Thursday, 1 November 2007 - Monthly Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in October 2007: Spring weather

Summary

Westerly winds and cold fronts dominated Tasmania's weather during October, bringing above-average rain to the west but below-average to the east. There were also some very warm days but some very cold nights, along with strong wind gusts — typical spring weather for Tasmania.

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Details

Wet in the west, dry in the east: Westerly winds and cold fronts brought plenty of rain to the western highlands, with most sites there receiving well over 200 mm. As is typical with westerly winds, there was far less rain in the eastern half, with several sites in the Midlands and the Fingal Valley receiving less than 20 mm for the whole month, giving some sites in that area their driest October since 1982. Mount Read, in the western highlands, registered over 200 mm in 48 hours on its way to getting a total of 515 mm for the month (by way of comparison, most of eastern Tasmania has received less than 500 mm for the whole year so far).
Overall, totals were above average in the western half (and well above average in the highlands), but below average in the east (with the exception of the far northeast coast where some moderate falls around the 27th ensured the monthly totals were close to average). In parts of the Midlands and the Fingal Valley, totals were well below average.

Some warm days, but cool ones too: The cold fronts that brought an abundance of rain to the western half of the state were also the cause of warm days in the south and east, and sometimes to the west. This was particularly the case on the 20th, 27th and 28th when pre-frontal northerlies brought warm air from over the mainland across Tasmania and pushed temperatures well into the 20s; Scotts Peak Dam in the southwest highlands reached 26.8 °C on the 27th. The other side of this was some cold days in post-frontal southwesterlies, especially in the first week and again around the 12th, 16th and 29th.
Overall, maximum temperatures were below average in the west and north, typically by around half a degree but by over a degree in the western highlands, and above average by about half a degree in the east.

Many cold nights, but some mild: Most nights were colder than average, with the main exceptions being around the 11th, the 15th and the 26th to 29th. The morning of the 23rd was especially cold inland (Liawenee dipped to -6.3 °C), as winds eased and skies cleared behind a cold front. The mornings of the the 27th and 28th were particularly mild in strong pre-frontal winds.
Taken across the month, minimum temperatures were below average by about half a degree inland, but slightly above average on most of the coasts.

Many windy days: Strong and gusty westerly winds were common from the 1st to the 4th, from the 12th to 19th, and again from the 28th to the 31st. Numerous gusts in excess of 100 km/h were reported across the state, with the highest 148 km/h at Mount Wellington on the 4th. The strong winds coupled with low pressure to create abnormally high tides early in the month.

Further information

Ian Barnes-Keoghan
Tasmania and Antarctica Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 6221 2043
Email climate.tas@bom.gov.au

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Extremes

Hottest day Highest temperature	26.8 °C at Scotts Peak Dam on the 27th
Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature	18.6 °C at Swansea Post Office
Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature	6.5 °C at Mount Read
Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature	0.3 °C at Mount Wellington on the 16th
Coldest night Lowest temperature	-6.3 °C at Liawenee on the 23rd
Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature	-0.4 °C at Mount Wellington
Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature	10.0 °C at Swan Island
Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature	15.8 °C at Strahan Aerodrome on the 28th
Wettest overall Highest total rainfall	515.0 mm at Mount Read
Driest overall Lowest total rainfall	13.4 mm at Lewis Hill (St Pauls River)
Wettest day Highest daily rainfall	104.6 mm at Mount Read on the 15th
Highest wind gust	148 km/h at Mount Wellington on the 4th

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Records

Lowest total October rainfall for at least 20 years
	Total rainfall for October 2007 (mm)	Most recent lower for October		Years since lower	Normal for October
Fingal (Legge Street)	17.2	5.3	in 1982	25	55.2
York Plains (Handroyd)	18.6	18.5	in 1982	25	55.3
Lewis Hill (St Pauls River)	13.4	1.8	in 1982	24	54.0
Nugent (Twilight Valley)	34.8	14.7	in 1982	24	67.3

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Lowest October mean daily minimum temperature for at least 20 years
	Mean daily minimum temperature for October 2007 (°C)	Most recent lower for October		Years since lower	Normal for October
Orford (Aubin Court)	6.2	6.1	in 1976	31	7.2

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Summaries

In this table, key sites have been highlighted to make them easier to find. This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.

