Monday, 1 December, 2014 — Monthly Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in November 2014

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In Brief

November was another very warm month for Australia. Averaged nationally, maximum and mean temperatures were the warmest on record for November (maximum temperatures 2.19 °C above average, previous record +2.13 °C in 2006; mean temperatures 1.88 °C above average, previous record +1.87 °C in 2009) and minimum temperatures the third-warmest on record (1.58 °C above average). Maximum temperatures were warmer than average across nearly the entire continent, except for parts of Western Australia, and highest on record for a large part of Queensland. Minimum temperatures were also highest on record for a large part of Queensland and above average across nearly all of Australia, except parts of the far north, parts of the southeast and along the west coast of Western Australia.

November rainfall was below average through the eastern States and across the Top End, but above average across Western Australia and parts of western Queensland. Rainfall was 22% below average nationally with much of far northern Queensland and northern Tasmania recording monthly totals in the lowest ten per cent of records.

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Temperatures

Following an exceptionally warm October, abnormal warmth persisted during November with two significant heatwaves resulting in record-high daily maximum and minimum temperatures for many locations across the country (please see the individual regional summaries for tables of station records). A Special Climate Statement on the exceptional warmth across spring will be released soon.

After a warm start to the month, heat built over central Australia with days much warmer than average recorded across the southeast and New South Wales between 13 and 16 November. This first pulse of heatwave conditions also saw a number of November records set in southeastern Queensland on the 16th. Temperatures remained very high through parts of inland Queensland and the central Northern Territory over the following days, with much of central Queensland and the arid interior of the continent enduring record-long runs of hot days. A second pulse of heat returned to New South Wales on the 20th before increasing and seeing a number of records set as far east as western Sydney on the 23rd.

Maximum temperatures for November were above average across almost all of Australia, but near-average for much of the northwest and west of Western Australia and northwestern and southern Tasmania. For 55% of Australia maxima were in the highest ten per cent of records (decile 10) for November. In fact, for an area spanning western and southern Queensland, extending just into inland northeastern New South Wales (totalling about 11% of Australia), the monthly maximum temperature was the warmest on record for November. The November maximum temperature anomaly was the highest on record for Australia nationally (+2.19 °C) and for Queensland (+2.83 °C), with the New South Wales anomaly of +4.06 °C the third-warmest on record, the Northern Territory fourth-warmest and South Australia fifth-warmest.

Minimum temperatures were also above average for the vast majority of Australia. Exceptions were along the western coast of Western Australia; the eastern Kimberley, Top End and Cape York Peninsula, small parts of the latter two recording below-average minima; and also for most of Tasmania, western Victoria and far southeastern South Australia. A large area extending from the central east of the Northern Territory through central to southeastern Queensland (9% of Australia) observed highest-on-record monthly minimum temperatures for November. In total, minima were in decile 1 for 52% of Australia. The November minimum temperature anomaly was the third-highest on record for Australia nationally (+1.58 °C) and highest on record for Queensland (+2.33 °C), third-highest for the Northern Territory (+1.77 °C), with New South Wales, South Australia and Western Australia also placing within the nine warmest Novembers on record.

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	105	+2.19	highest (was +2.13 °C in 2006)	103	+1.58	3rd highest (record +1.74 °C in 1914)	105	+1.88	highest (was +1.87 °C in 2009)
Queensland	105	+2.83	highest (was +2.22 °C in 1915)	105	+2.33	highest (was +1.59 °C in 2002)	105	+2.58	highest (was +1.75 °C in 2002)
New South Wales	103	+4.06	3rd highest (record +5.09 °C in 2009)	98	+2.14	8th highest	102	+3.10	4th highest (record +4.72 °C in 2009)
Victoria	= 99	+2.50	equal 6th highest	= 74	+0.46		91	+1.48
Tasmania	74	+0.40		60	−0.11		69	+0.14
South Australia	101	+2.72	5th highest	99	+1.60	7th highest	100	+2.16	6th highest
Western Australia	93	+1.19		97	+0.90	9th highest	= 97	+1.04	equal 8th highest
Northern Territory	102	+1.73	4th highest (record +2.84 °C in 1990)	103	+1.77	3rd highest (record +2.15 °C in 1990)	103	+1.75	3rd highest (record +2.49 °C in 1990)

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 November was 22% below the long-term average. Rainfall was below to very much below average through Queensland, New South Wales and Tasmania, and across the Top End of the Northern Territory and parts of coastal South Australia and Victoria. Monthly rainfall was in the lowest ten per cent of records (decile 1) for most of northern Tasmania and most of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, as well as other scattered areas in the east and centre of Queensland and New South Wales. Area-averaged rainfall for Queensland was 58% below average and New South Wales was 54% below average. Queensland recorded its sixteenth-driest November on record and Tasmania recorded its fourteenth-driest. Rainfall has been below average across most of eastern Australia for most of 2014; rainfall deficiencies across parts of the east have been exacerbated by particularly drier-than-average conditions during the past two months.

In contrast, November rainfall was above to very much above average for Western Australia, which recorded a statewide total 75% above the long-term mean for its fifteenth-wettest November on record. Areas along the southern coast and in the Gascoyne, Pilbara and western Interior recorded rainfall in the highest ten per cent of records (decile 10) for November as storms brought falls to the inland northwest and cold fronts supplemented rain in the south. Rainfall was also above average for parts of western Queensland, mainly as a result of showers which formed along a broad pressure trough through northern Australia late in the month.

Area-average rainfall
	Rank (of 115)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean	Comment
Australia	42	25.6	−22%
Queensland	16	19.2	−58%
New South Wales	24	20.6	−54%
Victoria	42	38.5	−26%
Tasmania	14	62.0	−40%
South Australia	50	13.1	−15%
Western Australia	101	31.0	+75%
Northern Territory	49	32.1	−23%
Murray-Darling Basin	25	19.5	−51%

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 November 2014
Hottest day	46.1 °C at Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam Aerodrome) on 22 November (SA)
Coldest day	−0.6 °C at Mount Wellington (Tas.) on 2 November
Coldest night	−6.1 °C at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on 2 November
Warmest night	32.8 °C at Moomba Airport (SA) on 23 November
Wettest day	108.0 mm at Nashua (Wilsons River) (NSW) on 27 November

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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