Greater Perth in 2022: Average rainfall with a hot start

Daytime and nighttime temperatures in 2022 were warmer than normal at the most sites across the Greater Perth, largely a result of exceptionally hot January and February. Annual rainfall was mostly close to average.

Near average rainfall at most sites

  • Annual rainfall amounts ranged from 600–800 mm at most sites, to 900–1000 mm on the Perth hills; Huntly recorded the highest annual rainfall total with 1051.1 mm.
  • Annual rainfall was close to average at most sites, although annual totals at Rottnest Island and Garden Island were 70 mm and 140 mm above average respectively. Annual rainfall was 90 mm below the annual average at Perth Airport.

A hot start to the year

  • Mean maximum temperatures were within 0.5 °C of average at the coastal plain sites. Daytime temperatures at Perth Airport and Pearce RAAF were 0.9 °C and 0.6 °C above average respectively.
  • Mean minimum temperatures were warmer than normal across the coastal plain and on the Perth hills, but overnight temperatures were near average at Garden Island and Mandurah.
  • January was a record breaking month with a prolong severe heatwave at the mid-month; six consecutive days with maximum temperatures over 40 °C (18th-23rd) were all-time records for hot spell in Perth (123 years of record), as well as at Perth Airport and Pearce RAAF.
  • February was also very hot, with mean maximum temperatures 2–3 °C above average and mean minima over 1 °C above average.
  • The hottest day of the year was on 5 February at sites along the coastal plain and in the Perth hills with temperatures peaking at 44.5 °C at Swan Valley.
  • The warmest night of the year was on 19 January with minimum temperatures in the mid to high 20s ,and Garden Island recorded its all-time warmest night on record
  • Daily minimum temperatures on 19 January at Swanbourne (28.4 °C) and Mandurah (27.8 °C) was their all-time second-warmest night on record, behind 28.8 °C (12 March 2010) and 28.2 °C (28 January 2012) respectively.
  • The coldest day of the year was on 5 August, with maximum temperatures in the low 10s; the maximum temperature of 9.4 °C at Bickley was its coldest August day in 29 years of record, and its all-time fourth-coldest day on record.
  • Perth Metro recorded a total of 16 cold mornings with minimum temperatures at 5 °C or below, which was the annual third-least number of cold mornings at the current site, behind 10 in 2017 and 12 in 2020.

Perth Metro

  • Total rainfall for Perth Metro was 701.6 mm, which is 95% of the long-term average of 735.6 mm
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Perth Metro was 25.2 °C, which is 0.4 °C above the long-term average of 24.8 °C. The warmest day was 42.5 °C on 5 Feb, and the coolest day was on 9 Aug when the temperature reached 12.4 °C
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Perth Metro was 13.1 °C, which is 0.2 °C above the long-term average of 12.9 °C. The coldest morning was 2.5 °C on 3 Jul, and the warmest morning was on 19 Jan when the minimum temperature was 26.7 °C

 

Further information

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Extremes in 2022
Hottest day 44.5 °C at Millendon (Swan Valley) on 5 Feb
Warmest days on average 25.9 °C at Pearce RAAF
Coolest days on average 22.5 °C at Bickley
22.5 °C at Rottnest Island
Coldest day 9.4 °C at Bickley on 9 Aug
Coldest night 1.5 °C at Millendon (Swan Valley) on 3 Jul
Coolest nights on average 11.5 °C at Bickley
Warmest nights on average 15.8 °C at Rottnest Island
Warmest night 28.4 °C at Swanbourne on 19 Jan
Warmest on average overall 19.4 °C at Pearce RAAF
Coolest on average overall 17.0 °C at Bickley
Wettest overall 1051.1 mm at Huntly
Wettest day 68.0 mm at Pickering Brook North on 24 May
Strongest wind gust 115 km/h at Rottnest Island on 13 Sep



Record highest daily minimum temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Annual
average
Garden Island HSF 26.6 on 19 Jan 26.2 on 14 Mar 2016 22 15.0



Summary statistics for 2022
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean
for
2022
Diff
from
average
Highest
for
2022
Mean
for
2022
Diff
from
average
Lowest
for
2022
Total
for
2022
Average
annual
total
Rank
of
2022
Fraction
of annual
average
Bickley 22.5 -0.1 40.9 5 Feb 11.5 +0.2 4.0 4 Jul 995.6 1084.9 average 92%
Garden Island HSF 23.0 +0.3 39.3 19 Jan 15.0 0.0 4.4 18 Aug 756.8 617.7 high 123%
Jandakot Aero 24.9 +0.3 42.3 5 Feb 12.3 +0.7 1.7 18 Aug 757.0 817.0 average 93%
Mandurah 23.6 +0.3 37.7 17 Feb 14.8 0.0 6.3 18 Aug        
Millendon (Swan Valley) 25.7   44.5 5 Feb 12.4   1.5 3 Jul 635.4
Pearce RAAF 25.9 +0.6 44.0 5 Feb 12.8 +0.6 2.4 5 Jun 699.6 655.6 average 107%
Perth Airport 25.5 +0.9 44.1 5 Feb 12.6 +0.4 2.1 4 Jun 668.4 759.7 low 88%
Perth Metro 25.2 +0.4 42.5 5 Feb 13.1 +0.2 2.5 3 Jul 701.6 735.6 average 95%
Rottnest Island 22.5 +0.2 39.3 21 Jan 15.8 +0.1 7.9 10 Aug 644.4 570.7 high 113%
Swanbourne 23.9 -0.2 41.3 19 Jan 14.2 +0.2 5.2 18 Aug 805.0 739.7 average 109%

Notes

The Annual climate summary, generally published on the second working day of the year, lists the main features of the weather in Greater Perth 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.

This summary includes data from observing sites in or near the Greater Perth “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 12 pm on Tuesday 24 January 2023. 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
(03) 9669 4057

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