Tuesday, 9 January 2018 - Monthly Climate Summary for Remote Islands and Antarctica - Product code IDCKGC1RR0
Remote Islands and Antarctica in December 2017
Jump to a map of the areas covered in this summary
Australia's Indian Ocean islands
- Tropical cyclone Dahlia brought Christmas Island 100 mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9 am on the 1st, following record-breaking rain at the end of November; in the week ending 1 December Christmas Island Airport had registered over 500 mm of rain
- Another 130 mm of rain from the 19th gave Christmas Island a December total of 346 mm, more than 50% above the long-term average
- Temperatures were above average overall on Christmas Island, despite some relatively cool days in heavy rain
- Cocos Islands Airport received a near-average 98 mm of rain for the month, with most falling in the final week
- Temperatures on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands were close to average overall
Australia's Pacific Ocean islands
- Lord Howe Island had a run of warm days in the second half of the month, including their highest December temperature on record with 28.4 °C on the 25th, ensuring mean temperatures for the month were a degree and a half warmer than average
- Much of the month was dry on Lord Howe Island, but wet weather around the 5th and again at the end of the month gave a near-average total of 110.8 mm
- Norfolk Island had warm days in the second half of the month, and December's mean temperatures about a degree warmer than average
- Norfolk Island's 57.2 mm was about two-thirds of the December average, with most falling in two days up to the 12th
Australia's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic territories
- Temperatures at Mawson and Davis were about half a degree cooler than average, whilst Casey's temperatures were close to average
- Macquarie Island was warmer than average for December, and on the 6th reached 10 °C for the first time since the end of March
- Macquarie Island's rainfall of 87.8 mm was a little above average, and scattered right through the month
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
| Record highest December temperature | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Average for December |
|||
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 28.4 | on the 25th | 28.3 | on the 20th in 1997 | 30 | 24.0 |
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
| Summary statistics for December 2017 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures (°C) |
Minimum temperatures (°C) |
Precipitation (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for December 2017 |
Diff from average |
Highest for December 2017 |
Mean for December 2017 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for December 2017 |
Total for December 2017 |
Average for December |
Rank of December 2017 |
Fraction of December average |
|||
| Offshore Islands (district 200) | ||||||||||||
| Christmas Island Aero | 28.2 | +0.4 | 30.0 | 29th | 22.8 | +0.2 | 20.6 | 23rd | 346.0 | 224.9 | high | 154% |
| Cocos Island Airport | 29.5 | +0.1 | 30.4 | 9th | 24.5 | -0.1 | 22.2 | 4th | 98.4 | 118.2 | average | 83% |
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 25.5 | +1.5 | 28.4 | 25th | 20.6 | +1.4 | 17.6 | 14th | 110.8 | 105.8 | average | 105% |
| Norfolk Island Aero | 24.4 | +1.0 | 25.9 | 24th | 18.6 | +0.8 | 17.0 | 30th | 57.2 | 86.5 | average | 66% |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (district 300) | ||||||||||||
| Casey | 1.5 | 0.0 | 5.0 | 28th | -4.1 | -0.5 | -7.5 | 11th | 13.4 | 13.1 | average | 102% |
| Davis | 1.8 | -0.7 | 7.9 | 23rd | -2.7 | -0.6 | -6.4 | 2nd | 1.0 | 1.9 | average | 53% |
| Macquarie Island | 8.7 | +0.8 | 10.9 | 23rd | 5.0 | +0.7 | 0.7 | 12th | 87.8 | 80.7 | average | 109% |
| Mawson | 1.7 | -0.4 | 5.7 | 24th | -3.8 | -0.5 | -8.5 | 5th | ||||
| Note: Precipitation values from Casey and Davis should be used with caution. | ||||||||||||
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
| Daily maximum temperatures for December 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Islands (200) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Christmas Island Aero | 26.6 | 28.2 | 27.9 | 28.0 | 29.4 | 28.4 | 28.4 | 28.6 | 27.9 | 27.8 | 26.6 | 28.2 | 28.0 | 28.1 | 28.3 | 29.9 | 28.9 | 25.2 | 25.7 | 28.1 | 27.8 | 27.8 | 28.6 | 28.5 | 28.7 | 28.7 | 28.7 | 29.1 | 30.0 | 29.6 | 29.0 |
