.0 +0.8 37.4 19 Jan 14.9 +0.6 3.0 22 Aug 1067.4 1067.8 average 100%
Brisbane 26.6 +0.2 35.5 5 Dec 16.5 +0.3 5.7 25 Jun 1110.4 1006.7 average 110%
Brisbane Aero 25.3 0.0 32.4 2 Jan 16.1 +0.5 4.1 21 Aug 1209.3 1072.5 high 113%
Logan City Water Treatment Plant 26.3 +0.4 40.0 29 Dec 15.8 +0.8 4.3 22 Aug 1395.2 1108.3 high 126%
Redcliffe 25.2 +0.1  34.4 5 Dec 17.1 +0.6  6.3 22 Aug 1140.4 1087.5 average 105%
Redcliffe long-term averages calculated using data from Redcliffe Council 40697

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

A Annual Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Brisbane Metro 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.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 7 pm on Wednesday 1 January 2014. 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 9 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 being used for temperature area averages from December 2012 onwards. The major change from earlier datasets is that the ACORN-SAT dataset commences in 1910, rather than 1950, and hence rankings are calculated using a larger set of years.