Monday, 2 November 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Northern Territory - Product code IDCKGC12R0

Northern Territory in October 2009
Darwin sizzles!

October days were warmer than usual in the Darwin-Daly District this year, but close to average elsewhere. Minimums were mostly cooler than normal, and it was also drier, most notably in the Darwin-Daly District.

Darwin

Maximum temperatures were unusually warm in Darwin this October, with Darwin recording it's warmest month on record.The average maximum temperature was 34.8°C at Darwin Airport, which is 1.6°C greater than the long-term mean, and the highest mean maximum temperature recorded in any month for Darwin. The daily maximum temperature during the month reached 35.0°C on 13 days, the highest on record for any month, and there were another 4 days with 34.9°C. The 38.0°C recorded on the 18th was the second highest daily maximum temperature on record at Darwin Airport, while the 37.8°C the previous day ranks equal third. In contrast, minimums were just below average. Darwin was drier than normal for October, with the monthly total rainfall of 33.4 mm just less than half the long-term October average of 69.2 mm.

Alice Springs

Alice Springs was also drier than normal for October, with zero rainfall recorded (the long-term October average for Alice is 21.4 mm). Maximum temperatures were close to normal, with an average of 30.9°C. Minimum temperatures were cooler than normal, with an average minimum of 13.1°C being 1.7°C lower than the long-term average for October.

An archive of previous monthly summaries for Northern Territory is also available, as are summaries for other states and many other climate summaries and diagnostics.

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Rainfall

The Territory was generally drier than normal for the first month of this wet season, most notably in the Darwin-Daly District. A handful of stations recorded rainfall values in the lowest decile for October. Some areas were close to the long-term average, while in contrast the northwest of the Tiwi Islands was wetter than normal.

The area-averaged rainfall over the whole of the Territory was 2.8 mm which is 16.3 mm less than the long-term average of 19.1 mm.

The wettest overall was 82.2 mm at Pirlangimpi AWS, followed by 64.8 mm at Karama, and 64.0 mm at Adelaide River Post Office.

The wettest single day 62.0 mm at Edith Farms Road on the 21st, followed by 53.2 mm at Point Fawcett AWS on the 21st, and 53.0 mm at Adelaide River Post Office on the 5th.

One site had their lowest total October rainfall on record.

Maximum temperature

Maximum temperatures were mixed across the Territory in October. Most of the Darwin-Daly District saw maximum temperatures of up to 2°C greater than climatology. In contrast, the Barkly District and the eastern half the Alice Springs District saw maximums a little below the long-term mean.

The area-averaged maximum temperature was 34.6°C, which was 0.1°C warmer than the long-term October average of 34.5°C.

The hottest day was 42.4°C at Walungurru AWS on the 31st, followed by 41.9°C at Kidman Springs on the 15th, and 41.8°C again at Kidman Springs on the 28th.

The warmest days on average were 39.1°C at Bradshaw AWS, followed by 39.0°C at Douglas River, and 38.8°C at Kidman Springs.

The coolest days on average were 30.0°C at Kulgera, followed by 30.9°C at Alice Springs Airport.

The coldest day was 20.9°C at Kulgera on the 2nd, followed by 21.0°C at Curtin Springs on the 1st, and 21.7°C at Yulara Aero AWS on the 2nd.

Some sites had their highest October temperature on record.

Some sites had their highest October mean daily maximum temperature on record.

Minimum temperature

Minimum temperatures were cooler than usual across most of the Territory this October, with several stations recording minimums up to 2°C below the long-term average, and some areas in the east experiencing minimums of 2°C to 3°C cooler than climatology.

The area-averaged minimum temperature was 18.9°C, which was 1.2°C lower than the long-term average of 20.1°C.

The coldest night was 5.7°C at Watarrka on the 2nd, followed by 6.3°C at Alice Springs Airport on the 18th, and 6.6°C at Yulara Aero AWS on the 3rd.

The coolest nights on average were 13.1°C at Alice Springs Airport, followed by 13.8°C at Territory Grape Farm AWS, and 14.2°C at Curtin Springs.

The warmest nights on average were 25.8°C at Cape Don AWS, followed by 25.4°C at both Dum In Mirrie AWS and Warruwi.

The warmest night was 29.5°C at Bradshaw AWS on the 4th, followed by 28.4°C at Dum In Mirrie AWS on the 27th, and 28.2°C at both Wave Hill on the 16th and Point Fawcett on the 27th.

Some sites had their lowest October temperature on record.

One site had their warmest October night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.

