New South Wales Monthly Climate Summary: June 2006
A cold start to winter

Monday 3 July, 2006

In Brief

  • Well below average minimum temperatures (2nd coolest on record)
  • Rainfall close to average or above average for much of the state

Details

Temperatures:

Following on from a cooler than average autumn, NSW, along with much of Australia, experienced a cold start to winter in June. Nights were particularly cold with NSW recording its second lowest June average minimum in the post 1950 era (the period for which high quality monthly records are available), −1.74°C below the historic average1of 4.61°C (the coolest June average minimum was 2.5°C in 1982). Much of the state was very much below average (see maps 1 & 2) and a number of stations across the state recorded their record lowest mean daily minimum temperature for June (see Table 5 below), while some set records for the lowest temperature for June (see Table 6 below). The low minimum temperatures were a result of cold, dry air, light winds and clear skies associated with a series of strong high pressure systems. The lowest mean minimum for June was −7.0°C at Charlotte Pass and the lowest temperature recorded was −13.3°C also at Charlotte Pass.

The statewide average maximum temperature for June was 15.89°C, only slightly below the historic average1 of 16.06°C. The main areas to record below to very much below average maximum temperatures were the Upper and Lower Western Districts, and the coast and adjacent ranges south of Newcastle and the Northern Rivers district. Above average maximum temperatures were recorded elsewhere. (See map 3)

Rainfall: (See map 4)

After a very dry autumn, and unlike much of the rest of Australia, most of NSW received close to average or above average falls in June, with a statewide average of 34.66 mm compared to the June average1 of 35.93 mm. Large areas of the Upper and Lower Western districts received above average June falls, as did parts of the South Coast and Illawarra, and coastal areas of Sydney. Some areas did, however, receive below average falls, however, including parts of the Hunter and a band stretching from Coonabarabran (Central West Slopes) south to Albury (South West Slopes) and along the Murray River.

 

  

NSW Extremes for June 2006

Table 1: Weather extremes during June 2006

Highest temperature
Hottest day
24.6°C
 Mungindi P.O. on the 9th
Highest mean daily maximum temperature
Warmest days on average
20.8°C
 Grafton Olympic Pool
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature
Coolest days on average
0.8°C
 Thredbo AWS
Lowest daily maximum temperature
Coldest day
−2.9°C
 Thredbo AWS on the 24th
Lowest temperature
Coldest night
−13.3°C
 Charlotte Pass on the 26th
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature
Coldest nights on average
−7.0°C
 Charlotte Pass
Highest mean daily minimum temperature
Mildest nights on average
12.3°C
 Byron Bay
Highest daily minimum
Warmest night
16.0°C
 Murwillumbah on the 11th
Highest total rainfall
Wettest overall
391 mm
 Jervis Bay
Highest daily rainfall
Wettest day
107 mm
 Jervis Bay on the 2nd

 

NSW Records for June 2006

Table 2: Record Lowest Total Rainfall for June

Total rainfall
for June 2006 (mm) 		Previous lowest
for June 		Years of
record
Blowering Dam
0.0
9.8
in 1984
51


Table 3: Record Lowest Mean Maximum Temperature for June

Mean daily maximum
temperature
for June 2006 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for June 		Years of
record
Montague Island Lighthouse
14.6
15.1
in 1983
33
Byron Bay
18.5
18.8
in 1982
29
Nelson Bay
17.0
= 17.0
in 1917
21


Table 4: Record Lowest Daily Maximum Temperature for June

Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in June 2006 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for June 		Years of
record
Cooma Visitors Centre
4.8
on 11th
4.9
on 22nd in 1978
32


Table 5: Record Lowest Mean Daily Minimum Temperature for June

Mean daily minimum
temperature
for June 2006 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for June 		Years of
record
Hillston Airport
1.9
2.3
in 1965
74
Wagga Wagga AMO
1.1
= 1.1
in 1982
65
Scone SCS
3.1
4.0
in 2001
46
Tumbarumba Post Office
−2.6
−2.5
in 1972
40
Tocumwal Airport
1.3
= 1.3
in 1982
36
Perisher Valley Ski Centre
−5.5
−5.2
in 1982
30
Albury Airport
0.2
1.0
in 1984
23
Broken Hill Airport AWS
3.3
3.6
in 1958
20


Table 6: Record Lowest Temperature for June

Lowest temperature
in June 2006 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for June 		Years of
record
Parkes
−4.0
on 15th
−2.6
on 19th in 1998
97
Grenfell
−6.5
on 15th
−3.3
on 6th in 1966
92
Bathurst Agricultural Station
−8.2
on 15th
−7.1
on 23rd in 1984
86
Murrurundi Post Office
−6.5
on 16th
−5.6
on 26th in 1971
86
Corowa Airport
−5.0
on 14th
−4.5
on 18th in 1998
81
Peak Hill Post Office
−2.5
on 15th
−2.3
on 25th in 1971
41
Oberon
−8.5
on 15th
−8.0
on 25th in 1984
33
Orange Agricultural Institute
−5.0
on 28th
= −5.0
on 21st in 1990
31
Albury Airport
−4.0
on 12th
= −4.0
on 19th in 1998
23
Broken Hill Airport AWS
−2.1
on 15th
−1.7
on 24th in 1960
20

