Wednesday, 1 September 2010 - Monthly Climate Summary for Sydney - Product code IDCKGC25L0

Sydney in August 2010: Warm, sunny end to winter

• Plentiful sunshine - sunniest August since 1997
• Below average rainfall
• Warm days and warm nights

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Sydney Observatory Hill reported 27.0 mm of rain during August 2010, which is well below the historical August rainfall of 81.2 mm. The rain fell over seven days, with the most significant falls occurring on the third of the month, associated with a low pressure system off the NSW coast. This event brought 16.4 mm of rain at Observatory Hill, over half the August total, with a maximum fall of 28.2 mm at Mona Vale Golf Club. Further light falls also occurred between the tenth and eleventh, associated with the passage of a cold front, and related to onshore flow and a low pressure trough on the 19th.

Sydney's water storage is currently at 57.5% of capacity, an increase of 0.4% from July levels despite the low rainfall, which is likely a consequence of the high rain in late July. Current water storage information can be found on the new Bureau of Meteorology Water Storage Beta Release web site.

Temperature

The average maximum temperature at Sydney Observatory Hill in August was 18.3°C, which is 0.5°C above the historical August average of 17.8°C, although the majority of metropolitan stations recorded below average maximum temperatures during the month, particularly in western parts of the city. Only 5 days above 20°C were recorded at Observatory Hill during the month, below the August average of 6. However, no days were recorded below 15.0°C, compared to a historical average of 5 such days, with temperatures close to average throughout the month. The warmest temperature recorded during the month was 25.4°C at Sydney Airport on the 19th, related to warm northeasterly wind patterns.

The average minimum temperature during August at Observatory Hill was 9.5°C, which is 0.5°C above the historical average of 9.0°C, with generally warmer than average minimum temperatures across the metropolitan region. Nights were warmest on the 15th and 16th due to the passage of a front and cloudy conditions, reaching 13.3°C at Sydney Airport on the 15th. The coldest minimums were on the 22nd under a high pressure system, reaching -1.2°C at Richmond.

Wind

North-westerly winds prevailed prevailed in Sydney during august, with over 90% of morning winds between N and W and only two days having southwesterly winds. Northwesterly winds also dominated 52% of afternoon winds, although easterly to southerly sea breezes were experienced on several occasions.

Strong winds were reported at Sydney Airport five times during August, with a maximum wind gust of 107km/hr on the 3rd, associated with a coastal low pressure system.

Other phenomena

Sunshine averaged 8.7 hours at Sydney Airport during August, above the historical average of 7.8 and the highest average sunshine since August 1997 (8.8 hours). Only one thunderstorm was reported at Sydney Airport on the 15th, which was of very short duration and resulted in reports of small hail across Sydney and short bursts of heavy rain, although the highest total rainfall was just 6.5mm at North Rocks.

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Daily rainfall

Most values are the precipitation in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated. Days marked with »» are part of a longer accumulation, which is marked like this on the final day. Values over 100 mm have been rounded to the nearest whole millimetre. Days marked with - have a rainfall report of zero; days left blank have no rainfall report (which often indicates no rain fell).
This table is very wide; you may have to scroll sideways to see all the days, and you may need to set the paper to 'landscape' to print.

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top