Summary statistics for October 2007
	Maximum temperatures for October (°C)				Minimum temperatures for October (°C)				Rainfall for October (millimetres)
	Mean for October 2007	Diff from normal	Highest for October 2007		Mean for October 2007	Diff from normal	Lowest for October 2007		Total for October 2007	Normal for October	Rank of October 2007	Fraction of October normal
Northern (district 91)
Bridport	15.6	-0.9	19.1	23rd	7.8	-0.1	2.7	13th	29.5	64.1	low	46%
Burnie	15.7	-0.2	20.8	23rd	8.3	+0.4	3.4	8th	46.0	87.5	low	53%
Cape Grim BAPS	13.9	-0.3	18.4	21st	9.0	-0.2	6.4	18th	48.2	63.3	normal	76%
Cressy Research Station	17.4		24.4	25th	4.1		-3.2	8th	19.6
Devonport Airport	15.5	-0.1	21.2	22nd	6.7	-0.5	1.4	7th	43.6	66.4	low	66%
Launceston	17.5	-0.5	23.2	25th	6.6	-0.3	1.3	8th	21.2	53.4	low	40%
Launceston Airport	17.5		23.9	25th	4.5		-0.8	7th	16.2
Launceston Airport Comparison	16.7	+0.3	23.5	25th	5.0	-0.5	0.8	17th	18.4	60.9	very low	30%
Low Head	14.9	-0.4	17.2	28th	9.5	+0.1	5.2	17th	38.6	59.7	low	65%
Luncheon Hill	13.8	-0.8	22.0	25th	5.6	-0.4	1.0	17th	162.6	143.6	normal	113%
Marrawah	14.4	-0.5	19.5	21st	8.2	+0.1	4.8	10th	57.2	90.7	low	63%
Powranna	17.6	+0.6	24.5	25th	5.0	-0.4	0.6	8th	20.5	51.3	very low	40%
Scottsdale	15.7	-0.7	20.4	22nd	4.9	-0.9	0.0	7th	38.8	86.7	low	45%
Sheffield School Farm	14.8	-0.2	20.3	25th	5.3	-0.5	0.1	7th	53.4	86.7	normal	62%
Smithton Aerodrome	15.9	-0.3	21.1	25th	6.8	-0.2	0.9	17th	71.6	88.8	normal	81%
Wynyard Airport	15.9	-0.1	23.3	24th	5.6	-0.4	-0.5	17th	66.6	100.6	low	66%
East Coast (district 92)
Bicheno	18.0	+0.6	24.3	15th	9.5	+1.1	4.9	18th	37.6	56.2	normal	67%
Eddystone Point	17.0	+0.7	21.9	22nd	9.0	-0.1	4.0	7th	43.4	69.6	low	62%
Fingal	17.6	+0.2	25.5	20th	4.8	-0.1	-2.4	8th	17.2	55.2	very low	31%
Friendly Beaches	18.3	+0.5	24.7	14th	8.7	+0.1	3.6	7th	44.4	69.8	low	64%
Lake Leake	14.3	+0.6	21.1	25th	3.2	-0.4	-2.6	8th	40.2	76.5	low	53%
Maria Island	17.4		22.1	15th	9.1		5.0	13th	21.8
Orford	17.8	+0.4	23.4	15th	6.2	-0.9	0.6	8th	29.6	60.7	low	49%
Scamander	18.1	+0.7	26.0	20th	8.5	+0.5	2.0	2nd	60.1	65.4	normal	92%
St Helens Aerodrome	17.5		25.4	20th	8.2		2.5	7th	52.4
Swan Island	15.4		18.1	28th	10.0		5.6	17th	31.8
Swansea Post Office	18.6	+0.8	24.5	11th	8.0	+0.9	1.3	8th	23.6	53.8	low	44%
Midlands (district 93)
Ross	18.2	+1.4	25.2	25th	4.4	-0.6	-2.5	23rd	25.8	45.6	low	57%
Southeast (district 94)
Bull Bay	16.4	0.0	20.5	27th	7.2	-0.8	3.2	13th	39.2	57.0	low	69%
Campania	18.1		24.9	20th	6.8		0.2	8th	33.2
Cape Bruny	15.3	+0.1	21.1	27th	8.3	+0.1	5.0	8th	61.8	71.5	normal	86%
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	14.7	+0.3	20.6	28th	8.0	+0.1	2.8	5th	83.4	84.0	normal	99%
Dover	16.1	-0.1	23.2	28th	6.7	+0.3	1.2	18th	102.4	87.8	high	117%
Geeveston	16.1	-0.2	24.4	28th	6.5	+0.5	0.9	7th	127.0	93.9	high	135%
Grove	16.9	0.0	24.4	28th	5.7	+0.1	0.3	7th	70.6	70.0	normal	101%
Grove	16.8		23.6	28th	5.7		-0.3	7th	79.6
Hobart	17.4	+0.5	24.2	20th	8.3	+0.6	4.5	17th	45.4	62.1	normal	73%
Hobart Airport	18.0	+0.7	24.9	20th	7.7	+0.3	3.5	18th	28.4	47.6	low	60%
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	12.5	-0.8	23.5	27th	7.3	-0.1	4.2	7th	123.0	106.8	normal	115%
Melton Mowbray	16.2	-0.3	22.8	25th	6.0	+0.5	1.2	7th	41.8	45.7	normal	91%
Mount Wellington	6.9	0.0	14.8	25th	-0.4	-0.4	-4.6	13th	35.2	79.8	low	44%
Tasman Island	13.6		18.6	20th	7.3		3.1	13th	42.2
Tunnack Fire Station	14.9	+0.7	21.9	25th	4.2	-0.2	-3.7	7th	38.6	58.8	low	66%
Derwent Valley (district 95)
Bushy Park	17.9	+0.2	25.1	28th	5.6	-0.2	-0.6	7th	52.2	57.9	normal	90%
Maydena Post Office	14.9	-0.7	24.2	28th	5.0	+0.3	-0.6	7th	164.9	131.2	normal	126%
Moogara	13.0	-0.3	20.5	25th	4.3	+0.2	0.0	8th	97.3	84.9	high	115%
Ouse Fire Station	17.4	-0.1	24.3	25th	5.4	+0.1	-0.6	18th	67.4	62.4	normal	108%
Tarraleah Village	13.4	0.0	20.9	28th	3.8	+0.6	0.0	7th	162.1	112.9	high	144%
Central Plateau (district 96)
Lake St Clair National Park	11.8	-0.8	20.3	25th	1.9	-0.1	-2.5	7th	296.0	188.3	very high	157%
Liawenee	11.0		21.0	25th	0.4		-6.3	23rd	76.8
West Coast (district 97)
Hartz Mountain	9.9	-0.8	19.5	25th	2.1	-0.4	-1.5	13th	115.2	96.1	normal	120%
Mount Read	6.5	-1.0	17.9	26th	0.9	-0.4	-2.4	17th	515.0	374.4	very high	138%
Scotts Peak Dam	13.6	-0.4	26.8	27th	4.8	-0.1	1.8	17th	233.2
Strahan Aerodrome	14.8	-1.2	26.5	27th	7.4	+0.2	2.2	18th	167.4	128.5	high	130%
Strathgordon Village	12.8	-0.6	24.2	27th	5.1	-0.3	1.0	18th	397.8	255.6	very high	156%
Warra	12.6		20.8	28th	4.3		0.8	13th	284.4
King Island (district 98)
King Island Airport	15.5	0.0	21.8	18th	9.1	+0.4	4.8	17th	59.0	76.2	normal	77%
Flinders Island (district 99)
Flinders Island Airport	16.6	-0.1	23.3	28th	9.4	+0.9	1.8	10th	42.6	61.4	normal	69%
Hogan Island	15.7		21.8	21st	9.9		6.5	4th	62.8
Macquarie Island (district 300)
Macquarie Island	6.0	+0.2	7.6	30th	1.9	-0.1	-1.7	22nd	85.2	75.5	normal	113%

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Notes

Further information

Ian Barnes-Keoghan
Tasmania and Antarctica Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 6221 2043
Email climate.tas@bom.gov.au

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