Friday, 1 February 2013 - Monthly Climate Summary for Sydney - Product code IDCKGC15L0

Sydney in January 2013: An extreme month for Sydney

• Sydney City sets new record daytime temperature
• Ex-TC Oswald delivers heavy rain

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Sydney Observatory Hill recorded 137.8 mm of rain during January, well above the historical average of 101.5 mm. The rain fell over eight rain days, below average for Sydney (average is 12). Four days recording at least 1 mm, less than half the historical average of nine. The majority of the rain (95.2 mm) fell in the 24 hours to 9am on the 29th as ex-TC Oswald moved south along the NSW coast (see Special Climate Statement 44). As a consequence of ex-TC Oswald, large areas of Sydney recorded rainfall in excess of 100 mm on the 29th, with 161 mm falling at Castle Cove, 136 mm at Springwood and 128 mm at Campbelltown. For a number of stations in western Sydney this was the wettest day in over a decade.

Temperature

Sydney Observatory Hill recorded an average maximum temperature of 27.6 °C during January, 1.8 °C above the historical average, with warmer than average temperatures recorded across the city. On the 8th, Sydney Observatory Hill recorded 42.3 °C its fifth highest temperature on record and then, on the 18th, set a new record maximum temperature of 45.8 °C surpassing the previous record set on 14 January 1939 by 0.5 °C. The extreme heat was the result of a heatwave that affected much of Australia over a prolonged period (see Special Climate Statement 43). The affect of this heatwave was pronounced in western Sydney with Richmond RAAF recording 10 days over 35 °C (average is five) and three days over 40 °C with a maximum temperature of 46.4 °C on the 18th.

Nights were also warm during January, with Sydney Observatory Hill recording an average minimum temperature of 20.5 °C, 1.8 °C above the historical average. There were 24 nights over 20 °C (average eight to nine nights). Conversely only four nights were below the January average of 18.7 °C, with the coldest night reaching 16.8 °C on the 15th.

The mean daily temperature at Sydney Observatory Hill was 24.5 °C, 2.2 °C above the historical average, with temperatures above average throughout the city.

Other phenomena

The prevailing wind direction at Sydney Airport was north-easterly, with 52% of 3pm winds between E-NNE, while 32% of 3pm winds were ESE-S, normal for January. There were fourteen strong wind days at the airport, with the maximum wind gust reaching 87 km/h on the 18th associated with a strong southerly change.

Sydney Airport recorded an average of 7.1 hours of bright sunshine during January, below the historical average of 7.5 hours. There was one thunderstorm reported at the airport.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

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.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top