Thursday, 1 July 2010 - Monthly Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in June 2010: Rainy days and frosty nights

A succession of cold fronts during June brought regular rain to the west and north, but little of this rain managed to reach the southeast. Consequently, the southeast was dry while the west and north were wet. Cold and frosty mornings were common, but temperatures generally recovered during the day so that overall the month was warmer than usual.

• Monthly totals from below 4 mm to nearly 400 mm
  
• A chilly -6.3 °C at Ross on the 27th
  
• Snow to low levels from the 9th to 11th
• Record warm January to June

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Many rainy days — except in the southeast

June was wet in the north and west of Tasmania but dry in the southeast. Totals ranged from 379 mm at Mount Read in the west and 310 mm at Mount Victoria in the northeast highlands to just 3.8 mm at Hobart Airport, making it the wettest June in 5 or 6 years in the north but the driest June on record for some sites in the southeast. The weather pattern created this disparity: westerly winds and cold fronts regularly delivered rain to the west and north, but the rain dissipated before reaching the southeast.

Active cold fronts crossed the state on the 9th, 17th, 18th, 25th and 28-29th, each bringing around 50 mm to parts of the state. The highest daily total was 85.0 mm at Mount Victoria on the 17th, a day on which 20 to 40 mm fell through much of the north and Campbell Town had its wettest June day on record. Minor flooding developed in the North Esk and South Esk rivers after this rain, persisting for several days.

Cold and frosty overnight

The westerly pattern present for most of June led to mean monthly minima near average in the west but below average elsewhere, typically by around a degree but up to two degrees in the central east. Cold and frosty nights were common as high pressure systems moved over the state behind fronts. Launceston had its coldest morning in nearly two years, dropping to -2.4 °C on the 13th, Flinders Island's 1.7 °C on the 27th was its coldest June morning since 1994 and on five separate occasions Ross fell to -5 °C. The coolest nights on average were at Liawenee (-1.2 °C), but surprisingly it was Ross that registered the coldest temperature for the month, dropping to -6.3 °C on the morning of the 27th.

A brief respite from the chill came on the 25th when cloud, wind and rain combined to keep minima around 5 °C warmer than usual. Eddystone Point's minimum of 13.3 °C was the highest in Tasmania for the month, and several sites in the north had their warmest June night in around five years.

A few cold days but warmer than normal overall

Daytime temperatures were mild between the 1st and 4th with many sites climbing over 15 °C, a mark that was hard to match for the rest of the month. Swansea was the warmest, reaching 18.3 °C on the 2nd — its warmest June day since 2003. A front on the 5th brought a run of cooler days, which turned even colder after further fronts on the 9th and 11th. Snow fell after the second front, descending to as low as 250 metres in the south at times. Mount Wellington struggled to reach -1.5 °C on the 11th. But from the 13th until the end of the month daytime temperatures were generally warmer than usual. Exceptions were the 26th, in the wake of a cold front, and in the north and east on the 27th, when sunshine wasn't enough to warm the air after a very cold night. It was also cold in the Derwent Valley on the 15th, 16th and 23rd due to fog persisting for most of the day.

Overall, mean maxima for June were slightly warmer than usual, apart from a few inland sites which were slightly cooler than usual.

Dry in Hobart, especially in comparison to 2009

Hobart missed out on most of the rain in June, receiving just 10.6 mm for the month and taking the year to date total to 135 mm. It has been the driest first half of the year in Hobart since 1984, along with a handful of other sites in the southeast. This is in stark contrast to last year, when 144 mm fell in June 2009 alone.

Hobart had several cold and frosty mornings, falling below below 3 °C on seven different occasions. The mean minimum temperature was 5.0 °C, slightly below the long-term average. Most days were warmer than usual, five days reached at least 16 °C and only one day (the 10th) didn't reach 10 °C. The mean maximum temperature of 13.5 °C was 1.5 °C above the long-term average.

A warm year so far

The first six months of this year have been the warmest on record for Tasmania, after above average temperatures in every month. Tasmania's mean temperature for the year so far is 12.59 °C, which is 1.04 °C above normal and just slightly warmer than 1988. Hobart (with a mean temperature from January to June 2010 of 15.1 °C) and Launceston (15.2 °C) are among the sites that have had their warmest first half of the year on record. Across the state, mean maximum temperatures are around a degree warmer than usual, while mean minimum temperatures are around half a degree warmer than usual.

Rainfall for the year to date has been above average in the north but below average in the south.