| Cocos Island Airport | 28.5 | 29.7 | 29.2 | 29.5 | 29.5 | 29.6 | 30.4 | 29.3 | 28.9 | 29.1 | 29.1 | 29.9 | 29.3 | 29.8 | 30.0 | 29.3 | 29.8 | 30.1 | 30.1 | 29.3 | 29.5 | 29.3 | 29.9 | 29.7 | 29.9 | 30.2 | 29.3 | 29.4 | 29.1 | ||
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 23.9 | 24.6 | 24.9 | 24.6 | 23.8 | 23.8 | 25.7 | 25.1 | 25.4 | 25.2 | 23.8 | 24.8 | 24.4 | 24.7 | 25.6 | 25.6 | 24.9 | 25.2 | 25.5 | 26.9 | 27.7 | 27.7 | 25.8 | 27.0 | 28.4 | 25.3 | 25.4 | 25.5 | 25.7 | 27.2 | 26.4 |
| Norfolk Island Aero | 23.8 | 23.6 | 23.6 | 23.7 | 23.2 | 23.7 | 24.8 | 25.0 | 25.8 | 24.6 | 23.5 | 24.4 | 23.3 | 23.7 | 24.4 | 24.7 | 24.2 | 24.0 | 24.3 | 24.1 | 25.1 | 25.3 | 25.6 | 25.9 | 25.6 | 24.0 | 24.8 | 24.9 | 24.2 | 23.7 | 23.4 |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (300) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Casey | -0.1 | -0.1 | -0.6 | -0.7 | -0.9 | -0.4 | 1.1 | -0.9 | -1.5 | -1.4 | -0.2 | 1.7 | 3.9 | 2.5 | 1.2 | 1.8 | 2.0 | 0.8 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 3.4 | 4.4 | 1.3 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 4.8 | 3.4 | 5.0 | 3.6 | 2.3 | 2.8 |
| Davis | -1.2 | -2.5 | -0.8 | -0.6 | -0.2 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 0.3 | 1.0 | -0.4 | 1.3 | 1.0 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 1.9 | 2.6 | 1.2 | 3.2 | 1.7 | -0.2 | 1.8 | 5.9 | 7.9 | 3.0 | 3.6 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 3.2 | 4.6 |
| Davis (Whoop Whoop) | -4.3 | -7.6 | -6.3 | -4.7 | -5.5 | -4.6 | -3.9 | -6.3 | -4.6 | -4.2 | -5.8 | -5.4 | 1.1 | 2.1 | 1.7 | 0.9 | -1.3 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 5.3 | 0.7 | 1.6 | |||||||||
| Macquarie Island | 6.9 | 7.8 | 8.4 | 8.6 | 9.1 | 10.3 | 10.4 | 9.5 | 8.7 | 7.7 | 5.8 | 6.1 | 7.5 | 8.2 | 8.3 | 9.1 | 7.2 | 8.3 | 8.3 | 9.5 | 8.7 | 9.3 | 10.9 | 10.1 | 9.5 | 8.5 | 9.5 | 8.9 | 9.3 | 9.2 | 9.2 |
| Mawson | 1.3 | -1.2 | -1.2 | -1.6 | -0.4 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 2.0 | 1.4 | 0.9 | 0.7 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 0.3 | 0.1 | -0.1 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.5 | 1.2 | -0.6 | 2.8 | 5.0 | 5.7 | 4.5 | 3.8 | 3.4 | 2.7 | 2.3 | 3.8 | 3.6 |
|
Values are the maximum temperature, usually in the 24 hours from 9 am on the day indicated, and typically occurred in the afternoon of that day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temperatures coloured according to their difference from the long-term average for the period |
-10.0 | -9.0 | -8.0 | -7.0 | -6.0 | -5.0 | -4.0 | -3.0 | -2.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 | +1.0 | +2.0 | +3.0 | +4.0 | +5.0 | +6.0 | +7.0 | +8.0 | +9.0 | +10.0 | °C | Grey outline marks highest and lowest for the period |
||||||||
| Daily minimum temperatures for December 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Islands (200) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Christmas Island Aero | 23.1 | 22.3 | 23.4 | 24.1 | 23.6 | 22.4 | 21.6 | 22.4 | 24.0 | 24.1 | 23.5 | 22.9 | 23.8 | 23.9 | 22.4 | 22.6 | 22.7 | 22.6 | 22.0 | 22.1 | 22.5 | 21.1 | 20.6 | 21.3 | 23.4 | 23.9 | 24.1 | 23.7 | 23.1 | 23.1 | 21.8 |
| Cocos Island Airport | 25.2 | 24.1 | 23.1 | 22.2 | 24.8 | 25.0 | 24.3 | 25.3 | 24.9 | 24.9 | 25.4 | 25.4 | 25.2 | 24.0 | 24.7 | 23.7 | 24.4 | 24.0 | 24.7 | 23.5 | 24.0 | 24.3 | 24.9 | 24.2 | 25.2 | 24.7 | 24.6 | 24.3 | |||
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 20.4 | 20.7 | 21.0 | 21.4 | 21.3 | 18.5 | 18.4 | 20.4 | 20.1 | 20.7 | 20.4 | 20.3 | 20.0 | 17.6 | 20.9 | 21.1 | 21.1 | 20.7 | 20.5 | 21.8 | 21.7 | 21.9 | 20.0 | 18.3 | 19.8 | 21.0 | 21.5 | 21.5 | 21.0 | 21.5 | 21.9 |
| Norfolk Island Aero | 19.0 | 18.7 | 17.8 | 18.6 | 18.2 | 18.5 | 19.1 | 19.1 | 19.3 | 20.4 | 17.9 | 17.4 | 17.9 | 18.7 | 18.5 | 18.8 | 17.8 | 18.6 | 17.9 | 18.0 | 18.9 | 19.8 | 19.9 | 18.9 | 18.8 | 20.2 | 19.4 | 19.8 | 17.7 | 17.0 | 17.5 |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (300) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Casey | -7.1 | -6.6 | -5.6 | -4.5 | -6.8 | -3.5 | -5.8 | -4.1 | -5.1 | -4.5 | -7.5 | -4.7 | -3.5 | -2.5 | -4.9 | -7.2 | -6.8 | -3.6 | -6.3 | -6.6 | -4.4 | -3.7 | -0.5 | -1.8 | -0.8 | -1.6 | -1.4 | -0.9 | -2.1 | -1.4 | -0.3 |
