Monday, 3 February, 2014 — Monthly Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in January 2014

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In Brief

January was another warm month for Australia, with above-average maximum and minimum temperatures recorded across much of the eastern and southern mainland. The national maximum temperature anomaly, +0.97 °C, and minimum temperature anomaly, +0.85 °C, combined to give a mean temperature anomaly of +0.91 °C. Maxima were below-average for part of the west of the Northern Territory and smaller areas in the Pilbara and in the south of Western Australia. Minima were generally above-average except for the northern half of Western Australia and western half of the Northern Territory, Tasmania, coastal New South Wales and smaller areas of Queensland.

Rainfall was above average nationally (17% above average), but this was not uniform across Australia with distinctly different conditions in the east and in the west. Rainfall was below average over most of the eastern half of Australia and above average over the western half. Exceptions were southwest Western Australia where rainfall was below average, and the tip of the Cape York Peninsula where rainfall was above average.

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Temperatures

January was yet another warmer-than-average month for Australia. The month commenced with a significant heatwave in place (see Special Climate Statement 47), saw a return of very hot weather in a second nationally significant heatwave (Special Climate Statement 48) and very warm conditions across the south of the country again at the end of the month.

The national area-averaged maximum temperature anomaly was +0.97 °C, the minimum temperature anomaly was +0.85 °C and the mean temperature anomaly was +0.91 °C. Maximum temperature anomalies were within the ten highest records for January for New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia while mean temperature anomalies were eighth-highest on record for Victoria and South Australia and the ninth-highest on record for Queensland.

The Northern Territory and Western Australia were the only regions to record below-average maximum temperatures during January, associated with very-much-above-average rainfall over much of that area. Below-average maxima were observed in the western half of the Northern Territory south of the Top End and adjacent parts of Western Australia as well as in an area in the eastern Pilbara and on the Nullarbor Plain. Maxima were above average along the coast of Western Australia from Exmouth to the southwest and over the southeast of Western Australia, South Australia and all of the eastern States (including Tasmania) expect parts of coastal northern Queensland. A large area covering eastern South Australia, southwestern Queensland and the west of both New South Wales and Victoria recorded maxima in the highest 10% of records for January.

Area-averaged minima were above average for most of Australia, covering the southern half of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales away from the coast, most of Queensland except some coastal areas and an area spanning the New South Wales border close to Bourke and extending into adjacent parts of the Northern Territory. Large parts of this area, predominantly in western and northwestern Queensland, southeastern Western Australia and South Australia, recorded minima in the highest 10% of records for January. Below-average minima were only recorded in isolated areas of the north of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Areal average temperatures
	Maximum Temperature			Minimum Temperature			Mean Temperature
	Rank (of 105)	Anomaly (°C)	Comment	Rank (of 105)	Anomaly (°C)	Comment	Rank (of 105)	Anomaly (°C)	Comment
Australia	= 93	+0.97		94	+0.85		94	+0.91
Queensland	94	+1.62		98	+1.10	8th highest	97	+1.36	9th highest
New South Wales	96	+2.74	10th highest	= 83	+1.25		95	+2.00
Victoria	100	+3.02	6th highest; highest since 2001	90	+1.64		98	+2.33	8th highest
Tasmania	= 95	+1.57	equal 10th highest	= 59	−0.13		83	+0.72
South Australia	97	+2.46	9th highest	95	+1.93		98	+2.19	8th highest
Western Australia	= 46	−0.07		= 83	+0.38		= 62	+0.16
Northern Territory	44	−0.49		71	+0.28		= 54	−0.10

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 105 (highest). A rank marked with ’=‘ indicates the value is tied for that rank. Anomaly is the departure from the long-term (1961–1990) average.

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

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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Rainfall

Nationally-averaged rainfall during January was 17% above the long-term average. However, this national figure was a result of above-average rainfall over much of the western half of Australia, excluding the southwest of Western Australia, while the eastern half of Australia, excluding the tip of the Cape York Peninsula, received below-average monthly totals. Western Australia and the Northern Territory recorded area-averaged monthly rainfall 102% and 63% above average respectively; for Western Australia it was the fifth-wettest January on record. Area-averaged totals for the other mainland States were between 40% and 69% below average.

A large proportion of January rainfall over Western Australia was associated with tropical storms. Tropical cyclone Christine crossed the Pilbara in the last days of December and continued to bring rain into the morning of 2 January as its remnants travelled south, reaching the Nullarbor coast. A tropical low present between the 15th and 24th brought heavy rain as it passed over the Top End and Kimberley and then from the Pilbara to the Nullarbor coast; most of Western Australia south of the tropics rarely receives heavy summer rainfall and daily totals along the path of this system were commonly in the 99th percentile.

Meanwhile, rainfall on much of the eastern seaboard between Rockhampton and the border between New South Wales and Victoria was in the lowest 10% of records for January. Much of the eastern mainland States and the eastern half of South Australia received less than 20% of average January rainfall.

Area-average rainfall
	Rank (of 115)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean	Comment
Australia	89	93.1	+17%
Queensland	26	76.5	−40%
New South Wales	16	20.6	−69%
Victoria	26	20.9	−47%
Tasmania	34	56.3	−26%
South Australia	54	10.9	−55%
Western Australia	111	114.5	+102%	5th highest
Northern Territory	103	195.4	+63%
Murray-Darling Basin	21	22.2	−60%

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 115 (highest). A rank marked with ’=‘ indicates the value is tied for that rank. Departure from mean is relative to the long-term (1961–1990) average.

Rainfall maps
	Totals	Percentages	Deciles
Total rainfall

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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Australian weather extremes during January 2013
Hottest day	49.3 °C at Moomba Airport (SA) on 2 January
Coldest day	2.5 °C at Mount Baw Baw (Vic.) on 6 January
Coldest night	−4.3 °C at Perisher Valley AWS (NSW) on 7 January
Warmest night	33.6 °C at Bedourie Police Station (Qld) on 23 January
Wettest day	221.4 mm at Wollogorang (NT) on 15 January

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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