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Extremes in June 2010
Hottest day	18.3 °C at Swansea Post Office on the 2nd
Warmest days on average	15.1 °C at Bicheno (Council Depot)
Coolest days on average	3.2 °C at Mount Wellington
Coldest day	-1.5 °C at Mount Wellington on the 11th
Coldest night	-6.3 °C at Ross (The Boulevards) on the 27th
Coolest nights on average	-1.2 °C at Liawenee
Warmest nights on average	9.9 °C at Hogan Island
Warmest night	13.3 °C at Eddystone Point on the 25th
Warmest on average overall	11.8 °C at Hogan Island
Coolest on average overall	1.2 °C at Mount Wellington
Wettest overall	379.4 mm at Mount Read
Driest overall	3.8 mm at Hobart Airport
Wettest day	85.0 mm at Mount Victoria (Una Plain) on the 17th
Highest wind gust	144 km/h at Swan Island on the 18th

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

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Record highest June daily rainfall
	Highest daily rainfall in June 2010 (mm)		Previous wettest for June		Years of record
Campbell Town (Elizabeth R)	30.0	on the 17th	29.7	on the 30th in 1967	23

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Record lowest total June rainfall
	Total rainfall for June 2010 (mm)	Previous driest for June		Years of record	Average for June
Hobart Airport	3.8	5.2	in 1979	53	31.6
Nugent (Twilight Valley)	16.6	19.8	in 1984	28	65.0
Blackmans Bay Treatment Plant	14.8	16.6	in 1999	27	44.2

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Lowest June mean daily minimum temperature for at least 20 years
	Mean daily minimum temperature for June 2010 (°C)	Most recent June at least this cool		Years since cooler	Average for June
Swansea Post Office *	2.4	1.9	in 1983	27	4.4

* Note that the Swansea Post Office site moved in September 2008, and the new site appears to be significantly cooler overnight than the old site.

