Monday 3 December 2018 — Monthly Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in November 2018

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In brief

• Australia was warmer than average for November
• Mean maximum temperatures above average for northern Australia, particularly warm in tropical Queensland, the eastern Northern Territory, and the Kimberley in Western Australia
• Warm November nights across northern and eastern Australia (away from southeast Queensland and northeast New South Wales) and the eastern half of Western Australia
• Nationally, November rainfall was slightly above average
• South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory wetter than average, but drier than average for northern and eastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales
• There were a number of extreme weather events: heatwave in tropical Queensland, fires in Central Coast and Capricornia districts in Queensland, heavy rainfall across central coast New South Wales, and strong winds in Adelaide

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Temperatures

Maximum, minimum and mean temperatures for Australia nationally were all above average. The national mean temperature was 0.73 °C above average. Maximum temperatures were 0.53 °C above average and minimum temperatures were 0.93 °C above average.

Both maxima and minima were particularly warm across northern Australia. For northern Australia (north of 26°S) as a region, the monthly mean minimum temperature was the fourth-warmest on record for November.

Maximum temperatures were very much above average (in the warmest 10% of historical observations) for much of the Kimberley Western Australia, much of the Top End and Gulf Country in the Northern Territory, across northern Queensland and extending along the east coast of Queensland.

Minima were similarly warm in the north, and very much warmer than average for the northern Kimberley, the north and part of the southeast of the Northern Territory, and northern and western Queensland. Above average minima extended through the east of Western Australia, far west of South Australia, most of New South Wales and Victoria, while all of Tasmania saw nights which were very much warmer than average.

In terms of mean minimum temperature for the month, overnight temperatures were the seventh-warmest on record for November for Queensland, eight-warmest for Tasmania and tenth-warmest for the Northern Territory. No State or Territory observed a monthly mean maximum temperature in the top ten for November, although Queensland did come in very warm at 1.34 °C above average.

Cooler than average mean maximum temperatures where observed in the coastal Pilbara, across scattered areas of the southwestern quarter of Western Australia, and an area of South Australia on the Eyre Peninsula. Minima were cooler than average for South West Western Australia and pockets of the South West Land Division.

November began and ended with extreme heat. The first few days of the month saw heat over the southeast corner of Australia. Several sites in southern New South Wales and northern Victoria saw daytime temperature reach into the high 30s and 40s. In the last week of November, northern Queensland experienced an extreme heatwave which generated record-high temperatures focused along the tropical coastline. Many sites broke November or annual temperature records, some by very large margins, including 43.6 °C at Cairns on the 27th (more than 6 degrees above the previous November record of 37.0 °C on 20 November 1900). Many other locations observed record runs of consecutive hot days. A Special Climate Statement will be released following the conclusion of the event. The extreme conditions were associated with the death of four thousand spectacled flying foxes around Cairns and extensive fire activity along the coast as fire danger ratings reached Catastrophic across the Central Highlands and Capricornia districts in central Queensland.

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

Rainfall for November was slightly above average for Australia as a whole.

Above to well above average rainfall was reported across most of the Northern Territory, South Australia, the southern half of Western Australia (away from the west coast and southwest), western Queensland, the eastern half of Tasmania, and areas of New South Wales across the southern border regions and in a band from the northwest to central coast.

November rainfall was below average across eastern Queensland, extending into northeastern New South Wales, and also for smaller areas in northern and west coast Western Australia.

Much of the rainfall was delivered over a few particularly wet days rather than widespread rainfall periods. On the 10th and 11th, southern and central Western Australia experienced wet days as a result of a deep surface trough, and some locations set new daily rainfall records. Another relatively stationary trough positioned over central parts of the Northern Territory from the 14th generated numerous days of moderate falls across the Top End, contributing to a wetter than average month.

By the third week of the month, an active cold front track over southeastern Australia and connected with a surface trough as it continued to track across the country. This combination of weather patterns created gusty winds across Adelaide and surrounding suburbs, causing some damage, and sent a blanket of dust through New South Wales and southeast Queensland. In the wake of this system, cold and thundery weather was experienced across Victoria and southern New South Wales, with heavy rainfall over northeastern Tasmania.

Severe thunderstorms brought exceptionally heavy rain and flash flooding for Sydney, the Illawarra and Central Tablelands regions on the 28th and 29th. This was associated with an intense transient low pressure system that developed over eastern New South Wales before moving into the Tasman Sea. This low also pushed a mass of warm air ahead of it, contributing to higher temperatures and stronger westerly winds in neighbouring Queensland during the end of the month.

Area-average rainfall
	Rank (of 119)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean	Comment
Australia	84	37.1	+14%
Queensland	36	28.4	−38%
New South Wales	77	48.8	+9%
Victoria	66	49.4	−5%
Tasmania	69	112.7	+9%
South Australia	= 107	32.5	+110%
Western Australia	102	26.4	+49%
Northern Territory	101	59.3	+42%
Murray-Darling Basin	69	42.4	+5%

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 119 (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 2018
Hottest day	45.7 °C	at Roebourne Aero (WA) on the 18th
Coldest day	−0.6 °C	at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on the 22nd
Coldest night	−5.9 °C	at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on the 8th
Warmest night	32.2 °C	at Marble Bar (WA) on the 16th
Wettest day	189.0 mm	at Beaumont (The Cedars) (NSW) on the 29th

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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