Monday, 2 September 2019 - Monthly Climate Summary for Northern Territory - Product code IDCKGC12R0

Northern Territory in August 2019: Dry month, slightly cooler than average

Very little rainfall was observed across the Northern Territory during August, with no rainfall recordings at all in the southern half. Daytime and overnight temperatures were generally below average, although most of the Top End had above average daytime temperatures during the month.

No rain across southern NT during August

  • No sites in the southern two-thirds of the Northern Territory recorded any rainfall during August
  • A few coastal sites across the Top End recorded rainfall totals to 5 mm, while Pirlangimpi on the northern Tiwi Islands had the highest monthly fall of 13 mm
  • Territory-wide, rainfall during August was 99% below the long-term average
  • For the year to date, rainfall across the Northern Territory is 44% below the long-term average; the lowest since 1970 and the sixth-lowest on record

Generally cooler than average days

  • Across the Northern Territory, the mean monthly maximum and minimum temperature was below the long-term average
  • Daytime (maximum) temperatures were generally above average across the Top End, but average to below average further south: overall the mean monthly maximum was 0.35 °C below average
  • Overnight (minimum) temperatures were average to below average almost everywhere, apart from a relatively small region just south of the Top End; some sites near this region had their warmest August night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record
  • Parts of the southwestern Territory were very much below average; overall the mean monthly minimum across the NT was 0.80 °C below average
  • Territory-wide, the year-to-date mean maximum temperature is the highest on record, while the mean minimum is tracking the eighth-warmest

Darwin Airport

  • Total rainfall for Darwin Airport was 0.2 mm, which is 4% of the long-term average of 4.6 mm
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Darwin Airport was 32.0 °C, which is 0.6 °C above the long-term average of 31.4 °C. The warmest day was 34.9 °C on the 27th, and the coolest day was on the 16th when the temperature reached 30.0 °C
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Darwin Airport was 19.4 °C, which is 0.9 °C below the long-term average of 20.3 °C. The coldest morning was 15.3 °C on the 14th, and the warmest morning was on the 19th when the minimum temperature was 23.1 °C

Alice Springs Airport

  • Total rainfall for Alice Springs Airport was 0.0 mm, which is 0% of the long-term average of 8.6 mm
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Alice Springs Airport was 22.0 °C, which is 0.7 °C below the long-term average of 22.7 °C. The warmest day was 30.0 °C on the 17th
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Alice Springs Airport was 3.3 °C, which is 2.7 °C below the long-term average of 8.0 °C. The coldest morning was 0.3 °C on the 22nd

Further information

Media
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Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes in August 2019
Hottest day 37.3 °C at Ngukurr Airport on the 18th
Warmest days on average 34.2 °C at Oenpelli Airport
Coolest days on average 21.1 °C at Arltunga
Coldest day 14.4 °C at Arltunga on the 19th
Coldest night -3.0 °C at Arltunga on the 14th
Coolest nights on average 3.2 °C at Arltunga
Warmest nights on average 23.0 °C at Cape Wessel
Warmest night 24.8 °C at Charles Point and at Mount Bundey South (Defence), both on the 19th
Warmest on average overall 26.7 °C at Cape Wessel
Coolest on average overall 12.7 °C at Alice Springs Airport
Wettest overall 13.0 mm at Pirlangimpi Airport
Driest overall 0 mm at several locations
Wettest day 10.8 mm at Pirlangimpi Airport on the 20th
Strongest wind gust 67 km/h at Douglas River Research Farm on the 3rd

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps

Observed Anomaly Decile rank
Total
rainfall		 Map of Rainfall totals Map of Percentage of normal rainfall Map of Rainfall deciles
Mean
daily
maximum
temperatures		 Map of Mean maximum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean maximum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean maximum temperature
Mean
daily
minimum
temperatures		 Map of Mean minimum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean minimum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean minimum temperature

