Friday, 30 May 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Northern Territory - Product code IDCKGC12R0

Cool start to the Dry in the Top End - Northern Territory in May 2008

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Summary

Night temperatures were cooler than normal over the Top End and remained close to the long term mean over the rest of the Territory. On the other hand, day temperatures remained close to climatology over most of the Territory except in the far southwest where the maximums were above normal. Below normal rainfall was recorded over the Territory during the month.

Rainfall

Rainfall for the month was below normal however being a typically dry month, the rainfall recorded during this time is usually low.

Maximum temperature

Maximum temperatures were mostly within one degree of the long term mean over the Territory except a patch of 2−3°C above average in the far southwestern parts of the Alice Springs district.

Minimum temperature

Minimum temperatures over the northern half of the Territory were mostly below normal. Cooler patches of up to 5°C below normal were observed in the Victoria River and Roper-McArthur districts. Night temperatures remained close to normal over the remainder of the Territory.

Some sites had their lowest May temperature on record.

Some sites had their lowest May mean daily minimum temperature on record.

Further information

Climate Information Officer
NT Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8920 3819
Email climate.nt@bom.gov.au

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Extremes

Hottest day Highest temperature	36.5°C at Elliott on the 2nd
Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature	33.5°C at Jabiru Airport AWS
Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature	23.9°C at Kulgera
Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature	18.0°C at Kulgera on the 17th
Coldest night Lowest temperature	1.1°C at Arltunga on the 24th
Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature	6.8°C at Alice Springs Airport
Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature	25.2°C at McCluer Island AWS
Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature	26.6°C at McCluer Island AWS on the 2nd
Wettest overall Highest total rainfall	22.0 mm at Yirrkala Tropical Gardens
Wettest day Highest daily rainfall	13.0 mm at Yirrkala Tropical Gardens on the 19th
Highest wind gust	65 km/h at Lajamanu AWS on the 22nd and at Douglas River on the 29th

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Records

Record lowest temperature for May 2008
	Lowest temperature (°C)		Previous lowest		Years of record
Brunette Downs	4.0	on the 28th	4.4	on the 28th in 1959	42
Mango Farm	7.6	on the 30th	9.9	on the 27th in 1990	27

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Record lowest mean daily minimum temperature for May 2008
	Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	Previous lowest		Years of record
Daly Waters AWS	11.5	11.8	in 1944	38
Victoria River Downs	11.2	12.2	in 1994	38
Mango Farm	14.8	15.5	in 1999	27
Timber Creek	13.3	14.2	in 1999	27
Wollogorang	12.9	13.1	in 1976	23
Katherine Aviation Museum	13.2	13.9	in 2001	21
Tindal RAAF AWS	13.5	13.9	in 2001	20
Kidman Springs	12.4	13.0	in 2001	12
Rabbit Flat	8.6	9.6	in 2006	11
Batchelor Aero AWS	15.4	16.4	in 2001	10

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Summaries

This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.

