Wednesday, 1 August 2012 - Monthly Climate Summary for Canberra - Product code IDCKGC25R0

Canberra in July 2012: A variable July features warm days and cold nights

• Close to normal rainfall, fewer rain days than normal
• Third warmest July on record for maximum temperatures
• Coldest July since 2002 for minimum temperatures
• Persistent spell of cold nights in early July

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Close to normal rainfall

Canberra Airport recorded 39 mm of rain during July, close to the July average of 41.4 mm. Thirteen days had rain recorded during the month, close to normal for July (11 days), but only four exceeded 1 mm, the fewest since 2004 (average 6 days). Most of the rain fell on the 11th as a low pressure trough crossed the state, with up to 33 mm recorded at Mt Ginini, while Canberra Airport recorded a 2-day total of 24 mm on the 12th.

Warm days but cold nights

The average maximum temperature at Canberra Airport during July was 13 °C, 1.6 °C above the historical average, associated with generally clear, sunny conditions during the month and a lack of cool days. This is the equal third warmest July on record for Canberra, and the warmest since 13 °C in 1999. Tidbinbilla also recorded its warmest July on record, with an average maximum temperature of 12.1 °C.

No days had a maximum temperature below 10 °C during the month, with the coldest day reaching 10.3 °C on the 10th, well below the historical average of 8 cold days. Only two other years have had no days below 10 °C in July, with the coldest day reaching 10.1 °C in 1999 and 10.4 °C in 1993. Three days reached 15 °C during the month, above the July average of 1-2 days, with a maximum temperature of 16.6 °C on the 13th; this was the hottest July day on record at Tidbinbilla, reaching 17.5 °C.

In contrast, the average minimum temperature at Canberra Airport was -1.1 °C, 1 °C below the historical average and the coldest July since 2002 (-1.1 °C), associated with clear conditions and an increase in cool southerly winds. Nineteen nights dropped below 0 °C during the month, including 5 nights below -5 °C, above the historical average of 3 nights although slightly fewer than 2011 (6 nights). Temperatures dropped to -10 °C at Tidbinbilla on the 10th, its coldest night on record.

The coldest period was at the start of the month, with seven consecutive nights below -4 °C between the 3rd and 9th, including two nights below -6 °C, associated with a period of cool southerly winds. This is only the fourth time that Canberra has recorded such a cold spell, with two similar spells in June 1965, and 8 days below -6 °C in July 1962.

The average temperature at Canberra Airport was consequently 6 °C, 0.3 °C above the historical average. The diurnal temperature range was 14 °C, the largest variability since 14.1 °C in 1997.

See a list of temperature records broken during July.

Other phenomena

Canberra Airport recorded an average of 6.2 hours of bright sunshine during July, above the historical average of 5.8 hours. The prevailing wind direction was northwesterly, with 61% of 3pm winds between NNW and WNW; 29% of 3pm winds were SSE-SSW, a larger proportion of southerly winds than normal for July.

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Extremes in July 2012
Hottest day	17.5 °C at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve on the 13th
Warmest days on average	13.0 °C at Canberra Airport
Coolest days on average	3.1 °C at Mount Ginini AWS
Coldest day	-1.9 °C at Mount Ginini AWS on the 1st
Coldest night	-10.0 °C at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve on the 5th
Coolest nights on average	-2.6 °C at Mount Ginini AWS
Warmest nights on average	-0.9 °C at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Warmest night	7.5 °C at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve on the 14th
Warmest on average overall	6.0 °C at Canberra Airport
Coolest on average overall	0.4 °C at Mount Ginini AWS
Wettest overall	106.0 mm at Mount Ginini AWS
Wettest day	33.0 mm at Mount Ginini AWS on the 11th
Highest wind gust	67 km/h at Mount Ginini AWS on the 13th 67 km/h at Mount Ginini AWS on the 30th

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Record highest July temperature
	Highest temperature in July 2012 (°C)		Previous warmest for July		Years of record	Average for July
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve	17.5	on the 13th	16.6	on the 31st in 2005	28	10.9

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Record highest July mean daily maximum temperature
	Mean daily maximum temperature for July 2012 (°C)	Previous warmest for July		Years of record	Average for July
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve	12.1	= 12.1	in 2011	27	10.9

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Record lowest July temperature
	Lowest temperature in July 2012 (°C)		Previous coolest for July		Years of record	Average for July
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve	-10.0	on the 5th	-9.0	on the 7th in 2006	28	0.2

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Summary statistics for July 2012
	Maximum temperatures for July (°C)				Minimum temperatures for July (°C)				Rainfall for July (millimetres)
	Mean for July 2012	Diff from average	Highest for July 2012		Mean for July 2012	Diff from average	Lowest for July 2012		Total for July 2012	Average for July	Rank of July 2012	Fraction of July average
Canberra Airport	13.0	+1.6	16.6	13th	-1.1	-1	-6.1	4th	39.0	41.4	average	94%
Mount Ginini AWS	3.1		8.3	24th	-2.6		-5.8	4th	106.0
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve	12.1	+1.2	17.5	13th	-0.9	-1.1	-10.0	5th	67.1	83.4	average	80%
Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS	12.7		16.2	13th	-1.2		-6.2	7th	44.0

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

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