Wednesday 1 July 2020 — Monthly Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in June 2020

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In brief

• Nationally, June was much warmer than average for Australia as a whole; the mean temperature for the month was the equal seventh-highest on record for June
• Days were especially warm, with the mean maximum temperature the third-highest on record for Australia as a whole
• The mean maximum temperature was above average for most of Australia, and very much above average for Western Australia and much of the north
• Mean minimum temperatures were above average for much of the west of Western Australia, the north of Australia, and parts of the eastern seaboard and Tasmania; but below average for much of Central Australia, South Australia, and the west of Victoria and New South Wales
• June rainfall was the third-lowest on record for Australia as a whole
• Rainfall was below average for most of the country, although large areas of the east and north had close to average rainfall
• Above average rainfall for the month was restricted to small areas, most notably southeast Tasmania

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Temperatures

For Australia as a whole the national mean temperature was the equal-seventh-highest on record at 1.10 °C warmer than average for June.

Days were especially warm, with the mean maximum temperature for June the third-warmest on record for June nationally at 1.70 °C above average. The mean minimum temperature was lower, but also warmer than average nationally at +0.49 °C.

As is common in periods of low rainfall during the cooler months of the year, daytime temperatures were very much warmer than average over most of Australia, while nights were cooler than average in some of the inland southeast. Clear skies and sunny days are typical of central and inland eastern Australia during the cool season in dry years. Reduced cloud cover, low humidity, and low soil moisture leads to a large diurnal temperature range (the difference between daily maximum and minimum temperatures), with both higher daytime temperatures and cooler nights.

Maximum temperatures for June were above or very much above average across nearly all of Australia. Daytime temperatures were amongst the highest 10% of historical records (decile 10) for the majority of Western Australia; the Top End of the Northern Territory; across various parts of Queensland, including the Gulf Country, most of Cape York Peninsula, central north, and much of the southeast. The mean maximum temperature for June was the warmest on record for a large area of Western Australia in the Gascoyne, southeastern Pilbara, and in a band between the southeastern Gascoyne and Bremer Bay on the south coast.

The mean minimum temperature for the month was above average for most of the western half of Western Australia and the southern Interior District, for the northern half of the Northern Territory; across northern, central and east coast Queensland; for much of coastal New South Wales, reaching south to the Illawarra and inland to parts of the Central West Slopes and Plains; and for most of Tasmania except the North East, East Coast, and parts of the Central Plateau districts.

Mean minimum temperatures for the month were below or very much below average for the southern half of the Northern Territory; northern, central, and eastern South Australia; western border regions of New South Wales, the southern Riverina, and a large area of the northwest around Bourke; an area of central southern Queensland east of Charleville; and across most of the western half of Victoria, and a pocket of West and South Gippsland.

It was warm in the west of Western Australia during the first week of the month; several sites set records for highest daily temperature for June. A number of sites in Western Australia recorded their highest June mean daily maximum temperature and a smaller number recorded their highest June mean daily minimum temperature.

A warm airmass brought temperatures well above average across northern Australia during the middle of June; including the warmest June day on record for Darwin Airport on the 15th (35.0 °C), and the warmest June night for Brisbane Aero on the 14th (18.7 °C) as well as a few other sites in 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

June rainfall was the third lowest on record for the month nationally, at 54% below average for Australia as a whole. It was the tenth-driest June on record for both Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

Rainfall for the month was below average for most of Australia. However, rainfall was near average for much of the northern half of the Northern Territory; large areas of eastern Queensland; most of the eastern half of New South Wales except the southeast coast; parts of northeastern Victoria, and along the border of Victoria and South Australia; and much of Tasmania except the northwest and central north coast.

Above average rainfall for the month was restricted to small areas, most notably southeast Tasmania. Heavy rainfall in southeast Tasmania on the 23rd brought more than the average monthly rainfall for June to some areas. A number of sites had their highest June daily rainfall on record, with resulting river rises resulting in rivulets around Hobart.

Area-average rainfall
	Rank (of 121)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean	Comment
Australia	3	10.8	−54%	3rd lowest (record 8.0 mm in 1940)
Queensland	30	8.8	−53%
New South Wales	26	25.1	−35%
Victoria	26	43.8	−26%
Tasmania	55	127.6	−0%
South Australia	13	6.7	−65%
Western Australia	10	8.7	−66%	10th lowest
Northern Territory	10	0.1	−98%	10th lowest; lowest since 2006
Murray-Darling Basin	21	22.0	−34%

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 121 (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 June 2020
Hottest day	36.8 °C	at Bradshaw (NT) on the 1st
Coldest day	−2.8 °C	at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on the 22nd
Coldest night	−9.1 °C	at Perisher Valley AWS (NSW) on the 8th
Warmest night	26.5 °C	at McCluer Island (NT) on the 1st
Wettest day	175.4 mm	at kunanyi (Mount Wellington Pinnacle) (Tas.) on the 23rd

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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