Summary statistics for May 2008
	Maximum temperatures (°C)				Minimum temperatures (°C)				Rainfall (millimetres)
	Mean	Diff from normal	Highest		Mean	Diff from normal	Lowest		Total	Rank	Fraction of normal
Darwin-Daly (district 14GA)
Batchelor Aero AWS	32.9	0.0	34.3	17th	15.4	−3.5	11.7	8th	0	lowest	0%
Black Point			33.1	2nd	23.2	−0.4	19.7	21st	0.6	low	2%
Bradshaw AWS	33.3		35.7	2nd	15.4		10.5	20th	0
Cape Don AWS	31.2		33.1	1st	24.6		23.2	24th	0.4	low	1%
Channel Point			33.6	2nd	18.5	−2.0	14.0	30th	0	lowest	0%
Darwin Airport	32.6	+0.6	34.3	2nd	20.9	−1.3	17.0	22nd	0	lowest	0%
Delamere Weapons Range AWS	31.1	−0.6	33.0	17th	15.4	−2.4	12.0	10th	0	lowest	0%
Douglas River	33.2	0.0	35.3	17th	14.1	−2.2	8.9	21st	0	lowest	0%
Dum In Mirrie AWS	32.5	+0.5	34.4	18th	20.2	−1.8	15.5	30th	0	lowest	0%
Jabiru Airport AWS	33.5	0.0	35.4	2nd	21.3	−0.3	18.5	7th	0	lowest	0%
Katherine Aviation Museum	31.5	−0.8	33.4	3rd	13.2	−3.7	8.3	30th	0	lowest	0%
Mango Farm	32.6	−0.5	34.8	17th	14.8	−3.9	7.6	30th	0	lowest	0%
McCluer Island AWS	29.2	−0.3	30.2	5th	25.2	+0.3	23.7	30th	1.6	low	4%
Middle Point AWS	33.2		34.9	17th	15.8		9.6	30th	0
Pine Creek Council AWS	32.0		33.9	2nd	17.7		14.6	21st	1.0
Pirlangimpi AWS	32.6	+0.1	33.8	5th	20.5	−0.7	16.8	21st	0	lowest	0%
Port Keats Aero AWS	33.3		35.3	17th	16.8		11.3	21st	0
Tindal RAAF AWS	31.7	−0.4	33.8	17th	13.5	−4.1	8.5	30th	0	lowest	0%
Arnhem (district 14BC)
Alyangula Police	30.7	−0.1	32.4	2nd			18.3	29th	6.8	low	22%
Gove Airport	30.1	+0.2	31.3	5th	22.3	−0.3	18.4	20th	12.8	low	15%
Groote Eylandt Airport AWS	31.5	+0.4	33.2	1st	16.4	−2.2	12.2	20th	0.2
Maningrida Aero AWS	32.6		34.5	2nd	21.1		18.9	7th	0
Milingimbi AWS	32.1		34.1	2nd	21.8		19.1	21st	1.0
Ngayawili AWS	31.2		32.8	1st	21.8		18.8	7th	0.4
Warruwi AWS	30.8	+0.1	32.2	5th	24.0	0.0	22.4	20th	0	lowest	0%
Roper-Mcarthur (district 14DE)
Borroloola AWS	32.1	−0.3	34.4	17th	13.2	−2.7	8.0	19th	0	lowest	0%
Bulman AWS	32.1		34.1	1st	15.2		11.0	20th	0
Centre Island AWS	29.8	+0.2	31.3	17th	21.6	−0.9	18.8	21st	0.2	low	2%
Daly Waters AWS	31.9	+0.8	34.2	2nd	11.5	−4.8	7.0	20th	0	lowest	0%
McArthur River Mine	32.6	+0.3	35.3	1st	14.4	−2.0	8.5	30th	0	lowest	0%
Wollogorang	31.8	+0.3	34.6	2nd	12.9	−3.2	6.4	20th	0	lowest	0%
Victoria (district 14F)
Kidman Springs	32.5	−0.1	35.3	2nd	12.4	−3.8	8.6	22nd	0	lowest	0%
Lajamanu AWS	31.0	+1.5	34.6	2nd	11.3	−2.2	7.5	24th	0	lowest	0%
Timber Creek	33.1	+0.1	35.9	2nd	13.3	−5.1	9.5	22nd	0	lowest	0%
Victoria River Downs	32.4	+0.5	35.1	2nd	11.2	−4.9	8.0	30th	0	lowest	0%
Wave Hill	31.7	+0.5	35.3	2nd	11.5	−3.6	6.6	20th	0	lowest	0%
Barkly (district 15A)
Brunette Downs	31.1	+1.3	34.9	1st	13.2	−1.8	4.0	28th	0	lowest	0%
Tennant Creek Airport	28.5	+0.9	32.7	2nd	16.0	−0.4	12.1	19th	0	lowest	0%
Alice Springs (district 15B)
Ali Curung	28.4	+0.9	32.5	1st	11.0	−1.0	7.5	23rd	0	lowest	0%
Alice Springs Airport	24.7	+1.6	30.9	1st	6.8	−1.5	3.5	22nd	0	lowest	0%
Curtin Springs	26.1	+2.4	32.0	1st	8.1	−0.5	3.7	18th	0	lowest	0%
Jervois	26.3	+0.9	31.3	15th			5.3	25th	0	lowest	0%
Kulgera	23.9	+1.3	29.5	1st	8.9	−0.3	3.8	28th	0	lowest	0%
Papunya	27.6		32.0	1st	9.9		6.6	22nd	0	lowest	0%
Rabbit Flat	30.5	+1.2	34.4	2nd	8.6	−3.3	3.0	25th	0	lowest	0%
Territory Grape Farm AWS	26.5	+0.9	31.0	1st	9.0	−0.3	5.5	18th	1.0	normal	4%
Watarrka	26.6	+1.8	32.5	1st	11.0	+0.4	3.5	17th	0	lowest	0%
Yuendumu	27.6	+2.7	31.5	5th	10.5	−0.6	6.5	19th	0	lowest	0%
Yulara Aero AWS	26.0	+1.6	32.4	1st	8.3	−1.3	4.6	18th	0.2	low	2%

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Notes

Further information

Climate Information Officer
NT Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8920 3819
Email climate.nt@bom.gov.au

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