Wednesday 1 September 2021 — Monthly Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in August 2021

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In brief

• Mean maximum temperatures for August were above average almost throughout Australia, with the most significant anomalies in subtropical and tropical Australia.
• Mean minimum temperatures for August were also above average in most of Australia, with the strongest anomalies in Queensland and Tasmania
• August rainfall was below average over much of Australia outside the tropics, although only small areas were very much below average.
• For Australia as a whole, rainfall was 39% below average.

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Temperatures

The national mean temperature for August was 1.38 °C warmer than the 1961–1990 average for Australia as a whole, making it the sixth- warmest August on record. It was the second-warmest August on record for Queensland, after 2009, and ranked in the ten warmest for New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

The mean maximum temperature for August was the ninth-warmest on record for Australia as a whole, 1.77 °C above average. The mean minimum temperature was 0.99 °C above average.

Mean maximum temperatures were above average over almost the entire continent, and were at least 1 °C above average over most mainland areas away from the southern coastline, reaching 3 °C or more above average in parts of southern inland Queensland. Some areas along the northern coasts of Western Australia and the Northern Territory, including Darwin and Broome, had their highest mean August maximum temperature on record. Areas in the highest 10% of historical observations included most of tropical Australia, along with coastal New South Wales and some areas around Melbourne. Maximum temperatures were within 1 °C of average in most of Tasmania, and in parts of southern Victoria, southern South Australia and the southwest of Western Australia.

Mean minimum temperatures were also above average over most of Australia, although not as consistently as for maximum temperature. Minimum temperatures were at least 1 °C above average over most of Queensland, reaching 2 °C or more above average in most areas north of a Townsville - Mount Isa line, as well as in the far south-west. Some areas had their warmest August mean minimums on record, especially around the Gulf of Carpentaria coast. Minimum temperatures were also more than 1 °C above average over most of Tasmania and parts of southern Victoria, as well as parts of the Northern Territory Top End, parts of the Kimberley and Pilbara coasts in Western Australia, and Western Australia's southern interior. Minimum temperatures were locally below average in the southern Northern Territory, and were generally close to average in inland New South Wales, and in South Australia from Adelaide northwards.

The month was consistently warm in many areas, with Sydney setting an August record with 15 consecutive days of 20 °C or above from the 9th to the 23rd. However, few significant daily records were set, with records at long-term stations largely confined to high maximum temperatures along the northern coast of the Northern Territory, and high minimum temperatures at a few locations in Queensland. There was a sharp end to the warm spell in New South Wales with the passage of a low in the Tasman Sea, with Nowra experiencing its warmest and coldest August days of the 21st century on successive days on the 23rd and 24th.

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

August rainfall was 39% below average for Australia as a whole. Rainfall was below average for all states and territories, ranging from 87% below average in the Northern Territory to 28% below average in Queensland. Monthly rainfall for Tasmania was equal to average.

Most parts of the mainland south of the tropics had below average rainfall. The rainfall deficits were relatively consistent, with only a few areas, mostly in scattered parts of Western Australia and outback South Australia, having rainfall in the very much below average (lowest 10% of all years) range.

The most significant area outside the tropics to have rainfall above average was the east coast and adjacent ranges between Sydney and Sale. Much of the month's rain in this region fell as a result of a low which moved slowly across the southern Tasman Sea from the 24th onwards. Rainfall in central and northern inland New South Wales was mostly close to average, although this was sufficient to cause renewed minor to moderate flooding in some river catchments which had experienced heavy rain earlier in the winter. Rainfall in Tasmania was mostly close to average, although below average on parts of the east coast.

Rainfall was generally above average in eastern parts of tropical Queensland, including most of the Cape York Peninsula. There were significant rain events at the start of the month in the far north, and in coastal and adjacent inland areas between Townsville and Gladstone on the 31st. Some locations had their wettest August day on record, including 127.4  mm on the 1st at Coconut Island in the Torres Strait, the highest August daily total on record for any Australian site north of 15 °S. Most other parts of the tropics were seasonally dry, although there were local rain events around the Northern Territory Top End on the 25th (including Darwin's wettest August day since 1988) and the Pilbara coast of Western Australia from the 8th to the 10th.

Area-average rainfall
	Rank (of 122)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean	Comment
Australia	23	11.3	−39%
Queensland	67	10.0	−28%
New South Wales	44	26.4	−33%
Victoria	28	53.0	−30%
Tasmania	65	147.8	−0%
South Australia	15	6.9	−61%
Western Australia	14	7.5	−50%
Northern Territory	41	0.5	−87%
Murray-Darling Basin	29	21.9	−44%

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 122 (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 August 2021
Hottest day	39.0 °C	at Wyndham Airport (WA) on the 31st
Coldest day	−2.7 °C	at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on the 24th
Coldest night	−9.1 °C	at Perisher Valley AWS (NSW) on the 2nd
Warmest night	26.5 °C	at McCluer Island (NT) on the 1st
Wettest day	127.4 mm	at Coconut Island (Qld.) on the 1st

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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