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

Record lowest August mean daily maximum temperature

New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
August
Groote Eylandt Airport 29.1 29.2 in 2014 20 30.1


Record highest August daily minimum temperature

New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
August
Daly Waters Airstrip 23.1 on the 19th 22.9 on the 21st in 1952 50 12.6
Delamere Weapons Range 24.6 on the 19th 24.0 on the 31st in 2008 23 15.9


Record lowest August temperature

New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
August
Dum In Mirrie Airstrip 11.7 on the 30th 11.9 on the 5th in 2016 21 19.1
Groote Eylandt Airport 7.7 on the 30th 8.0 on the 16th in 2002 21 15.1


Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for August 2019

Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
August
2019		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
August
2019		 Mean for
August
2019		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
August
2019		 Total for
August
2019		 Average
for
August		 Rank of
August
2019		 Fraction of
August
average
Darwin-Daly (district 14GA)
Batchelor Airport 33.2 -0.2 35.6 9th 16.6 -0.4 9.3 30th 0.6 2.0 average 30%
Black Point 30.7 +0.2 32.5 28th 20.9 -0.3 16.9 30th 0 1.3 lowest 0%
Central Arnhem Plateau 30.4 -0.3 33.0 17th 15.6 -0.2 9.6 31st 0 0.8 v low 0%
Channel Point 29.8 +0.2 33.0 28th 17.2 -1.0 12.0 15th 0 3.7 lowest 0%
Charles Point 29.5   33.5 20th 20.6   17.1 15th 0.2


Croker Island Airport 30.7   32.3 29th 21.1   18.0 30th 0


Darwin Airport 32.0 +0.6 34.9 27th 19.4 -0.9 15.3 14th 0.2 4.6 average 4%
Delamere Weapons Range 31.2 -0.5 35.9 18th 16.2 +0.3 10.9 14th 0 0.3 lowest 0%
Douglas River Research Farm 33.7 +0.1 36.8 19th 12.9 -1.1 4.9 31st 0 1.2 lowest 0%
Dum In Mirrie Airstrip 31.1 +0.3 34.6 28th 18.0 -1.1 11.7 30th 2.8 3.2 high 88%
Jabiru Airport 33.7 -0.1 36.2 19th 19.1 -0.1 14.4 30th 0 2.5 lowest 0%
Kangaroo Flats (Defence) 34.1   36.4 9th 18.0   12.3 30th 0.2


McCluer Island 27.5 -0.3 30.1 31st 23.0 -0.4 21.2 31st 0 0.5 lowest 0%
Middle Point 34.1 -0.1 36.1 10th 14.1 -0.7 7.3 30th 0 0.8 v low 0%
Mount Bundey North (Defence) 33.6   35.7 19th 19.3   15.1 30th 0


