Tuesday, 1 April 2014 ;- ;Monthly Climate Summary for Melbourne area ;- ;Product code IDCKGC16L0

Melbourne area in March 2014: Warm and Dry

Extremes Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Rainfall was below average across Melbourne with most sites receiving less than 40% of their usual rainfall for the month. The wettest overall was Cranbourne Botanic Gardens with 45.2 mm and the driest overall was Avalon Airport with 18.8mm. The wettest single day was at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens with 27.6 mm on the 16th.

Temperature

The warmest on average was Melbourne Regional Office with 20.4 °C whilst the coolest on average was Ferny Creek with 17.0  °C.

Maximum temperature

Most stations recorded above average maximum temperatures with a deviation in the order of +1 °C. The hottest day was at Essendon Airport with 36.2  °C on the 10th, and the warmest days on average were at Coldstream with 26.4  °C. Ferney Creek had both the coldest day, 13.6  °C on the 22nd, and the coolest days on average with 21.8  °C.

Minimum temperature

Overnight temperatures were above average across most of Melbourne. Melbourne Regional Office recorded the warmest nights with an average  of  15.3 °C, which was 2.1°C above normal.

The warmest night was at Melbourne Airport with 22.2  °C on the 10th, whilst Coldstream recorded the coldest night with 3.2  °C on the 20th and 24th, and also the coolest nights on average with 10.0  °C.

Wind

The strongest wind gust was at Avalon Airport with 91  km/h on the 15th.

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Extremes in March 2014
Hottest day 36.2 °C at Essendon Airport on the 10th
Warmest days on average 26.4 °C at Coldstream
Coolest days on average 21.8 °C at Ferny Creek
Coldest day 13.6 °C at Ferny Creek on the 22nd
Coldest night 3.2 °C at Coldstream on the 20th
3.2 °C at Coldstream on the 24th
Coolest nights on average 10.0 °C at Coldstream
Warmest nights on average 15.3 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Warmest night 22.2 °C at Melbourne Airport on the 10th
Warmest on average overall 20.4 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Coolest on average overall 17.0 °C at Ferny Creek
Wettest overall 45.2 mm at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens
Driest overall 18.8 mm at Avalon Airport
Wettest day 27.6 mm at Cranbourne Botanic Gardens on the 16th
Highest wind gust 91 km/h at Avalon Airport on the 15th

Extremes Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for March 2014
Maximum temperatures
for March
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for March
(°C)		 Rainfall
for March
(millimetres)
Mean for
March
2014		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
March
2014		 Mean for
March
2014		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
March
2014		 Total for
March
2014		 Average
for
March		 Rank of
March
2014		 Fraction of
March
average
East Central (district 86)
Bundoora (Latrobe University) 25.6 +1.4 35.0 10th 13.1 +0.6 7.5 20th 22.8 44.7 low 51%
Cerberus 24.3 +1.4 34.1 4th 12.5 0.0 6.8 20th 29.0 45.7 average 63%
Coldstream 26.4 +1.4 34.1 10th 10.0 +0.4 3.2 20th 25.6 48.0 average 53%
Cranbourne Botanic Gardens 24.5 +1.1 33.6 4th 12.8 +0.4 8.0 13th 45.2 42.7 average 106%
Essendon Airport 25.5 +1.5 36.2 10th 13.9 +1.5 8.7 20th 24.4 40.0 average 61%
Ferny Creek 21.8   30.6 10th 12.2   7.5 16th 36.2
Melbourne (Olympic Park) 24.4   32.9 4th 14.8   10.5 20th 21.8
Melbourne Airport 25.5 +1.4 35.2 10th 13.6 +0.9 8.9 24th 24.4 37.5 average 65%
Melbourne Regional Office 25.4 +1.5 33.7 4th 15.3 +2.1 11.2 20th 23.4 50.1 low 47%
Moorabbin Airport 25.2 +1.5 34.6 10th 13.9 +1.0 9.6 20th 34.0 44.6 average 76%
Scoresby Research Institute 26.1 +2.1 33.7 10th 12.9 +0.5 6.8 24th 23.6 53.7 low 44%
Viewbank 26.2 +1.0 34.7 4th 13.1 +0.4 6.7 24th 20.6 44.1 low 47%
West Central (district 87)
Avalon Airport 25.1 +0.9 35.5 4th 12.5 0.0 7.1 20th 18.8 27.2 low 69%
Laverton RAAF 24.8 +1.1 34.3 10th 13.3 +0.7 8.2 20th 23.6 35.2 average 67%

Extremes Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

A Monthly Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Melbourne area 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.

A Climate Summary is generally published on the first working day of each month.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 12 pm on Tuesday 1 April 2014. 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
(03) 9669 4057
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