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

Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Environs in February 2012:

  • Rainfall more than that usually received.

  •  
  • Located in the Central District at the head of Port Phillip Bay, Melbourne is Victoria's State Capital. Here, overnight minimum temperatures were much warmer than those usually experienced and averaged 16.7°C (departure from normal 2.1°C). That the overnight temperatures in Melbourne are higher than those in most surrounding localities is a consequence of the city being under the influence of the effect of urbanisation (cities are usually warmer than their rural surroundings, especially at night, because of heat stored in bricks and concrete and trapped between close-packed buildings). Daytime maximum temperatures were also warmer than those usually experienced and averaged 27°C (departure from normal 1.2°C). Total rainfall for the month was 57.6 mm, this being slightly more than that usually recorded (normal 48.0 mm, percentage of normal received 120%). Some 20 kilometres northwest of the Melbourne city centre, and more representative of the suburbs, is Melbourne Airport. Here, overnight minimum temperatures were near to those usually experienced and averaged 14.4°C (departure from normal 0.3°C). Daytime maximum temperatures were also near to those usually experienced and averaged 26.9°C (departure from normal 0.4°C). Total rainfall for the month was 83.4 mm, this being much more than that usually recorded (normal 44.2 mm, percentage of normal received 189%).

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

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 February 2012
Hottest day 39.4 °C at Avalon Airport on the 25th
Warmest days on average 27.8 °C at Viewbank (ARPANSA)
Coolest days on average 25.5 °C at Cerberus
Coldest day 18.5 °C at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens on the 7th
Coldest night 3.0 °C at Coldstream on the 8th
Coolest nights on average 11.6 °C at Coldstream
Warmest nights on average 16.7 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Warmest night 24.7 °C at Melbourne Regional Office on the 26th
Warmest on average overall 21.8 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Coolest on average overall 19.5 °C at Coldstream
Wettest overall 83.4 mm at Melbourne Airport
Highest wind gust 98 km/h at Melbourne Airport on the 5th
98 km/h at Melbourne Airport on the 26th

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top


Summary statistics for February 2012
Maximum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Rainfall
for February
(millimetres)
Mean for
February
2012		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
February
2012		 Mean for
February
2012		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
February
2012		 Total for
February
2012		 Average
for
February		 Rank of
February
2012		 Fraction of
February
average
Avalon Airport 26.7 +0.7 39.4 25th 14.9 +0.5 8.4 8th 55.2 34.7 high 159%
Cerberus 25.5 +0.7 37.1 25th 15.0 +0.8 9.4 1st 73.2 41.2 high 178%
Coldstream 27.5 +0.1 36.3 25th 11.6 -0.4 3.0 8th 70.0 57.1 average 123%
Cranbourne Botanic Gardens 25.6 0.0 36.5 25th 14.2 +0.2 7.0 1st 49.6 56.2 average 88%
Essendon Airport 26.8 +1.2 37.2 25th 14.9 +1.1 9.6 8th 67.8 47.0 high 144%
Laverton RAAF 26.2 +0.7 38.2 25th 15.6 +1.4 10.2 7th 40.6 47.3 average 86%
Melbourne Airport 26.9 +0.4 37.1 25th 14.4 +0.3 8.9 8th 83.4 44.2 high 189%
Melbourne Regional Office 27.0 +1.2 37.1 25th 16.7 +2.1 12.4 9th 57.6 48.0 average 120%
Moorabbin Airport 26.5 +0.6 37.0 25th 14.9 +0.6 8.1 1st 52.0 46.7 average 111%
Scoresby Research Institute 27.1 +0.7 36.3 24th 14.1 +0.3 7.5 8th 69.6 53.7 high 130%
Viewbank (ARPANSA) 27.8 +0.6 37.2 25th 14.4 -0.2 8.1 9th 62.6 51.5 high 122%

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 1 pm on Thursday 1 March 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