Tuesday, 3 March 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in February 2009: Some heavy rain, several cold nights and few hot days

February did not see many especially hot days, but did have several quite cold nights. Rainfall was close to average in many parts of the state, mostly the result of some heavy falls in the final week, but there was very little rain in the north and especially on the Bass Strait Islands.

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

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Summaries  Notes  the top

Details

Heavy rain and thunderstorms: On the evening of the 23rd, a low pressure system developed over southern Tasmania as a cold front crossed the state. The low stalled near the southeast on the 24th and heavy rain fell in the west and south, including in the southern Midlands and Coal River Valley. Over 100 mm fell in elevated areas of the west and many parts of the southeast and southern Midlands received 30 to 50 mm, but very little rain reached the north. There was minor flooding of the Huon River at Tahune Bridge. Strathgordon Village received 92.4 mm in the 24 hours to 9 am on the 24th, its highest daily rainfall on record for February, and Hobart's 47.2 mm (over two days) was its highest rainfall from one event since January 2007. Ahead of the rain, on the evening of the 23rd, thunderstorms produced hail and damaging winds gusts in western, central and southern areas. Winds gusted to 100 km/h in Hobart. There was another outbreak of thunderstorms on the 20th, bringing heavy rain and gusty winds to the northeast and northern Midlands. On this occasion, several sites received in excess of 20 mm; the highest was 46.6 mm at Mathinna. A total of 16 mm fell at Launceston Airport in under 20 minutes, flooding a house, reducing visibility to below 400 metres and contributing to some car crashes.

Above average rain totals, except in the north: Although many February days had very little rain, rainfall for the whole month was near or above average in all but the north. This was mostly due to the rain on the 20th and 24th, but there were also moderate rainfall totals in the west and central east with troughs on the 2nd and 7th. In the north, rainfall totals were mostly below 20 mm, and several sites along the coast and on the Bass Strait islands had less than 10 mm. King Island Airport was the driest location, recording only 1.4 mm for the month and it, along with Naracoopa, had its driest February on record and other sites on King and Flinders Islands had their driest February for at least 20 years.

Not many hot days: There was a lack of very hot days in February, with temperatures exceeding 30°C on only three days. All of these occurred between the 4th and 7th when a high pressure system persisted over the Tasman Sea and the airflow over Tasmania was predominately northerly. Hogan Island reached 38.4°C on the 7th, and Flinders Island recorded 37.9°C, but otherwise Tasmania avoided the extremely hot temperatures that were experienced in Victoria during this time. There was a run of cool days from the 9th to the 12th when a slow moving high over the Bight directed a southerly airflow over the state for a number of days and temperatures struggled to reach 20°C. It was also cool on the 24th, and in the east on the 16th when winds were easterly, but for the rest of the month daytime temperatures were mostly near average. Over the whole month, maxima were up to a degree warmer than usual in the western half of the state, but one to two degrees below normal in the east. The mean daily maximum temperatures at Swansea, Orford and Lake Leake were their lowest for February since 1996.

Some very cold nights: Over the whole month, overnight temperatures were generally within half a degree of normal, except for most of the southeast which was one to two degrees cooler than normal. This was despite several warm nights in the first and third weeks. There was a run of cold nights from the 9th to the 15th when a southerly airflow persisted for a few days before a ridge of high pressure moved over the state. During this time, temperatures were up to nine degrees below average. Liawenee recorded −3.6°C early on the 13th; only three temperatures colder than this have ever been measured in Tasmania during February. Bushy Park, a site with records since 1957, had eight nights below 6°C this month; usually there are only four. Bushy Park, along with Dover, Grove and Geeveston, had its coolest February nights on average since the early 1990s.

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

---

Extremes

Hottest day Highest temperature	38.4°C at Hogan Island on the 7th
Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature	25.0°C at Ouse Fire Station
Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature	12.2°C at Mount Wellington
Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature	5.1°C at Mount Wellington on the 12th
Coldest night Lowest temperature	−3.6°C at Liawenee on the 13th
Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature	4.4°C at Mount Wellington
Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature	15.3°C at Hogan Island
Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature	18.7°C at Flinders Island Airport on the 5th
Wettest overall Highest total rainfall	174.0 mm at Mount Read
Driest overall Lowest total rainfall	1.4 mm at King Island Airport
Wettest day Highest daily rainfall	92.4 mm at Strathgordon Village on the 24th
Highest wind gust	109 km/h at Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse on the 8th 109 km/h at Mount Wellington on the 24th

