Thursday, 3 January 2013 - Monthly Climate Summary for Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Environs - Product code IDCKGC1xx0
Melbourne Metropolitan Area and Environs in December 2012:
Rainfall less 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 15.1°C (departure from normal 2.2°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 much warmer than those usually experienced and averaged 25.7°C (departure from normal 1.5°C). Total rainfall for the month was 30 mm, this being less than that usually recorded (normal 59.3 mm, percentage of normal received 51%).
Some 20 kilometres northwest of the Melbourne city centre, and located in a somewhat rural setting, Melbourne Airport, is more typical of the suburban areas of Melbourne. Here, overnight minimum temperatures were slightly warmer than those usually experienced and averaged 12.5°C (departure from normal 0.5°C). Daytime maximum temperatures were much warmer than those usually experienced and averaged 26°C (departure from normal 1.6°C). Total rainfall for the month was 18.6 mm, this being much less than that usually recorded (normal 48.8 mm, percentage of normal received 38%).
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Minimum temperature
Some sites had their warmest December night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Extremes in December 2012 | |
---|---|
Hottest day | 39.2 °C at Melbourne Airport on the 23rd |
Warmest days on average | 26.4 °C at Viewbank |
Coolest days on average | 23.2 °C at Cerberus |
Coldest day | 16.0 °C at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens on the 4th |
Coldest night | 4.5 °C at Coldstream on the 30th |
Coolest nights on average | 10.1 °C at Coldstream |
Warmest nights on average | 15.1 °C at Melbourne Regional Office |
Warmest night |
27.4 °C at Melbourne Regional Office on the 24th |
Warmest on average overall | 20.4 °C at Melbourne Regional Office |
Coolest on average overall | 17.5 °C at Cerberus |
Wettest overall | 57.3 mm at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens |
Highest wind gust | 93 km/h at Melbourne Airport on the 24th |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Record highest December daily minimum temperature | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Highest daily minimum temperature in December 2012 (°C) |
Previous warmest for December |
Years of record |
Average for December |
|||
Laverton RAAF | 26.0 | on the 24th | = 26.0 | on the 7th in 1994 | 70 | 11.9 |
Melbourne Regional Office | 27.4 | on the 24th | 27.2 | on the 28th in 1961 | 158 | 12.9 |
Essendon Airport | 25.9 | on the 24th | 24.9 | on the 4th in 1970 | 43 | 11.7 |
Viewbank | 23.8 | on the 24th | 22.8 | on the 10th in 2003 | 14 | 12.4 |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Summary statistics for December 2012 | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Maximum temperatures for December (°C) |
Minimum temperatures for December (°C) |
Rainfall for December (millimetres) |
||||||||||
Mean for December 2012 |
Diff from average |
Highest for December 2012 |
Mean for December 2012 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for December 2012 |
Total for December 2012 |
Average for December |
Rank of December 2012 |
Fraction of December average |
|||
East Central (district 86) | ||||||||||||
Bundoora (Latrobe University) | 25.7 | +1.0 | 38.9 | 23rd | 13.0 | +0.7 | 8.3 | 22nd | 25.7 | 64.8 | low | 40% |
Cerberus | 23.2 | +1.0 | 37.3 | 23rd | 11.8 | 0.0 | 6.1 | 22nd | 52.8 | 52.7 | average | 100% |
Coldstream | 25.4 | +0.5 | 37.2 | 23rd | 10.1 | +0.6 | 4.5 | 30th | 34.0 | 54.9 | low | 62% |
Cranbourne Botanic Gardens | 24.9 | +1.6 | 37.5 | 23rd | 11.4 | -0.3 | 6.8 | 22nd | 57.3 | 65.5 | average | 87% |
Essendon Airport | 26.1 | +1.8 | 39.0 | 23rd | 13.3 | +1.6 | 8.7 | 17th | 18.0 | 51.4 | low | 35% |
Melbourne Airport | 26.0 | +1.6 | 39.2 | 23rd | 12.5 | +0.5 | 7.7 | 17th | 18.6 | 48.8 | low | 38% |
Melbourne Regional Office | 25.7 | +1.5 | 38.3 | 23rd | 15.1 | +2.2 | 11.8 | 17th | 30.0 | 59.3 | low | 51% |
Moorabbin Airport | 24.8 | +1.0 | 37.9 | 23rd | 13.2 | +0.7 | 8.2 | 10th | 36.8 | 59.1 | low | 62% |
Scoresby Research Institute | 25.5 | +1.6 | 38.5 | 23rd | 12.3 | +0.5 | 7.1 | 10th | 40.6 | 76.0 | low | 53% |
Viewbank | 26.4 | +1.1 | 39.0 | 23rd | 13.0 | +0.6 | 8.3 | 22nd | 21.8 | 68.6 | v low | 32% |
West Central (district 87) | ||||||||||||
Avalon Airport | 25.5 | +1.5 | 38.8 | 23rd | 11.9 | +0.3 | 7.1 | 22nd | 32.4 | 29.6 | average | 109% |
Laverton RAAF | 25.0 | +1.3 | 38.6 | 23rd | 12.8 | +0.9 | 7.0 | 17th | 29.8 | 46.0 | average | 65% |
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 10 am on Thursday 3 January 2013. 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
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence