Thursday, 1 May 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in April 2008 - extreme wind, then settled, then cold

The weather in Tasmania during April 2008 was mostly settled, under the influence of high pressure systems, leading to rainfall that was below average in most areas (and very much below average on the East Coast). However, the most significant events were destructive winds from a very deep low pressure system close to the state early in the month and a cold burst in the last few days of the month.

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

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Hurricane-force winds: A very deep low pressure system passed close to Tasmania bringing with it destructive winds from late on the 2nd until early on the 3rd. Hurricane force winds have an average speed of 64 knots (118 km/h) or greater: Maatsuyker Island was averaging around 130 km/h from 1:30 am until 3:00 am on the 3rd. Individual gusts well over 100 km/h were recorded at several locations, with the highest being 176 km/h at Droughty Hill* east of Hobart. There were widespread reports of damage, particularly in Hobart's eastern shore suburbs. The atmospheric pressure at Maatsuyker Island dipped to 966.3 hPa, the lowest recorded in Tasmania since November 1994.

Weeks of settled weather: From the 6th to the 9th, and again from the 14th to the 23rd, Tasmania's weather was dominated by high pressure systems close to the state. The result was settled weather and mostly light winds - and very little rain. Temperatures were generally above average by day, as the high was mostly bringing air from the northeast, although there were some cool days in the south and east. Overnight temperatures were mixed through this time, but there were few of the especially cold nights sometimes associated with high pressure systems. Another effect of the high pressure system was the slow dispersal of smoke from vegetation fires.

Only three main rainfall events: The deep low of the 3rd brought rain to most areas, with daily totals over 20 mm common in the north and west; the westerly winds of subsequent days brought further rain to the western highlands. A series of cold fronts from the 9th to the 12th yielded further rain, mostly in the western half. A marked cold change on the 25th and the southerly winds that followed were the third major rain event for the month, giving around 50 mm to the western highlands over three days. The eastern half, and the lower East Coast in particular, missed out on most of the rain from these events, with some sites reporting less than 10 mm for the whole month (Orford had its driest April on record, getting just one-tenth of its April average, whilst Swansea and Bicheno had their driest April for several decades). Overall, rain was below average in most areas, but very much below average on the East Coast and close to average in much of the west and north.

Cold change to finish the month: A cold change late on the 25th saw the month end cool across the state. Daytime temperatures in the low teens were common, with several areas struggling to reach 10 °C. The last three mornings of the month were also quite cold, with sub-zero temperatures reported by several inland sites. Taken across the whole month, maximum (daytime) temperatures were generally above average by about half a degree, but a fraction below average on the south and east coasts. Minimum (overnight) temperatures were generally below average by about half to one degree, except in some of the north where they were above average by a similar amount.

Dry start to the year: The first four months of 2008 have been relatively dry across most of Tasmania. Only on the northern East Coast (where there was some very heavy rain in February and local heavy falls in January and March) has rainfall been even close to average so far this year. This situation will be closely monitored, as it follows a dry 2007 and a record-dry 2006. The Seasonal Climate Outlook is not giving a strong increase in the chance of it being wetter than normal in Tasmania over the next three months.

Further information

Ian Barnes-Keoghan
Meteorologist
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	25.5 °C at King Island Airport on the 11th
Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature	18.9 °C at Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)
Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature	8.5 °C at Mount Read and Mount Wellington
Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature	-0.2 °C at Mount Wellington on the 28th
Coldest night Lowest temperature	-4.6 °C at Liawenee on the 30th
Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature	1.2 °C at Liawenee
Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature	12.6 °C at Hogan Island
Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature	15.8 °C at Burnie (Round Hill) on the 9th
Wettest overall Highest total rainfall	259.8 mm at Mount Read
Driest overall Lowest total rainfall	5.8 mm at Orford (Aubin Court)
Wettest day Highest daily rainfall	54.6 mm at Mount Read on the 4th
Highest wind gust	176 km/h at Droughty Hill* on the 2nd 169 km/h at Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse on the 2nd

* Note: The wind recording equipment at the CSIRO-run Droughty Hill TERSS site is not the same as that at Bureau of Meteorology Automatic Weather Stations. However, the peak gust reported appears reasonable. The 169 km/h from Maatsuyker Island is the peak gust from standard equipment.

