Monday, 1 June 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Brisbane Metro - Product code IDCKGC24R0

Brisbane Metro in May 2009

  • Well above average rainfall received
  • Close to average daytime and overnight temperatures.

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

The bulk of the rainfall in May was recorded from the 19th to the 21st. A low pressure system that formed near Cape Moreton on the 20th moved slowly south west over the Brisbane area, and along with an intense upper level low, these features produced widespread areas of very heavy rainfall and gale force winds. The upper level low was positioned over south east Queensland by the 21st, while a surface trough of low pressure extended northeast from Point Lookout into the Pacific, along which a series of lows were forming. Strong to gale force winds and areas of rain formed south of the trough.

By the 22nd, the surface trough was near the New South Wales border and extended northeast into the Pacific, with a low pressure system lying on this trough well offshore of the south Queensland coast. The upper low then moved into the Wide Bay and Burnett districts – this feature was the main mechanism for the rainfall over southeast Queensland.

The wettest overall was 262 mm at Redcliffe, which also had the wettest single day of 150.8 mm on the 20th. Amberley received 142.2 mm on the 21st, and had its highest May daily rainfall on record.

See a map of total rainfall. See a map of rainfall deciles.

Maximum temperature

Close to average day time temperatures were recorded in the metropolitan area.

The hottest day was 26.6 °C at Amberley AMO on the 16th, while the warmest days on average were 24.0 °C at Brisbane.

Minimum temperature

Overnight temperatures were also close to average across the metropolitan area.

The coldest night was 1.8 °C at Amberley AMO on the 15th, and the coolest nights on average were 9.4 °C, also at Amberley AMO.

The warmest nights on average were 14.4 °C at Redcliffe and this site also had the warmest night with 17.3°C on the 24th.

Wind

The strongest wind gust was 76 km/h at Redcliffe on the 20th, followed by 69 km/h at Redcliffe on the 23rd, followed by 65 km/h at Archerfield Airport on the 20th.

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		 26.6 °C at Amberley AMO on the 16th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 24.0 °C at Brisbane
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 22.8 °C at Redcliffe
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 17.7 °C at Amberley AMO on the 20th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 1.8 °C at Amberley AMO on the 15th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 9.4 °C at Amberley AMO
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 14.4 °C at Redcliffe
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 17.3 °C at Redcliffe on the 24th
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 262.0 mm at Redcliffe
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 150.8 mm at Redcliffe on the 20th
142.2 mm at Amberley AMO on the 21st
Highest wind gust
 76 km/h at Redcliffe on the 20th
69 km/h at Redcliffe on the 23rd
65 km/h at Archerfield Airport on the 20th

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Records

Record highest May daily rainfall
Highest daily rainfall
in May 2009 (mm) 		Previous highest
for May		 Years of
record
Amberley AMO 142.2 on the 21st 121.0 on the 9th in 1980 68


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Summaries

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

Summary statistics for May 2009
Maximum temperatures
for May
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for May
(°C)		 Rainfall
for May
(millimetres)
Mean for
May
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
May
2009		 Mean for
May
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
May
2009		 Total for
May
2009		 Average
for
May		 Rank of
May
2009		 Fraction of
May
average
Moreton South Coast (district 40)
Amberley AMO 23.9 -0.2 26.6 16th 9.4 -0.6 1.8 15th 236.0 54.0 very high 437%
Archerfield Airport 23.5 -0.3 25.8 16th 11.6 -0.3 6.0 15th 237.4 75.7 very high 314%
Brisbane* 24.0 +0.8 26.2 17th 14.0  +0.7 9.0 16th 240.8 73.7 very high 377%
Brisbane Aero 23.2 -0.4 25.8 16th 13.1 +0.3 7.0 16th 258.0 121.4 high 213%
Logan City Water Treatment 23.6 -0.4 26.2 17th 12.3 -0.1 6.6 16th 252.8 119.6 high 211%
Redcliffe* 22.8 -0.5 25.4 16th 14.4  -0.3 10.9 15th 262.0 105.6 very high 248%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Monday 1 June 2009. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Please note that the rainfall data from Bureau of Meteorology telemetry gauges (those with ALERT, AL or TM in their names) includes real-time operational data from automated systems and has not been checked.

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 temperature anomaly maps are calculated with respect to the reference period 1961−1990. The rainfall decile maps are based on a reference period comprising all gridded analyses from 1900 to the present available at the time the deciles are calculated.

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.
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.