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Summary statistics for June 2010
	Maximum temperatures for June (°C)				Minimum temperatures for June (°C)				Rainfall for June (millimetres)
	Mean for June 2010	Diff from average	Highest for June 2010		Mean for June 2010	Diff from average	Lowest for June 2010		Total for June 2010	Average for June	Rank of June 2010	Fraction of June average
Northern (district 91)
Bridport (Sea View Villas)	13.8	-0.2	16.4	1st	5.5	-0.8	0.5	27th	131.0	88.1	high	149%
Burnie (Round Hill)	13.9	+0.5	16.5	2nd	6.9	+0.2	2.6	10th	97.9	103.3	average	95%
Cape Grim BAPS	13.4	+0.4	16.0	4th	8.7	0.0	5.3	27th	81.2	80.2	average	101%
Cressy Research Station	12.1	-0.3	15.1	2nd	1.0	-0.8	-4.6	13th	71.0	60.1	average	118%
Devonport Airport	13.7	+0.4	15.8	1st	4.5	-0.6	-0.8	13th	98.6	78.9	average	125%
Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)	13.4	+0.4	16.8	1st	2.8	-0.1	-2.4	13th	105.2	67.5	high	156%
Launceston Airport	12.0		15.0	1st	2.1		-3.7	27th	85.4
Low Head	13.6	+0.1	17.0	1st	7.1	-0.4	2.4	27th	110.0	74.7	high	147%
Luncheon Hill (Forestry)	11.1	-0.1	14.9	1st	5.5	-0.2	1.7	10th	160.6	143.8	average	112%
Marrawah	13.0	+0.2	15.6	3rd	7.6	+0.2	3.5	7th	105.2	122.4	average	86%
Scottsdale (West Minstone Road)	12.1	-0.5	15.2	2nd	4.0	-0.2	-0.5	28th	156.6	103.7	high	151%
Sheffield School Farm	11.3	-0.3	14.2	5th	3.2	-0.7	-2.1	27th	113.0	109.2	average	103%
Smithton Aerodrome	13.8	+0.1	16.5	1st	4.2	-0.8	-0.7	27th	76.4	92.9	low	82%
Wynyard Airport	13.8	+0.5	16.3	2nd	3.4	-0.8	-1.8	27th	102.2	110.5	average	92%
East Coast (district 92)
Bicheno (Council Depot)	15.1	+0.6	17.5	2nd	6.7	+0.1	2.9	8th	20.4	60.8	low	34%
Eddystone Point	14.6	+0.9	18.0	4th	7.7	-0.3	1.8	10th	68.6	74.7	average	92%
Fingal (Legge Street)	12.4	-0.3	15.8	2nd	0.4	-0.7	-4.9	13th	44.4	64.5	average	69%
Friendly Beaches	14.1	0.0	17.6	4th	5.8	-0.7	1.6	15th	18.0	34.7	low	52%
Lake Leake (Elizabeth River)	8.7	-0.3	11.6	24th	-0.6	-1.3	-5.8	27th	63.8	86.5	average	74%
Maria Island (Point Lesueur)	13.4		16.6	2nd	7.8		4.2	10th	8.8
Orford (Aubin Court)	13.2	-0.1	17.2	25th	3.2	-0.9	-1.0	23rd	16.6	53.0	low	31%
Scamander	14.5	+0.1	17.1	1st	5.3	-0.2	1.8	28th	54.5	53.0	average	103%
St Helens Aerodrome	13.9		17.0	4th	4.7		0.5	28th	56.2	55.5	average	101%
Swan Island	14.0		16.9	24th	8.7		2.8	27th	48.0
Swansea Post Office	14.3	+0.5	18.3	2nd	2.4	-2.0	-1.7	28th	16.4	57.1	low	29%
Midlands (district 93)
Ross (The Boulevards)	11.8	+0.1	15.4	1st	0.0	-1.9	-6.3	27th	51.4	38.9	high	132%
Southeast (district 94)
Bull Bay (Lauriston)	13.2	+0.6	17.0	2nd	6.1	0.0	3.2	10th	17.0	47.2	v low	36%
Campania (Kincora)	14.1	+0.5	17.8	2nd	2.4	-1.5	-2.7	15th	6.2	38.2	low	16%
Cape Bruny (Cape Bruny)	12.7	+0.3	16.1	25th	7.1	-0.1	4.8	12th	44.2	75.3	average	59%
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	12.4	+0.8	15.8	25th	7.2	+0.5	5.0	8th	59.8	90.5	low	66%
Dover	13.1	+0.5	16.6	3rd	3.3	-0.5	-0.9	27th	32.0	78.7	low	41%
Geeveston (Cemetery Road)	12.8	+0.5	15.5	4th	1.7	-0.5	-2.8	16th	38.8	71.2	low	54%
Grove (Research Station)	13.3		17.2	25th	0.5		-4.1	27th	21.8
Hobart (Ellerslie Road)	13.4	+1.4	17.5	25th	5.0	-0.2	1.2	27th	10.6	54.2	v low	20%
Hobart Airport	13.9	+1.0	17.7	2nd	4.4	-0.2	0.3	13th	3.8	31.6	lowest	12%
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	11.6	+0.2	15.5	24th	8.0	+0.8	4.0	10th	96.6	118.2	average	82%
Melton Mowbray (North Stockman)	12.3	+0.4	15.8	2nd	1.0	-1.2	-6.0	27th	8.0	33.9	v low	24%
Mount Wellington	3.2	-0.4	8.4	3rd	-0.8	0.0	-5.0	10th	31.0	72.3	low	43%
Tasman Island	11.3		14.6	2nd	7.2		2.2	10th	58.2
Tunnack Fire Station	9.8	-0.2	14.5	2nd	1.0	-1.3	-5.7	27th	16.0	54.8	v low	29%
Derwent Valley (district 95)
Bushy Park (Bushy Park Estates)	12.3	+1.1	17.6	2nd	0.7	-1.4	-2.9	30th	17.4	48.4	v low	36%
Maydena Post Office	10.9	+0.1	13.6	25th	2.5	0.0	-1.6	27th	67.9	97.3	low	70%
Ouse Fire Station	12.3	+0.4	16.2	2nd	0.7	-0.7	-3.8	30th	14.8	45.5	low	33%
Tarraleah Village	8.9	+0.1	12.0	25th	1.5	+0.9	-2.5	7th	78.6	102.4	average	77%
Central Plateau (district 96)
Butlers Gorge	8.2	+0.6	11.5	22nd	0.0	-0.2	-5.1	16th	125.2	152.7	average	82%
Lake St Clair National Park	7.6	-0.1	10.2	3rd	0.2	0.0	-3.7	16th	173.4	169.4	average	102%
Liawenee	6.1		11.1	3rd	-1.2		-5.5	15th	99.2	109.2	average	91%
West Coast (district 97)
Hartz Mountain (Keoghs Pimple)	6.2	-1.0	9.5	23rd	1.9	-0.3	-2.1	10th	45.6	92.9	low	49%
Mount Read	4.0	-0.7	7.3	22nd	0.6	-0.4	-3.1	10th	379.4	346.3	average	110%
Scotts Peak Dam	10.2	+0.5	14.3	4th	4.1	+0.1	0.3	10th	185.2
Strahan Aerodrome	12.9	+0.3	15.9	24th	5.9	+0.4	0.9	7th	208.4	140.2	high	149%
Strathgordon Village	9.7	+0.2	13.1	24th	3.8	0.0	0.5	27th	222.4	214.4	average	104%
Warra	8.9		11.6	4th	3.0		-2.0	27th	112.6
King Island (district 98)
King Island Airport	14.0	+0.1	16.2	4th	7.5	-0.6	3.8	27th	125.0	98.7	high	127%
Flinders Island (district 99)
Flinders Island Airport	14.2	+0.1	17.0	3rd	6.0	-1.0	-1.7	27th	41.0	71.4	low	57%
Hogan Island	13.7		16.8	1st	9.9		6.9	10th	67.2
Antarctica and Macquarie Island (district 300)
Macquarie Island	5.7	+0.7	7.4	17th	2.5	+1.0	-3.4	12th	60.4	76.1	average	79%

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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