Friday, 1 May 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Brisbane Metro - Product code IDCKGC14R0

April 2009 - well above average rainfall in Brisbane Metro

  • Well above average rainfall in the Brisbane metropolitan area
  • Close to average monthly temperatures, but cooler nights near the end of month.

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

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Rainfall

All Brisbane metropolitan sites received above average rainfall for April. The heaviest rain fell during the first week of the month. On the 2nd, a surface trough was lying along the southeast Queensland coast and combined with an upper level low pressure system to produce areas of moderate to heavy falls over the southeast coast. The surface trough weakened as it moved north, and was located off the Wide Bay coast by the following day. The highest daily rainfall total in the Brisbane Metropolitan area was 118.6 mm at Logan City Water Treatment, 86.0 mm at Brisbane Aero, then 78.2 mm at Archerfield Airport, all recorded to 9am on the 3rd.

Another surface trough lying near the Capricornia and southeast Queensland coast combined with an upper level system over the southern interior on the 13th, and generated moderate to locally heavy falls about most of the east coast, particularly the southern Wide Bay and southeast coast districts. Brisbane Metropolitan sites recorded rainfall figures of 25 to 55 mm to 9am on the 14th.

The highest monthly total was 250.0 mm at Redcliffe, then 239.1 mm at Logan City Water Treatment, followed by 214.8 mm at Archerfield Airport.  Amberley was the driest overall with 87.0 mm.

Maximum temperature

Daytime temperatures were slightly above the long term April average for all sites in the Brisbane Metropolitan area. 

The hottest day was 31.7 °C at Amberley on the 1st. The warmest days on average were 27.4 °C at Brisbane. The coolest days on average were 26.3 °C at Redcliffe. The coldest day was 22.2 °C at Amberley on the 2nd.

Minimum temperature

Overnight temperatures were also slightly above the long term April average in the Brisbane Metropolitan area. However, near the end of the month, some of the overnight temperatures were up to 10°C below average, with Amberley dropping to 4.5 °C on the 28th. This was the coldest night for the Brisbane Metro area. The coolest nights on average were 14.1 °C, also at Amberley.

The warmest nights on average were 18.2 °C at Redcliffe and the warmest night was 21.9 °C at Brisbane on the 4th.

Other Phenomena

Brisbane Airport had an average of 7.4 sunshine hours for the month of April, which is equal to the long term average. Brisbane/Logan had seven days of thunderstorm activity during the month. These occurred on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th, 17th and 26th.  Ipswich had five days of thunderstorms, occurring on the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th and 17th.

Further information

Tamika Tihema
Queensland Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (07) 3239 8662
Email climate.qld@bom.gov.au

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 31.7 °C at Amberley AMO on the 1st
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 27.4 °C at Brisbane
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 26.3 °C at Redcliffe
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 22.2 °C at Amberley on the 2nd
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 4.5 °C at Amberley on the 28th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 14.1 °C at Amberley
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 18.2 °C at Redcliffe
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 21.9 °C at Brisbane on the 4th
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 250.0 mm at Redcliffe
Driest overall
Lowest total rainfall		 87.0 mm at Amberley
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 118.6 mm at Logan City Water Treatment on the 3rd
Highest wind gust
 80 km/h at Redcliffe on the 2nd

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Summaries

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

Summary statistics for April 2009
Maximum temperatures
for April
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for April
(°C)		 Rainfall
for April
(millimetres)
Mean for
April
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
April
2009		 Mean for
April
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
April
2009		 Total for
April
2009		 Average
for
April		 Rank of
April
2009		 Fraction of
April
average
Moreton South Coast (district 40)
Amberley AMO 27.2 0.0 31.7 1st 14.1 +0.1 4.5 28th 87.0 54.8 high 159%
Archerfield Airport 26.9 +0.5 31.2 1st 16.4 +1.4 9.6 29th 214.8 80.4 very high 267%
Brisbane* 27.4 +1.3 30.7 15th 17.8 +1.2 12.1 29th 195.2 92.5  high 211%
Brisbane Aero* 26.5 +0.2 30.1 15th 17.1 +0.2 8.2 28th 197.2 90.4 very high 218%
Logan City Water Treatment 26.8 +0.5 30.0 15th 16.8 +1.1 10.0 28th 239.1 76.7 very high 312%
Redcliffe* 26.3 +0.7  29.5 25th 18.2  +0.7 12.3 28th 250.0 120.7 very high 208%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Friday 1 May 2009. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Averages 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. *In this case, averages from a nearby suitable site have been used instead (these are marked with an *). 
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.