Thursday, 9 January 2020 - Annual Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC57R0

Tasmania in 2019: dry and very warm in the east, mild and wet in the west

The year started with Tasmania's warmest January on record, most months were warmer than average by day but there were some cold nights; overall 2019 was warmer than average but not as warm as 2018. January and October were very dry for most of the State, and rainfall totals for the year were below average in the east, but westerly winds and cold fronts gave the west a wetter than average year.

Rainfall below average in the east, above average in the west

• January and October were very dry over most of Tasmania, with particularly low total rainfalls in the east of the State
• In the east, most months apart from September were drier than average, continuing a run of months with generally below-average rain that extends back to the beginning of 2017
• In the west, westerly winds and cold fronts ensured May, July and November were wetter than usual
• Total rainfall for the year was below average for much of the State, and well below average over most of the eastern half, but above average in the western highlands
• Tasmania's total rainfall for the year was about 7% below average

Warm overall

• Tasmania's mean temperature for the year was 0.41 °C above average, cooler than 2018 but warmer than 2015 
• The year started with Tasmania's warmest January on record, and mean maximum temperatures were above average in most months (but cool in the west in November)
• There was unseasonably hot weather early in March, with several sites breaking their record for highest temperature; this came at the end of hot weather that affected much of Australia, as discussed in the Special Climate Statement Widespread heatwaves during December 2018 and January 2019
• 30 December was exceptionally hot across Tasmania as strong northwesterly winds brought warm air from the mainland; some sites set new records for highest temperature and Friendly Beaches reached 41.9 °C, the second-highest temperature ever reported in Tasmania (just behind Scamander's 42.2 °C on 30 January 2009)
• Tasmania did not see the extended extreme temperatures and fire weather experienced on the mainland during December (as discussed in the Special Climate Statement Dangerous bushfire weather and heat in spring 2019), but there were some high temperatures and fires
• Tasmania's mean maximum temperature for the year was 0.64 °C above average, about 0.1 °C cooler than 2018
• Cool nights were common from August to November, but the mean minimum temperature was warmer than average in most months and for the year overall
• King Island Airport, which had reported its warmest night on record with a minimum temperature of 21.8 °C on 2 March, had its lowest temperature on record with a minimum temperature of -0.7 °C on 18 September
• Tasmania's mean minimum temperature for the year was 0.17 °C above average, much cooler than 2018

A warm, dry year for Hobart

• It was Hobart's second-driest year on record with total rainfall of just 385.0 mm, which is 63% of the long-term average; only 2006 was drier
• Hobart had its equal-driest month on record in January, with rainfall of just 0.4 mm; August (with 100.2 mm) was the only month during 2019 with above-average rainfall
• Hobart's mean daily maximum temperature was record high at 18.7 °C, which is 1.7 °C above the long-term average and 0.2 °C warmer than the previous record from 2017
• The warmest day was 40.8 °C on 30 December, the equal-second highest temperature ever recorded at the site (behind 41.8 °C on 4 January 2013)
• The coolest day was on 10 August when the temperature reached 8.8 °C
• Hobart had 14 days when it reached 30 °C or more (compared to a long-term average of about 6 days that warm each year), but only 6 days that did not reach 10 °C (compared to a long-term average of about 19 such cold days)
• The mean daily minimum temperature for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was 9.1 °C, which is 0.7 °C above the long-term average
• The coldest morning was -0.2 °C on 25 June, and the warmest morning was on 2 March when the minimum temperature was 19.8 °C
• Hobart's temperature went below 2 °C on 8 mornings during the year, compare to a long-term average of about 12 mornings that cold

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

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Monthly maps
	Rainfall rank	Maximum temperature rank	Minimum temperature rank
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top