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

Wind

The strongest wind gust recorded was 85 km/h at Alice Springs Airport on the 1st, followed by 74 km/h at both Territory Grape Farm AWS on the 1st and Jervois on the 25th, and 72 km/h was recorded at Centre Island on the 16th.

 

Further information

NT Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8920 3813
Email climate.nt@bom.gov.au

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Extremes

Hottest day Highest temperature	42.4°C at Walungurru AWS on the 31st
Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature	39.1°C at Bradshaw AWS
Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature	30.0°C at Kulgera
Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature	20.9°C at Kulgera on the 2nd
Coldest night Lowest temperature	5.7°C at Watarrka on the 2nd
Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature	13.1°C at Alice Springs Airport
Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature	25.8°C at Cape Don AWS
Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature	29.5°C at Bradshaw AWS on the 4th
Wettest overall Highest total rainfall	82.2 mm at Pirlangimpi AWS
Wettest day Highest daily rainfall	62.0 mm at Edith Farms Road on the 21st
Highest wind gust	85 km/h at Alice Springs Airport on the 1st

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Records

Record lowest total October 2009 rainfall
	Total rainfall (mm)	Previous lowest		Years of record
Shoal Bay	4.2	5.7	in 2004	12

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Record highest October 2009 temperature
	Highest temperature (°C)		Previous highest		Years of record
Black Point	36.1	on the 19th	= 36.1	on the 22nd in 2008	17
Dum In Mirrie AWS	38.0	on the 18th	37.7	on the 23rd in 2008	11
Point Fawcett AWS	36.3	on the 17th	36.0	on the 28th in 2004	11

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Record highest October 2009 mean daily maximum temperature
	Mean daily maximum temperature (°C)	Previous highest		Years of record
Darwin Airport	34.8	34.4	in 2008	67
Point Fawcett AWS	33.7	33.6	in 1998	11

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Record highest October 2009 daily minimum temperature
	Highest daily minimum temperature (°C)		Previous highest		Years of record
Bradshaw AWS	29.5	on the 4th	28.1	on the 28th in 2004	10

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Record lowest October 2009 temperature
	Lowest temperature (°C)		Previous lowest		Years of record
Wollogorang	10.7	on the 6th	11.0	on the 19th in 1976	26
Borroloola AWS	13.3	on the 6th	13.4	on the 16th in 1996	14
Point Fawcett AWS	18.8	on the 19th	= 18.8	on the 4th in 2006	11
Groote Eylandt Airport AWS	13.9	on the 7th	14.2	on the 4th in 2004	10

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Record lowest October 2009 mean daily minimum temperature
	Mean daily minimum temperature (°C)	Previous lowest		Years of record
Wollogorang	17.4	= 17.4	in 2006	26
Borroloola AWS	19.3	19.5	in 2006	14