Summaries for June 2006

Table 7: Summary statistics for June 2006

Maximum temperatures
for June
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for June
(°C)		 Rainfall
for June
(mm)
               
Mean for 2006 Difference from normal Highest for 2006 Mean for 2006 Difference from normal Lowest for 2006 Total for 2006 Normal total
Albury
14.0
-
16.9
0.1
-
−3.7
36
73
Armidale
12.4
-
14.8
0.8
-
−4.6
39
45
Batemans Bay
15.8
-
18.3
4.1
-
−0.7
117
58
Bathurst
13.5
+1.4
17.1
−2.2
−3.8
−8.2
35
44
Bega
15.6
-
18.8
3.2
-
−2.6
59
40
Bourke
17.9
-
23.0
4.6
-
−1.5
27
27
Bowral
11.7
−0.8
15.2
2.2
−1.1
−3.5
94
81
Broken Hill
14.2
−1.4
18.7
4.6
−1.6
0.0
18
22
Byron Bay
18.5
−1.3
21.5
12.2
−0.3
9.7
189
164
Canberra
11.9
−0.3
16.1
−0.2
−1.1
−5.3
75
40
Cobar
15.6
−0.9
20.1
4.8
−1.4
−1.5
71
27
Coffs Harbour
19.1
−0.3
21.1
8.6
−0.4
2.2
90
113
Cooma
10.6
−1.5
15.0
−2.5
−1.1
−8.0
35
37
Deniliquin
14.8
-
18.2
1.5
-
−4.4
28
31
Dubbo
16.5
-
19.5
2.4
-
−4.2
35
42
Gosford
17.4
−0.6
19.7
6.5
+0.2
0.8
107
122
Goulburn
11.8
-
15.2
−0.1
-
−6.6
58
54
Grafton
20.8
0
22.5
7.4
−0.7
1.4
40
62
Griffith
15.0
−0.4
20.0
2.5
−2.1
−3.0
34
34
Inverell
17.0
+1.4
20.9
3.5
−1.3
−2.1
75
43
Katoomba
10.8
+1.0
15.1
3.2
−0.4
−1.9
76
116
Kempsey
19.8
−0.2
22.0
6.3
−0.7
0.5
65
95
Lismore
19.3
-
22.6
10.1
-
7.4
90
97
Maitland
18.1
-
20.5
4.0
-
−1.5
58
40
Moree
18.9
-
23.1
4.6
-
−2.2
46
47
Mudgee
15.5
-
18.4
−1.2
-
−7.5
24
34
Newcastle
17.2
−0.3
19.8
10.3
+0.7
6.5
94
115
Nowra
15.2
-
18.6
6.4
-
3.2
154
111
Orange
11.3
+0.9
14.8
0.9
−1.6
−5.0
38
70
Parkes
15.6
+0.7
20.6
2.5
−2.7
−4.0
36
49
Penrith
17.2
-
20.1
5.9
-
1.0
43
30
Port Macquarie
19.1
-
21.6
6.9
-
−2.9
139
107
Richmond
16.5
-
19.3
2.9
-
−2.6
49
30
Scone
17.5
+0.6
19.6
3.1
−2.9
−0.4
20
41
Sydney
17.0
+0.1
20.0
8.7
−0.6
5.8
177
128
Tamworth
17.2
-
21.0
2.3
-
−4.0
39
44
Taree
18.9
-
22.0
7.3
-
−1.0
41
97
Wagga Wagga
14.4
+0.7
18.3
1.1
−2.6
−3.6
32
50
Wollongong
16.6
−1.0
19.2
8.2
−1.3
2.7
118
107

 

**Please note: the length of record for some of the stations listed in the above table is not long enough to produce valid temperature and/or rainfall averages.

 

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 12 PM on 3 June 2006. Although every effort has been made to check them, it is possible that results may change as new information becomes available.

A note about deciles: Deciles are used to give an element (in this case rainfall or temperature) a ranking. Deciles are calculated by arranging the totals in ascending order (from lowest to highest) then splitting them into 10 equal groups (thus the groups are called deciles). The first group would be in decile range one, the second group in decile range two, etc up to the highest annual totals (highest 10 per cent) being in decile range 10.

1Averages: Averages are based on the period 1961 to 1990 which is a convention of the World Meteorological Organisation.

Further information: Contact Perry Wiles 9296 1525, email: reqnsw@bom.gov.au

A directory of Bureau services is available on poll fax: 1800 630 100

The latest rainfall and temperature maps are available here
Climate averages for New South Wales localities are available here
Daily Weather Observations for selected New South Wales localities are available here