Wednesday, 1 February 2012 - Monthly Climate Summary for Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Environs - Product code IDCKGC2xx0

Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Environs in January 2012: Warm and humid, with slightly below normal rainfall.

    Please note that this is a preliminary summary based upon early data.

    Key points:

  • January 2012 was a warm and humid month, with slightly below normal rainfall.
  • The warmth and humidity arose because of the high frequency of easterly synoptic types, and this is typical of what usually happens in summer during La Nina events - we are presently in the latter stages of a weakening La Nina event.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

The city received 29 mm of rain, slightly more than half the usual.

Temperature

Maximum temperature

The city averaged 27.4 deg C, more than 1 degree above normal. Some sites had their coldest January day (lowest maximum temperature) on record during a cold outbreak earlier in the month.

Minimum temperature

The city averaged 17.3 deg C, about 3 degrees above normal. Some sites had their highest January mean daily minimum temperature for at least 10 years.

Further information

Dr Harvey Stern
Climate Meteorologist
Victoria Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 9669 4956
Email climate.vic@bom.gov.au
Extremes in January 2012
Hottest day 41.1 °C at Avalon Airport on the 2nd
Warmest days on average 27.7 °C at Viewbank (ARPANSA)
Coolest days on average 24.9 °C at Cerberus
Coldest day 17.0 °C at Cerberus on the 11th
Coldest night 5.3 °C at Coldstream on the 12th
Coolest nights on average 12.6 °C at Coldstream
Warmest nights on average 17.3 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Warmest night 23.9 °C at Moorabbin Airport on the 17th
Warmest on average overall 22.3 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Coolest on average overall 19.9 °C at Coldstream
Wettest overall 56.2 mm at Scoresby Research Institute
Highest wind gust 91 km/h at Laverton RAAF on the 11th
91 km/h at Moorabbin Airport on the 11th

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Record lowest January daily maximum temperature
Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in January 2012 (°C) 		Previous coolest
for January		 Years of
record		 Average for
January
Viewbank (ARPANSA) 17.9 on the 11th 18.0 on the 27th in 2007 13 27.6


Highest January mean daily minimum temperature for at least 10 years
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for January 2012 (°C) 		Most recent January
at least this warm		 Years since
warmer		 Average for
January
Cerberus 15.2 15.6 in 2001 11 13.7


Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for January 2012
Maximum temperatures
for January
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for January
(°C)		 Rainfall
for January
(millimetres)
Mean for
January
2012		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
January
2012		 Mean for
January
2012		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
January
2012		 Total for
January
2012		 Average
for
January		 Rank of
January
2012		 Fraction of
January
average
Avalon Airport 26.8 +0.7 41.1 2nd 14.7 +0.7 9.5 6th 19.6 31.5 average 62%
Bundoora (Latrobe University) 27.0 +0.5 38.9 2nd 15.3 +1.2 9.9 6th 32.4 47.8 low 68%
Cerberus 24.9 +0.7 39.5 2nd 15.2 +1.5 9.2 5th 39.4 39.1 average 101%
Coldstream 27.2 -0.5 36.5 2nd 12.6 +0.9 5.3 12th 34.6 45.7 low 76%
Cranbourne Botanic Gardens 25.7 +0.5 38.4 2nd 14.4 +0.9 8.4 5th 47.8 54.9 average 87%
Essendon Airport 27.1 +0.8 39.0 2nd 15.5 +2.2 10.4 6th 19.8 43.3 low 46%
Laverton RAAF 26.4 +0.8 39.5 2nd 15.1 +1.4 10.4 9th 22.6 39.8 average 57%
Melbourne Airport 27.4 +1.1 39.2 2nd 14.8 +1.1 9.5 12th 10.0 41.8 low 24%
Melbourne Regional Office 27.4 +1.5 40.0 2nd 17.3 +3.0 12.5 12th 29.0 47.6 average 61%
Moorabbin Airport 26.4 +0.8 39.7 2nd 15.3 +1.2 8.7 12th 32.2 45.2 average 71%
Scoresby Research Institute 26.9 +0.8 38.1 2nd 14.5 +1.3 8.1 6th 56.2 53.5 average 105%
Viewbank (ARPANSA) 27.7 +0.1 38.8 2nd 15.0 +0.7 8.9 12th 44.0 43.5 average 101%

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

A Monthly Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Environs using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 5 am on Wednesday 1 February 2012. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Averages are long-term means based on observations from all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site. They are not shown for sites with less than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of long-term average rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site, based on the decile ranking (very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3, average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9 and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a percentage of the long-term mean.

Further information

Dr Harvey Stern
Climate Meteorologist
Victoria Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 9669 4956
Email climate.vic@bom.gov.au