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Records

Record lowest total April rainfall
	Total rainfall for April 2008 (mm)	Previous lowest for April		Years of record	Normal for April
Orford (Aubin Court)	5.8	11.7	in 1967	56	58.2

Lowest total April rainfall for at least 20 years
	Total rainfall for April 2008 (mm)	Most recent lower for April		Years since lower	Normal for April
Bicheno (Council Depot)	9.0	0.3	in 1967	34	60.0
Swansea Post Office	12.0	10.0	in 1979	29	51.3

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Record lowest April mean daily minimum temperature
	Mean daily minimum temperature for April 2008 (°C)	Previous lowest for April		Years of record	Normal for April
Bushy Park (Bushy Park Estates)	3.9	= 3.9	in 2006	74	6.2

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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 April 2008
	Maximum temperatures for April (°C)				Minimum temperatures for April (°C)				Rainfall for April (millimetres)
	Mean for April 2008	Diff from normal	Highest for April 2008		Mean for April 2008	Diff from normal	Lowest for April 2008		Total for April 2008	Normal for April	Rank of April 2008	Fraction of April normal
Northern (district 91)
Bridport	18.2	0.0	21.0	10th	10.1	+0.9	3.8	28th	34.2	52.0	low	66%
Burnie	17.8	+0.1	21.7	17th	11.2	+1.2	4.2	28th	44.0	74.8	normal	59%
Cape Grim BAPS	16.9	+0.5	21.5	11th	11.3	0.0	7.0	28th	47.6	66.1	normal	72%
Cressy Research Station	17.7	-0.5	20.9	17th	5.6	+0.3	-1.5	30th	53.0
Devonport Airport	17.6	+0.1	20.4	10th	8.8	+0.4	0.9	29th	32.8	60.4	low	54%
Launceston	18.9	+0.1	23.2	21st	8.4	+1.0	0.4	29th	36.4	50.8	normal	72%
Launceston Airport	17.9		21.0	9th	7.0		1.2	29th	31.4
Launceston Airport Comparison	17.1	-0.3	20.2	21st	7.1	+0.5	1.1	29th	34.8	54.2	normal	64%
Low Head	17.5	-0.2	20.5	10th	11.1	+0.3	5.5	29th	21.0	51.6	low	41%
Luncheon Hill	15.5	0.0	20.7	10th	7.5	-0.4	0.5	30th	109.8	100.3	normal	109%
Marrawah	16.8	0.0	19.4	11th	9.9	-0.3	4.8	28th	62.2	85.4	normal	73%
Powranna	17.6	-0.1	21.5	21st	6.6	+0.6	-0.5	28th	33.2	43.7	normal	76%
Scottsdale	17.3	-0.8	20.9	10th	8.2	+0.3	1.4	29th	52.6	80.0	low	66%
Sheffield School Farm	15.7	-0.9	20.4	21st	7.3	+0.5	0.9	28th	76.0	58.2	normal	131%
Smithton Aerodrome	18.1	+0.5	20.9	21st	7.9	+0.5	-0.5	28th	50.6	55.7	normal	91%
Wynyard Airport	18.1	+0.7	21.9	17th	7.9	+0.9	-0.6	29th	58.0	73.7	normal	79%
East Coast (district 92)
Bicheno	18.3	-0.5	21.8	12th	10.0	-0.2	5.9	1st	9.0	60.0	very low	15%
Eddystone Point	18.5	+0.5	20.9	5th	11.4	0.0	6.5	29th	24.2	65.0	low	37%
Fingal	17.7	-0.6	21.4	17th	5.0	-0.4	-1.7	30th	17.8	52.1	low	34%
Friendly Beaches	18.3	-0.3	23.2	2nd	9.4	-0.2	2.7	30th	10.4	52.3	low	20%
Lake Leake	14.4	+0.3	18.9	11th	2.8	-1.3	-2.4	28th	31.4	70.0	low	45%
Maria Island	17.5		22.2	4th	10.7		7.2	28th	9.8
Orford	18.5	+0.1	25.2	9th	8.0	-0.3	1.8	28th	5.8	58.2	lowest	10%
