Thursday, 1 November 2018 - Monthly Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in October 2018: a warm, dry month

It was a relatively warm and dry October for Tasmania, with some especially warm weather around the middle of the month. There were fewer cold fronts and windy days than is typical for the time of year.

A relatively dry month

• Rainfall was below average across Tasmania, and very much below average in many areas
• It was the third-driest October in terms of total State rainfall, but much wetter than the record dry October 2015
• Showers and localised thunderstorms triggered by a low pressure system gave some moderate falls from the 16th to the 18th, including 25 mm in 4 hours at Clifton Beach on the afternoon of the 18th
• There were fewer cold fronts and westerly winds than usual for the time of year. Even though the wettest part of the State was the western highlands they received markedly less rain than is typical of October
• There was little of the strong wind that is typical of spring in Tasmania: on only four days did a site report a wind gust of 100 km/h compared to around ten such gusty days in most Octobers

A warm October

• Temperatures were above the October average for all of Tasmania
• After a mixed start of some mild days and some cool days, warm weather was dominant from the 13th to the 23rd before cool weather returned
• The 14th to the 19th were especially warm when a high pressure system over the southern Tasman Sea directed north to northeasterly winds across the State
• A few sites in the north had their warmest October night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record on either the 16th or 17th
• Averaged across the month and over the State, it was Tasmania's seventh-warmest October on record, with the mean temperature 1.12 °C above average
• The State's mean maximum temperature was 1.56 °C above average and the fifth-warmest on record for October, whilst the mean minimum temperature was tenth-warmest at 0.67 °C above average
• Although warm, this month was generally cooler than October 2017

A warm, mostly dry month for Hobart

• Total rainfall for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was 30.2 mm, which is about half the long-term average
• The mean daily maximum temperature for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was 18.3 °C, which is 1.3 °C above the long-term average of 17.0 °C.
• Hobart's temperature reached 25.4 °C on the 15th then only fell to a minimum of 15.9 °C the next morning; these were the warmest day and night since the middle of March
• On the 10th the temperature reached 11.4 °C, cooler than any day in September
• The mean daily minimum temperature for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was 9.1 °C, which is 1.3 °C above the long-term average of 7.8 °C
• The coldest morning was 3.2 °C on the 4th

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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

* note: there are significant gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top