Tuesday, 1 February, 2011 — Monthly Climate Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in January 2011

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In Brief

January was a wet month for many parts of Australia, including much of southeast Australia. Flooding was widespread in southeast Queensland and northern Victoria. It was a warm month for southern Australia, with both daytime maxima and overnight minima being above average. Northern parts experienced a close to, or cooler than, average month.

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Temperatures

Daytime maximum temperatures were warmer than normal across central Australia, southern Western Australia and New South Wales, but cooler than normal across the tropical north. Victoria and Tasmania were close to average. Averaged across Australia, maximum temperatures were 0.54 °C above average.

Maxima were more than 3 °C above average through central Australia, whilst highest on record daytime maximums were recorded in parts of central Western Australia. In contrast, parts of northern Western Australia and the Northern Territory were more than 2 °C below average and the Kimberley region received lowest on record maxima.

Minimum temperatures were generally above normal in the southern half of Australia, and close to normal in the north. Averaged over Australia, minimum temperatures were 1.07 °C above normal (5th warmest January on record). Minimum temperatures in Western Australia ranked as the highest on record this month, whilst South Australia recorded its third highest on record minimum temperatures.

Minima were more than 3 °C above average in central Australia, with a large area along the central Western Australia border recording the highest minima on record. Areas of highest on record were also observed in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia and along the southern New South Wales coast. In contrast, parts of the Kimberley region of Western Australia were cooler than average, with some coastal regions receiving lowest on record minima.

Areal average temperatures
	Maximum Temperature			Minimum Temperature
	Rank (out of 62)	Anomaly* (°C)	Comment	Rank (out of 62)	Anomaly* (°C)	Comment
Australia	44	+0.54		58	+1.07
Queensland	28	−0.37		31	0.00
New South Wales	39	+1.10		52	+1.49
Victoria	31	+0.01		56	+1.96
Tasmania	39	+0.76		57	+1.45
South Australia	58	+2.59		60	+2.83	Third highest; record is +4.38 (2006)
Western Australia	43	+0.66		62	+1.31	Highest on record; previous record +1.24 (2008)
Northern Territory	22	−0.28		38	+0.24

^*Anomaly is the departure from the long-term (1961-1990) average.

Temperature maps
	Mean	Anomaly	Deciles
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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Rainfall

Rainfall averaged over Australia was 28% above normal (17th wettest). Most of Western Australia, the tropical north as well as an area stretching from the Northern Territory through Queensland, western NSW and Victoria to the top of Tasmania exceeded their average January rainfall. Western New South Wales, most of Victoria, southeast Queensland as well as parts of western WA and northern Tasmania recorded rainfall over 300 to 400% above normal. Drier conditions were experienced in parts of eastern NSW, inland Queensland and large parts of South Australia.

Areas in western New South Wales and Victoria, as well as small parts of northern Tasmania and southeast Queensland, ranked in the highest decile on record. Much of the above average rainfall in these parts was attributed to a single event between the 11-14th of the month, where a trough produced record breaking daily rainfall totals across western NSW, Victoria and northern Tasmania. This rainfall led to flooding in northwest Victoria, more details are available in the Bureau of Meteorology’s Special Climate Statement No. 26. Smaller areas through eastern NSW, southern South Australia and inland Queensland recorded below average rainfall conditions with some smaller areas ranking in the lowest decile. Rainfall in southeast Queensland also resulted in widespread flooding, further details are available in the report Queensland in January 2011: Widespread flooding continued.

During January 2011, several tropical cyclones affected the Australian coast. Tropical cyclone Anthony crossed the north Queensland coast on the 30th whilst the remnants of tropical cyclone Bianca crossed the Western Australian coast near Perth.

Areal average rainfall
	Rank (out of 111)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean*	Comment
Australia	96	102.2	+28%
Queensland	76	138.3	+9%
New South Wales	93	80.4	+23%	Highest since 1996
Victoria	112	118.6	+199%	Highest on record; previous record 109.3 (1941)
Tasmania	98	117.8	+55%
South Australia	88	25.8	+6%
Western Australia	100	90.5	+60%
Northern Territory	80	144.5	+20%
Murray-Darling Basin	91	72.6	+32%	Highest since 1996

^*The mean is calculated for the 1961-1990 reference period.

Rainfall maps
	Totals	Percentages	Deciles
Total rainfall

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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Australian weather extremes in January 2011
Hottest day	48.5 °C at Roxby Downs (SA) on the 25th
Coldest day	6.1 °C at Mount Baw Baw (Vic) on the 17th
Coldest night	−1.1 °C at Liawenee (Tas) on the 3rd
Warmest night	34.2 °C at Oodnadatta (SA) on the 28th
Wettest day	388.6 mm at Kuri Bay (WA) on the 11th

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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