| Davis | -4.7 | -6.4 | -6.4 | -5.0 | -3.1 | -2.9 | -0.7 | -2.1 | -3.4 | -3.9 | -3.2 | -3.4 | -3.3 | -4.3 | -2.4 | -4.2 | -2.1 | -1.2 | -1.5 | -2.2 | -1.9 | -0.9 | 1.2 | -1.1 | -1.9 | -1.3 | -2.7 | -3.1 | -2.0 | -2.3 | -2.5 |
| Davis (Whoop Whoop) | -15.6 | -15.3 | -12.4 | -8.8 | -6.8 | -7.9 | -6.3 | -9.3 | -10.3 | -12.3 | -11.6 | -10.4 | -11.4 | -11.7 | -7.9 | -12.4 | -9.9 | -8.9 | -11.1 | -11.8 | -8.6 | -9.1 | |||||||||
| Macquarie Island | 6.6 | 3.5 | 3.6 | 2.2 | 5.1 | 6.5 | 6.5 | 7.3 | 6.2 | 3.4 | 1.9 | 0.7 | 1.9 | 4.3 | 5.7 | 5.9 | 5.5 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 6.6 | 6.2 | 6.0 | 5.1 | 3.4 | 5.7 | 7.2 | 7.4 | 7.1 | 6.6 |
| Mawson | -6.0 | -6.8 | -7.2 | -7.8 | -8.5 | -6.1 | -1.8 | -0.9 | -2.8 | -3.9 | -3.1 | -3.4 | -3.0 | -5.0 | -5.1 | -5.2 | -5.1 | -2.1 | -1.2 | -3.4 | -1.2 | -2.5 | -1.9 | -1.5 | -2.4 | -2.2 | -2.6 | -3.1 | -4.5 | -4.2 | -2.3 |
|
Values are the minimum temperature, usually in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated, and typically occurred that morning. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temperatures coloured according to their difference from the long-term average for the period |
-10.0 | -9.0 | -8.0 | -7.0 | -6.0 | -5.0 | -4.0 | -3.0 | -2.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 | +1.0 | +2.0 | +3.0 | +4.0 | +5.0 | +6.0 | +7.0 | +8.0 | +9.0 | +10.0 | °C | Grey outline marks highest and lowest for the period |
||||||||
| Daily precipitation for December 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Islands (200) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| Christmas Island Aero | 104 | - | - | 4.6 | 1.2 | - | 0.2 | 0.4 | 2.4 | 9.6 | 9.0 | 6.6 | 1.6 | 0.2 | 3.2 | - | - | 29.2 | 102 | 39.6 | 6.8 | 1.0 | 0.2 | - | 1.8 | 13.2 | - | 1.4 | 7.2 | - | - | |
| Cocos Island Airport | - | - | 1.2 | - | - | 2.8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 3.2 | - | 1.2 | - | - | - | 1.0 | 3.2 | - | - | 18.0 | - | 2.6 | 8.2 | 57.0 | |||||
| Lord Howe Island (Milky Way) | - | 1.4 | - | - | - | 31.8 | 8.8 | - | - | - | 1.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.4 | - | - | - | 56.6 | |
| Lord Howe Island Aero | - | - | - | - | - | 28.0 | 8.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.4 | - | - | 6.2 | - | - | - | 67.2 | |
| Norfolk Island Aero | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.6 | - | - | 37.8 | 13.8 | - | 0.2 | 1.8 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | - | - | 1.2 | 0.4 | 0.8 | - | - | - | 0.4 | ||
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (300) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| Casey | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.4 | 7.4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | - | - | - | → | 0.4 | - | - | |||||
| Davis | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| Macquarie Island | 3.8 | 2.0 | - | - | - | - | 7.4 | 4.2 | - | 2.4 | 1.4 | 1.4 | 0.2 | 2.6 | 5.6 | 2.4 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 1.8 | 4.2 | 13.6 | 0.4 | 2.0 | 4.6 | 3.8 | 0.4 | 3.0 | 0.4 | 8.2 | 0.4 | 8.8 | |
|
Most values are the precipitation in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated.
Days marked with → are part of a longer accumulation, which is shown on the final day. Values over 100 mm have been rounded to the nearest whole millimetre. Days marked with - have a precipitation report of zero; days left blank have no precipitation report (which often indicates no precipitation fell). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Precipitations coloured according to the amount |
0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 15.0 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 600 | millimetres | ||||||||||||||||||
Records Summaries Daily observations 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 Remote Islands and Antarctica 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 on Tuesday 9 January 2018. 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 precipitation 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 precipitation.
The Rank indicates how precipitation this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
decile ranking
(very low precipitation 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 precipitation 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
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