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Summaries

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

Summary statistics for October 2009
	Maximum temperatures (°C)				Minimum temperatures (°C)				Rainfall (millimetres)
	Mean	Diff from average	Highest		Mean	Diff from average	Lowest		Total	Rank	Fraction of average
Darwin-Daly (district 14GA)
Batchelor Aero AWS	37.4	+0.5	39.2	3rd	23.1	+0.1	17.8	19th	28.8	low	46%
Black Point	33.5	+0.9	36.1	19th	24.2	−0.3	21.3	7th	0.2	average	2%
Bradshaw AWS	39.1	+0.4	41.3	3rd	24.2	−0.8	17.3	19th	7.4	low	33%
Cape Don AWS	32.8		34.3	18th	25.8		24.0	8th	1.0	average	5%
Central Arnhem Plateau AWS	35.8		37.6	28th	21.0		12.9	7th	0
Darwin Airport	34.8	+1.6	38.0	18th	24.6	−0.3	22.3	19th	33.4	average	50%
Delamere Weapons Range AWS	37.7	+0.3	39.6	31st	23.2	−0.7	17.6	8th	0	lowest	0%
Douglas River	39.0	+1.5	40.5	17th	21.7	−0.7	13.5	8th	0	lowest	0%
Dum In Mirrie AWS	33.4	+0.8	38.0	18th	25.4	−0.3	21.0	19th	31.4	average	46%
Jabiru Airport AWS	38.7	+1.1	40.2	17th	23.5	−0.4	18.1	8th	0	lowest	0%
Katherine Aviation Museum	37.8	+0.1	39.5	27th	22.6	−1.2	14.3	8th	0.6	low	2%
Mango Farm	38.6	+1.2	41.0	3rd	20.4	−1.9	13.2	8th	10.2	low	25%
McCluer Island AWS	30.8	+0.3	32.8	19th	26.2	+0.2	23.8	19th	6.4	very high	81%
Middle Point AWS	38.3		40.2	17th	21.2		16.2	19th	2.6
Noonamah AWS	38.3		40.8	17th	22.4		16.7	19th	20.8
Pine Creek Council	37.2		38.9	16th	23.5		20.4	8th	24.9
Pirlangimpi AWS	34.8	+1.5	36.8	18th	23.4	+0.5	20.4	19th	82.2	average	105%
Point Fawcett AWS	33.7	+0.8	36.3	17th	22.7	−1.3	18.8	19th	55.8	average	103%
Port Keats Aero	34.8		38.6	3rd	23.4		16.6	20th	23.8
Tindal RAAF AWS	37.9	+0.4	39.4	31st	23.2	−1.1	15.2	19th	1.2	low	3%
Arnhem (district 14BC)
Alyangula Police	32.1	−0.7	34.5	16th	22.1	−1.2	18.9	6th	3.8	average	15%
Gove Airport	31.7	0.0	34.2	15th	21.4	−0.1	18.9	26th	0	lowest	0%
Groote Eylandt Airport AWS	33.8	−0.4	35.9	16th	19.1	−1.9	13.9	7th	16.8	average	63%
Maningrida Aero AWS	33.7		37.3	18th	21.8		17.1	7th	0
Milingimbi AWS	33.2		37.5	5th	22.5		18.3	7th	1.0
Ngayawili AWS	33.2	+0.8	36.5	16th	21.6	−0.9	17.4	18th	0.2	lowest	4%
Warruwi AWS	32.9	+0.5	35.6	27th	25.4	+0.1	23.7	28th	0	lowest	0%
Roper-Mcarthur (district 14DE)
Borroloola AWS	36.9	+0.3	39.6	26th	19.3	−2.4	13.3	6th	0	lowest	0%
Bulman AWS	38.0		39.5	14th	20.2		12.4	7th	0.2
Daly Waters AWS	37.6	+0.3	40.1	25th	19.4	−1.9	10.1	10th	0.4	low	2%
Larrimah	37.5	+0.1	39.0	28th	20.7	−1.6	13.0	10th	0	lowest	0%
McArthur River Mine	37.6	−0.3	40.5	26th	20.5	−0.4	14.5	10th	0	lowest	0%
Wollogorang	36.1	−0.5	38.6	26th	17.4	−2.4	10.7	6th	0	lowest	0%
Victoria (district 14F)
Kidman Springs	38.8	+0.2	41.9	15th	21.7	−2.0	12.2	19th	0	lowest	0%
Lajamanu	37.2	−0.1	40.6	31st	19.1	−1.5	11.6	10th	5.8	average	27%
Timber Creek	38.7	+0.4	40.5	14th	22.7	−1.4	12.0	11th	16.0	average	64%
Victoria River Downs	38.5	+0.7	41.3	14th	20.7	−1.7	12.2	10th	14.4	average	80%
Wave Hill	37.8	+0.1	40.8	25th	20.5	−1.1	11.3	10th	0	lowest	0%
Barkly (district 15A)
Brunette Downs	35.7	−1.0	39.4	25th	19.2	−1.5	12.7	6th	13.8	high	90%
Elliott	37.2	−0.8	41.0	13th	19.3	−1.6	11.5	10th	5.8	average	24%
Tennant Creek Airport	34.3	−0.4	38.5	31st	20.6	−1.2	16.2	10th	2.6	low	13%
Alice Springs (district 15B)
Alice Springs Airport	30.9	0.0	38.3	24th	13.1	−1.7	6.3	18th	0	lowest	0%
Curtin Springs	31.8	0.0	39.5	31st	14.2	0.0	8.0	3rd	4.5	average	26%
Jervois	32.3	−1.0	40.4	25th	14.9	−0.7	7.9	9th	0	lowest	0%
Kulgera	30.0	−0.3	38.6	24th	14.3	−0.7	6.9	18th	0.9	low	5%
Rabbit Flat	36.6	−0.8	41.2	30th	16.5	−2.3	7.6	19th	0	lowest	0%
Territory Grape Farm AWS	32.6	−0.7	38.4	25th	13.8	−1.9	8.3	9th	0.6	low	4%
Watarrka	32.0	−0.9	38.3	25th	16.6	−0.7	5.7	2nd	27.2	average	113%
Yuendumu	33.1	0.0	38.8	31st	15.3	−1.7	10.3	20th	1.2	low	7%
Yulara Aero AWS	31.8	−0.4	40.0	31st	14.3	−0.5	6.6	3rd	3.4	low	19%

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Notes

Further information

NT Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8920 3813
Email climate.nt@bom.gov.au

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