Wednesday, 1 April 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Canberra rainfall extremes - Product code IDCKGC25x0
Canberra has warm, dry and sunny March
Summary
Conditions experienced in Canberra during March were similar to February with above average temperatures and well below average rainfall.
- Well below average rainfall
- Warm days with well above average maximum temperatures (ranks 10th warmest March on record)
- Mild nights with above average minimum temperatures
- Very low average 3pm humidity
- Well above average sunshine
An archive of previous monthly summaries for Canberra rainfall extremes is also available, as are summaries for other states and many other climate summaries and diagnostics.
Jump to: Extremes Records Summaries Notes the top
Rainfall
Following a dry February, very dry conditions continued throughout March with well below average rainfall over the ACT. Canberra Airport recorded a total of only 9.8 mm, well below the March average1 of 50.8 mm. It was the driest March for 5 years. The driest March on record was in 1954 with 1.3 mm. It is also Canberra's driest start to the year since 1998 with only 68.8 mm since 1st January. There were only 3 rain days during the month compared to the historic average of 7 rain days. Virtually the entire month's rain occurred during a thunderstorm on the 14th. A prevailing high pressure ridge over NSW for most of the month was generally responsible for the dry, stable weather in the ACT.
Bendora Dam had the Territory's highest March total of 49 mm while Gordon (Tuggeranong) recorded the lowest total of only 5.2 mm. The wettest day was 39.8 mm at Bendora Dam on the 5th and 23.2 mm at Watson on the 28th.
Temperatures
March was a very warm month in the ACT with well above average maximum temperatures. Canberra Airport recorded an average maximum of 26.7°C, which is 2.2°C above the historical average of 24.5°C. This ranks as the 10th warmest March since records commenced 70 years ago in 1939. There were 5 hot days (temperature exceeding 30°C) during the month compared to the March historic average of 3 hot days. A cold front on the 15th produced the only significant cool day in the ACT, reaching only 21°C.
The warm conditions were partly due to slow moving high pressure systems in the Tasman Sea directing generally northerly winds over NSW and the ACT and tended to deflect any cool changes to the southeast.
Overnight temperatures were also very mild. The average minimum temperature at Canberra Airport was 11.8°C which is 1.1°C above the historic average. Early in the month there were 4 consecutive nights with minimum temperatures exceeding 15°C. The minimum temperature on the warmest night was 17.1°C on the 13th.
Temperature extremes at Canberra Airport ranged from a high of 31.9°C on the 24th to an overnight low of 3.9°C on the 17th. The lowest temperature in the ACT was 0.8°C at Mount Ginini AWS on the 16th following a cold front the day before.
Wind
NE - NW winds prevailed over the ACT during March with frequencies over 70% during the afternoon compared to the normal frequency of 45% at this time. Mostly light winds prevailed during the month with no windy days recorded, compared to the historical average of one windy day for March. Early autumn in Canberra is normally the time of year with the lightest winds. The highest wind gust of 59 km/h at Canberra Airport on the 25th and 26th was associated with the passage of a low pressure trough.
Other phenomena
Dry atmospheric conditions prevailed in the ACT during March with the average humidity at 3pm only 29%, the lowest at this time since 1998. This compares to the normal humidity of 42% at this time. On the 29th, the humidity fell to a very dry 12%, one of the lowest values ever recorded in March. Generally sunny conditions prevailed in Canberra during the month. Sunshine averaged 8.9 hours per day which is well above the historic average of 8.1 hours per day. There was only one thunderstorm reported at Canberra Airport (on the 14th) with the associated showers comprising nearly the entire month's rainfall.
Further information
Mike De SalisClimate Officer
NSW Climate Services Centre
NSW Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email climate.nsw@bom.gov.au
Extremes for the ACT
| Hottest day Highest temperature |
31.9°C at Canberra Airport on the 24th |
|---|---|
| Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature |
26.7°C at Canberra Airport |
| Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature |
17.3°C at Mount Ginini AWS 26.6°C at Tuggeranong AWS |
| Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature |
21.2°C at Canberra Airport on the 15th 11.1°C at Mount Ginini AWS on the 5th |
| Coldest night Lowest temperature |
0.8°C at Mount Ginini AWS on the 16th 3.0°C at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve on the 7th 3.7°C at Tuggeranong AWS on the 17th |
| Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature |
7.0°C at Mount Ginini AWS 11.7°C at Tuggeranong AWS |
| Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature |
11.8°C at Canberra Airport |
| Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature |
17.3°C at Tuggeranong AWS on the 3rd and the 13th |
| Wettest overall Highest total rainfall |
49.0 mm at Bendora Dam 36.2 mm at Corin Dam 29.4 mm at Watson |
| Driest overall Lowest total rainfall |
5.2 mm at Gordon (Tuggeranong) |
| Wettest day Highest daily rainfall |
39.8 mm at Bendora Dam on the 5th 23.2 mm at Watson on the 28th |
| Highest wind gust |
59 km/h at Canberra Airport on the 25th and the 26th |
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Records
Nil recordedJump to: Extremes Records Summaries Notes the top
Summaries for the ACT
This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.
| Summary statistics for March 2009 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures for March (°C) |
Minimum temperatures for March (°C) |
Rainfall for March (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for March 2009 |
Diff from average |
Highest for March 2009 |
Mean for March 2009 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for March 2009 |
Total for March 2009 |
Average for March |
Rank of March 2009 |
Fraction of March average |
|||
| Canberra Airport | 26.7 | +2.2 | 31.9 | 24th | 11.8 | +1.1 | 3.9 | 17th | 9.8 | 50.2 | low | 20% |
| Tuggeranong | 26.6 | +1.0 | 31.7 | 24th | 11.7 | +0.6 | 3.7 | 17th | 8.6 | 30.5 | low | 28% |
| Mount Ginini AWS | 17.3 | 21.0 | 24th | 7.0 | 0.8 | 5th | 16.0 | |||||
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Notes
This statement has been prepared based on information available at noon on Wednesday 1 April 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
Mike De SalisClimate Officer
NSW Climate Services Centre
NSW Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email climate.nsw@bom.gov.au