Mount Bundey South (Defence) 33.6   35.8 19th 17.7   9.8 30th 0


Murganella Airstrip 31.7   33.8 28th 14.9   7.4 30th 0


Noonamah Airstrip 33.9   35.8 28th 16.4   8.9 30th 0


Oenpelli Airport 34.2   36.5 19th 17.4   10.4 30th 0


Pirlangimpi Airport 31.8 -0.4 34.1 10th 18.9 -0.2 15.4 30th 13.0 6.5 high 200%
Point Fawcett 31.2 +0.2 33.7 10th 17.0 -1.4 12.3 30th 0 0.6 lowest 0%
Point Stuart 32.2   34.8 27th 17.7   11.9 30th 0 3.9 v low 0%
Port Keats Airport 32.2 +0.2 36.0 19th 17.1 -0.3 10.5 15th 0 0.7 lowest 0%
Tindal RAAF 32.5 +0.2 36.1 18th 13.5 -1.4 7.9 31st 0 1.1 lowest 0%
Arnhem (district 14BC)
Cape Wessel 30.4   31.9 16th 23.0   21.5 13th 4.2 8.0 average 53%
Gove Airport 28.6 -0.1 31.5 8th 19.8 +0.7 13.5 30th 3.8 5.2 average 73%
Groote Eylandt Airport 29.1 -1.0 32.9 17th 15.3 +0.2 7.7 30th 0.2 1.3 low 15%
Maningrida Airport 31.5 +0.3 34.3 10th 17.4 -0.6 12.6 30th 0 2.2 v low 0%
Milingimbi Airport 31.9 +1.1 33.9 10th 18.5 -0.7 12.1 30th 0 2.2 v low 0%
Ngayawili 30.3 -0.2 32.2 8th 18.8 -0.6 13.9 13th 0.2 0.9 low 22%
Warruwi Airport 29.7 +0.4 31.4 29th 21.6 -0.2 17.3 31st 0 0.5 lowest 0%
Roper-Mcarthur (district 14DE)
Centre Island 27.5 -0.4 29.5 18th 19.5 0.0 17.3 13th 1.0 1.6 average 63%
Daly Waters Airstrip 30.9 -0.3 35.6 18th 12.4 -0.2 5.3 30th 0 0.4 lowest 0%
McArthur River Mine Airport 31.7 -0.4 35.6 17th 13.4 0.0 6.1 14th 0 0.3 lowest 0%
Ngukurr Airport 32.3   37.3 18th 14.2   7.8 14th 0.2


Victoria (district 14F)
Bradshaw 33.4 -0.3 37.1 18th 16.4 -0.1 10.8 30th 0 0 lowest
Bradshaw - Angallari Valley (Defence) 33.2   36.3 18th 18.6   11.7 3rd 0


Bradshaw - Koolendong Valley (Defence) 33.2   36.6 9th 13.3   6.4 31st 0


Lajamanu Airport 29.3 -0.5 33.6 17th 12.3 +1.3 6.8 15th 0 1.0 lowest 0%
Victoria River Downs 31.5 -0.5 35.4 17th 12.5 -0.6 6.1 30th 0 0.9 lowest 0%
Wave Hill 29.9 -1.2 35.2 17th 13.5 +0.9 5.1 30th 0 1.5 lowest 0%
Barkly (district 15A)
Elliott 29.5 -1.6 35.0 18th 14.0 +0.9 8.6 31st 0 1.0 lowest 0%
Tennant Creek Airport 26.5 -1.0 33.3 17th 14.1 -0.3 9.6 2nd 0 2.4 lowest 0%
Alice Springs (district 15B)
Alice Springs Airport 22.0 -0.7 30.0 17th 3.3 -2.7 0.3 22nd 0 8.6 lowest 0%
Arltunga 21.1 -1.8 29.1 17th 3.2 -1.5 -3.0 14th 0 6.6 lowest 0%
Curtin Springs 22.8 -0.4 30.5 31st 4.7 -1.0 1.6 9th 0 8.1 lowest 0%
Jervois 23.2 -1.8 31.7 17th 5.8 -1.3 1.2 14th 0 7.1 lowest 0%
Kulgera 21.7 -0.4 28.0 31st 4.3 -2.3 0.0 19th 0 8.5 lowest 0%
Rabbit Flat 28.2 -1.2 32.5 17th 7.6 -0.7 2.4 15th 0 2.9 lowest 0%
Territory Grape Farm 24.1 -1.3 30.9 17th 5.7 -1.2 2.1 15th 0 4.1 lowest 0%
Walungurru Airport 25.1 -1.6 29.5 31st 11.3 -1.0 7.5 3rd 0 4.4 v low 0%
Yulara Airport 23.1 -0.6 30.4 31st 4.5 -1.4 1.2 15th 0 4.8 lowest 0%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

The Monthly climate summary, generally published on the first working day of each month, lists the main features of the weather in Northern Territory using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 7 pm on Sunday 1 September 2019. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.

Averages for individual sites are long-term means based on observations from all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site. They are not shown for sites with less than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of long-term average rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site, based on the decile ranking (very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3, average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9 and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a percentage of the long-term mean.

Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries

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