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Summaries  Notes  the top

---

Records

Record highest February daily rainfall
	Highest daily rainfall in February 2009 (mm)		Previous highest for February		Years of record
Strathgordon Village	92.4	on the 24th	56.4	on the 22nd in 1969	41

---

Record lowest total February rainfall
	Total rainfall for February 2009 (mm)	Previous lowest for February		Years of record	Average for February
Naracoopa	4.6	6.4	in 1965	96	42.4
King Island Airport	1.4	3.0	in 1983	36	30.3

Lowest total February rainfall for at least 20 years
	Total rainfall for February 2009 (mm)	Most recent lower for February		Years since lower	Average for February
City of Melbourne Bay	6.6	5.3	in 1936	73	44.7
Yambacoona	2.4	0.5	in 1965	41	36.5

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Summaries  Notes  the top

---

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 February 2009
	Maximum temperatures for February (°C)				Minimum temperatures for February (°C)				Rainfall for February (millimetres)
	Mean for February 2009	Diff from average	Highest for February 2009		Mean for February 2009	Diff from average	Lowest for February 2009		Total for February 2009	Average for February	Rank of February 2009	Fraction of February average
Northern (district 91)
Bridport	21.9	−0.3	29.1	7th	12.9	−0.2	8.0	9th	7.0	31.4	low	22%
Burnie	21.7	+0.6	26.4	7th	14.1	+0.9	8.0	12th	10.0	45.0	low	22%
Cape Grim BAPS	19.7	+0.2	23.3	19th	13.6	−0.2	8.8	12th	7.4	32.4	very low	23%
Cressy Research Station	24.8		30.7	5th	10.6		3.2	9th	22.6	20.7	average	109%
Devonport Airport	21.9	+0.4	27.2	7th	12.6	+0.2	6.8	9th	11.6	36.0	low	32%
Launceston	24.9	+0.4	30.3	7th	12.7	+0.7	6.4	9th	38.6	31.0	average	125%
Launceston Airport	24.2		29.0	5th	10.9		5.3	12th	47.6
Launceston Airport Comparison	23.4	+0.3	28.0	5th	11.0	+0.7	5.5	9th	49.8	38.7	high	129%
Low Head	20.6	−0.4	25.2	7th	14.0	−0.5	9.8	13th	6.0	23.7	low	25%
Luncheon Hill	21.2	+0.1	25.8	19th	10.3	−0.4	4.5	12th	24.8	54.7	low	45%
Marrawah	21.1	+0.2	24.3	19th	12.2	−0.2	7.5	11th	16.6	43.5	low	38%
Scottsdale	23.0	−0.1	30.5	7th	11.2	+0.1	6.9	13th	29.6	39.3	average	75%
Sheffield School Farm	22.6	+1.2	28.8	5th	10.6	−0.1	4.3	12th	25.0	37.3	average	67%
Smithton Aerodrome	21.6	−0.2	26.0	7th	11.1	−0.5	3.1	9th	6.0	30.2	low	20%
Wynyard Airport	22.1	+0.6	28.2	5th	12.1	+0.7	3.3	9th	11.8	47.7	low	25%
East Coast (district 92)
Bicheno	20.6	−0.7	25.6	7th	13.1	+0.1	9.9	11th	43.6	58.0	average	75%
Eddystone Point	21.3	+0.2	29.5	5th	14.2	+0.1	10.6	12th	27.4	46.8	average	59%
Fingal	21.4	−1.4	31.0	5th	10.8	+0.9	3.6	14th	52.6	40.7	high	129%
Friendly Beaches	21.0	−1.8	27.8	5th	12.4	−0.9	7.7	14th	57.8	60.3	average	96%
Lake Leake	17.4	−1.6	26.2	7th	7.5	−0.7	1.8	14th	47.2	45.7	average	103%
Maria Island	19.9		27.3	5th	13.1		9.5	13th	28.0
Orford	20.1	−1.8	28.3	5th	11.7	−0.4	7.1	13th	46.4	45.0	average	103%
Scamander	20.4	−1.3	30.5	5th	13.1	+0.3	9.0	14th	39.8	42.5	average	94%