Scamander	18.1	-0.8	22.5	2nd	9.9	+0.2	3.1	29th	25.2	67.6	low	37%
St Helens Aerodrome	17.9		22.1	2nd	9.7		3.9	30th	30.0
Swan Island	17.8		21.1	25th	12.4		6.2	29th	28.8
Swansea Post Office	18.6	-0.1	23.0	25th	7.7	-0.6	2.7	30th	12.0	51.3	low	23%
Midlands (district 93)
Ross	17.8	+0.5	21.2	17th	5.2	-0.4	-2.2	29th	22.0	37.6	low	59%
Southeast (district 94)
Bull Bay	17.0	-0.2	24.0	9th	9.2	-0.2	5.3	28th	26.0	46.6	normal	56%
Campania	18.8		24.7	9th	6.2		1.6	28th	8.2
Cape Bruny	16.3	0.0	22.7	9th	9.3	-0.5	6.6	4th	42.0	52.1	low	81%
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	15.8	+0.3	22.1	9th	9.1	-0.5	4.6	29th	53.2	80.2	low	66%
Dover	16.5	-0.2	23.6	9th	5.7	-1.4	2.0	23rd	37.0	66.8	low	55%
Geeveston	17.3	+0.1	23.8	9th	5.4	-0.8	0.0	11th	41.2	62.8	low	66%
Grove	18.0	+0.5	23.8	9th	4.8	-1.4	1.0	23rd	18.8	61.4	very low	31%
Grove	17.7		23.5	9th	3.9		-1.5	30th	20.0
Hobart	18.0	+0.8	24.4	9th	8.3	-0.6	4.8	28th	19.6	51.2	low	38%
Hobart Airport	18.0	-0.1	24.5	9th	7.8	-0.9	2.6	28th	13.0	43.0	low	30%
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	14.4	-0.1	20.7	11th	9.6	+0.2	6.4	29th	61.2	108.9	low	56%
Melton Mowbray	17.4	+0.2	22.4	9th	5.3	-0.2	-0.4	30th	15.4	29.0	normal	53%
Mount Wellington	8.5	+0.2	14.5	9th	1.5	-0.6	-3.0	28th
Tasman Island	14.3		18.7	12th	9.1		5.3	1st	44.0
Tunnack Fire Station	15.4	+0.2	19.5	9th	4.6	-0.4	-1.4	6th	15.6	42.9	low	36%
Derwent Valley (district 95)
Bushy Park	18.6	+0.7	24.6	9th	3.9	-2.3	-1.1	30th
Maydena Post Office	15.7	-0.2	21.5	9th	5.4	+0.1	1.8	7th	38.8	85.7	low	45%
Moogara	14.3	+0.5	20.0	9th	4.8	-0.6	0.5	28th	31.6	59.3	low	53%
Ouse Fire Station	18.1	-0.1	23.6	9th	3.7	-0.9	-1.6	30th	24.8
Tarraleah Village	14.1	+0.2	18.8	9th	4.0	0.0	0.1	28th	56.1	95.6	low	59%
Central Plateau (district 96)
Lake St Clair National Park	13.2	+0.2	17.2	7th	2.2	-0.4	-2.5	20th	112.2	136.0	normal	83%
Liawenee	11.4		15.6	21st	1.2		-4.6	30th	92.4
West Coast (district 97)
Hartz Mountain	11.4	+0.6	18.8	9th	4.0	-0.2	-0.2	28th	38.2	63.2	low	60%
Mount Read	8.5	-0.4	12.3	18th	3.2	+0.1	-2.1	28th	259.8	257.1	normal	101%
Scotts Peak Dam	14.6	+0.2	22.9	9th	6.1	-0.4	2.5	28th	113.2	117.8	normal	96%
Strahan Aerodrome	16.9	+0.4	23.0	11th	8.0	-0.3	2.3	28th	111.4	111.9	normal	100%
Strathgordon Village	13.8	-0.3	21.5	9th	6.1	-0.8	1.6	28th	132.1	202.5	low	65%
Warra	13.1		19.4	9th	5.3		1.5	29th	77.6
King Island (district 98)
King Island Airport	18.0	+0.5	25.5	11th	10.2	-0.1	5.7	28th	48.8	55.9	normal	87%
Flinders Island (district 99)
Flinders Island Airport	18.5	-0.2	23.6	11th	9.3	-1.5	4.2	30th	24.4	59.1	low	41%
Hogan Island	17.8		20.5	2nd	12.6		7.7	28th	31.0
Macquarie Island (district 300)
Macquarie Island	7.2	+0.3	9.7	3rd	4.2	+0.5	-0.5	22nd	112.8	93.8	high	120%

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Notes

Further information

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

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