St Helens Aerodrome	20.9		31.7	5th	13.0		7.6	12th	57.4
Swan Island	20.2		25.0	5th	14.5		10.6	12th	6.2
Swansea Post Office	20.1	−2.1	30.1	5th	11.5	−0.2	6.3	14th	51.2	42.7	average	120%
Midlands (district 93)
Ross	23.0	−1.2	30.3	5th	10.8	+0.2	3.5	13th	49.4	38.2	high	129%
Southeast (district 94)
Bull Bay	20.2	−1.0	25.5	5th	11.8	−0.8	7.2	13th	41.2	42.7	average	96%
Campania	22.7		30.9	5th	10.8		3.8	13th	41.2
Cape Bruny	19.5	−0.3	25.6	27th	12.0	−0.4	8.3	13th	49.2	62.2	average	79%
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	18.5	+0.1	25.2	27th	12.1	+0.4	8.6	10th	56.2	56.8	average	99%
Dover	19.6	−1.0	24.5	5th	8.7	−1.6	3.2	13th	54.4	51.5	average	106%
Geeveston	21.4	−0.7	28.0	27th	8.5	−1.3	2.0	13th	72.8	50.2	high	145%
Grove	22.3	−0.1	28.9	27th	8.5	−1.0	1.5	13th	66.8	47.1	high	142%
Grove	22.0		28.8	27th	8.0		0.6	10th	71.4
Hobart	21.2	−0.4	30.1	5th	12.1	0.0	7.5	11th	59.4	40.3	high	147%
Hobart Airport	21.8	−0.5	29.4	5th	11.7	−0.3	6.5	13th	38.0	36.6	average	104%
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	17.7	+0.5	25.2	27th	11.7	+0.6	8.6	11th	79.4	70.3	average	113%
Melton Mowbray	22.5	−1.1	28.2	4th	9.9	−0.3	2.9	13th	41.2	35.6	high	116%
Mount Wellington	12.2	−1.5	19.2	27th	4.4	−1.0	−1.2	11th	75.0	79.5	average	94%
Tasman Island	16.8		23.7	5th	11.1		7.7	11th	27.6
Tunnack Fire Station	20.0	−1.4	27.8	5th	8.5	−0.6	0.4	13th	71.8	47.3	high	152%
Derwent Valley (district 95)
Bushy Park	24.1	+0.2	31.1	4th	8.8	−1.2	3.5	13th	34.6	35.1	average	99%
Maydena Post Office	22.1	−0.2	29.0	4th	7.8	−1.1	1.5	10th	57.4	64.7	average	89%
Ouse Fire Station	25.0	−0.2	31.0	4th	9.6	−0.3	2.3	13th	26.4	30.3	average	87%
Tarraleah Village	20.3	+0.5	27.0	5th	7.2	+0.2	0.9	12th	45.1	60.4	average	75%
Central Plateau (district 96)
Butlers Gorge	19.3	+0.6	26.5	4th	5.5	−0.7	−1.6	12th	73.0	82.2	average	89%
Lake St Clair National Park	19.1	−0.1	25.4	4th	5.6	−0.3	−0.7	12th	90.2	82.7	average	109%
Liawenee	17.5		23.4	7th	5.0		−3.6	13th	43.6
West Coast (district 97)
Hartz Mountain	17.0	−0.6	24.1	4th	6.4	−0.9	2.1	11th	105.8	66.0	high	160%
Mount Read	14.6	+0.4	20.5	4th	6.2	0.0	0.0	11th	174.0	173.1	average	101%
Scotts Peak Dam	21.9	+1.2	29.0	4th	8.8	−0.5	4.5	13th	104.0	74.0	high	141%
Strahan Aerodrome	21.2	+0.1	27.8	27th	9.8	−0.9	4.9	12th	57.2	64.6	average	89%
Strathgordon Village	20.5	+0.9	26.0	4th	10.4	+0.8	3.4	12th	138.6	110.3	high	126%
Warra	18.9		24.4	4th	7.3		2.1	13th	91.2
King Island (district 98)
King Island Airport	21.3	+0.2	26.1	7th	13.4	+0.5	6.2	6th	1.4	30.3	lowest	5%
Flinders Island (district 99)
Flinders Island Airport	22.8	+0.2	37.9	7th	13.3	−0.3	5.4	10th	2.4	38.3	very low	6%
Hogan Island	21.5		38.4	7th	15.3		12.2	10th	6.2
Antarctica and Macquarie Island (district 300)
Macquarie Island	8.1	−0.5	10.2	23rd	4.8	−0.4	2.0	11th	71.2	84.9	average	84%

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Summaries  Notes  the top

---

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

---