Thursday, 1 November 2018 - Monthly Climate Summary for Victoria - Product code IDCKGC16R0

Victoria in October 2018: warm with below average rainfall

Victoria in October was drier than average in the south and east, and close to the average in most of the State's northwest and parts of the north. Both daytime and night time temperatures for October were much warmer than average. October 2018 ranked as Victoria's fifth-warmest October on record.

Dry in the south and east

  • Statewide, October rainfall was 53% below the long-term average of 63.8 mm, continuing a run of ten consecutive months of drier than average conditions for the State
  • October rainfall was below average in most of the State's south and east
  • Large parts of the West Coast, East Central, and West and East Gippsland districts (approximately 18% of the State's territory), had rainfall totals in the driest 10 per cent on record for October
  • October rainfall was close to average in most of the Mallee, Wimmera, North and North-Central districts
  • Low pressure system and associated trough brought widespread rainfall and isolated thunderstorms to Victoria on the 9th and 10th with daily rainfall totals mostly between 10 and 20 mm
  • More rainfall, with highest daily totals (between 20 mm and 30 mm) recorded in the north central and central parts of the State, resulted from a complex low-pressure system that crossed Victoria on the 16th bringing tropical moisture from the north
  • The highest daily rainfall in October, 47.0 mm, was recorded at Reeves Knob on the 10th, while the highest total during the month, 87.6 mm was recorded at Mount Wellington

Fifth-warmest October on record

  • Both daytime and night time temperatures were warmer than average across the State
  • The Victorian mean temperature was 1.77 °C warmer than the October average, and the fifth-warmest October on record
  • Mean maximum temperature was 2.56 °C warmer than average, the sixth-warmest daytime temperature on record
  • For daytime temperatures, October continued a run of 14 consecutive months of above average maximum temperatures for the State
  • Melbourne Airport had 8 consecutive days over 20 °C (between the 12th and 19th), breaking the site's October record of 7 consecutive days set in 2015
  • The highest daytime temperature in Victoria during October, 35.4 °C, was recorded at Mildura Airport on the 31st
  • Mean minimum temperature was 0.98 °C warmer than average
  • Some sites had their warmest October night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record on the 16th and 17th
  • The coldest temperature in the State in October was -4.6 °C, recorded at Mount Hotham on the 11th, during a night with light winds and clear sky under high pressure system

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes in October 2018
Hottest day 35.4 °C at Mildura Airport on the 31st
Warmest days on average 26.8 °C at Mildura Airport
Coolest days on average 9.8 °C at Mount Hotham
Coldest day -0.2 °C at Mount Baw Baw on the 10th
Coldest night -4.6 °C at Mount Hotham on the 11th
Coolest nights on average 2.0 °C at Mount Hotham
Warmest nights on average 11.8 °C at Rhyll
11.8 °C at Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse
Warmest night 20.0 °C at Ouyen (Post Office) on the 15th
20.0 °C at Melbourne (Olympic Park) on the 16th
Warmest on average overall 19.2 °C at Mildura Airport
Coolest on average overall 5.9 °C at Mount Hotham
Wettest overall 87.6 mm at Mount Wellington
Wettest day 47.0 mm at Reeves Knob on the 10th
Strongest wind gust 106 km/h at Grampians (Mount William) on the 16th

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps
ObservedAnomalyDecile rank
Total
rainfall		 Map of Rainfall totals Map of Percentage of normal rainfall Map of Rainfall deciles
Mean
daily
maximum
temperatures		 Map of Mean maximum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean maximum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean maximum temperature
Mean
daily
minimum
temperatures		 Map of Mean minimum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean minimum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean minimum temperature

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

Lowest October total rainfall for at least 20 years
Observed
(mm)		 Most recent
lower		 Average for
October
Jindivick 24.8 6.8 in 1914* 124.1

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



Record highest October daily minimum temperature
New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
October
Willow Grove (Blue Rock Reservoir) 15.4 on the 17th 14.2 on the 22nd in 2004 29 7.8
Rhyll 17.6 on the 16th 17.1 on the 19th in 2017 27 10.6
Coldstream 19.9 on the 16th 18.6 on the 30th in 2010 25 6.7


Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for October 2018
Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
October
2018		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
October
2018		 Mean for
October
2018		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
October
2018		 Total for
October
2018		 Average
for
October		 Rank of
October
2018		 Fraction of
October
average
North Mallee (district 76)
Mildura Airport 26.8 +2.7 35.4 31st 11.6 +1.8 5.2 5th 12.2 28.6 average 43%
Ouyen (Post Office) 26.1 +2.2 34.5 31st 10.8 +1.9 4.5 5th 28.2 34.1 average 83%
Walpeup Research 26.1 +2.7 34.9 31st 10.4 +1.5 2.7 5th 24.2 32.7 average 74%
South Mallee (district 77)
Hopetoun Airport 25.9 +1.1 34.0 31st 9.0 +1.6 2.2 1st 22.4 23.6 average 95%
Swan Hill Aerodrome 25.8 +1.5 34.4 31st 9.4 +1.4 1.1 1st 22.6 21.6 average 105%
North Wimmera (district 78)
Kellalac (Warracknabeal Airport) 24.5   32.0 22nd 8.1   0.3 24th 16.4
Nhill Aerodrome 23.3 +0.7 31.0 22nd 8.1 +0.8 1.4 24th 29.2 29.6 average 99%
Warracknabeal Museum 24.5 +2.4 31.5 31st 8.6 +1.0 1.5 1st 20.6 36.8 average 56%
South Wimmera (district 79)
Edenhope Airport 20.9 +0.1 29.2 2nd 8.5 +0.8 1.4 24th 29.8 34.0 average 88%
Grampians (Mount William) 13.6 +0.7 21.1 22nd 4.6 +0.7 -0.5 4th 81.6 76.1 high 107%
Horsham Aerodrome 23.3 +1.5 31.6 22nd 6.0 +0.4 0.0 1st 18.4 31.7 average 58%
Kanagulk 20.7 +0.1 27.4 22nd 7.3 +0.6 0.3 24th 38.2 31.8 average 120%
Longerenong 23.8 +2.9 32.2 22nd 7.3 +0.7 1.0 21st 25.4 41.1 average 62%
Pyrenees (Ben Nevis) 17.2 +1.2 23.9 22nd 6.5 +0.5 1.2 28th 36.6 50.5 average 72%
Stawell Aerodrome 21.7 +1.6 29.7 22nd 8.0 +0.5 0.9 25th 21.0 35.4 average 59%
Lower North (district 80)
Charlton 24.9 +1.1 33.3 31st 8.6 +1.1 1.5 1st 17.0 23.7 average 72%
Echuca Aerodrome 25.1 +3.0 33.1 31st 8.8 +0.2 2.0 1st 26.5 41.6 average 64%
Kerang 25.6 +2.8 34.0 31st 9.9 +1.1 4.3 1st 16.0 36.8 low 43%
Kyabram 24.3 +2.8 32.3 31st 9.0 +1.5 1.8 1st 37.8 38.6 average 98%
Upper North (district 81)
Bendigo Airport 23.1 +2.3 31.3 31st 8.1 +1.4 1.7 25th 31.6 39.3 average 80%
Shepparton Airport 24.0 +1.9 31.9 31st 9.2 +1.8 1.6 1st 27.6 31.4 average 88%
Tatura Inst Sustainable Ag 23.2 +2.1 30.9 31st 8.7 +1.2 2.0 1st 35.0 46.1 average 76%
Yarrawonga 25.2 +2.5 33.1 31st 8.0 +0.6 0.9 1st 32.4 37.1 average 87%
Lower Northeast (district 82)
Benalla Airport 24.1 +1.7 31.8 31st 7.2 +0.4 -0.9 1st 23.5 34.3 average 69%
Corryong Airport 23.8 +1.4 28.8 23rd 5.3 +0.2 -1.5 1st 58.8 54.0 high 109%
Dartmouth Reservoir 22.7 +2.3 29.4 31st 7.5 +0.7 3.4 30th 34.4 97.4 low 35%
Hunters Hill 19.2 +3.1 25.6 31st 8.3 +1.2 2.6 11th 32.8 86.1 low 38%
Rutherglen Research 25.1 +4.1 32.8 31st 5.7 -0.5 -1.5 1st 21.6 57.4 low 38%
Strathbogie 20.0 +2.1 27.5 31st 5.6 +0.3 -1.9 1st 33.4 84.1 low 40%
Wangaratta Aero 24.7 +3.3 32.6 31st 5.6 -0.8 -1.0 1st 15.8 48.3 low 33%
Upper Northeast (district 83)
Falls Creek 10.5 +1.3 17.7 31st 3.3 +1.8 -3.7 11th 116.5
Mount Buller 10.9 +2.3 17.0 31st 3.2 +1.8 -2.0 21st 41.2 135.7 v low 30%
Mount Hotham 9.8 +2.3 16.2 31st 2.0 +1.3 -4.6 11th 86.4 123.9 average 70%
Omeo 19.9 +0.8 25.3 30th 4.5 -0.5 -0.3 6th 50.8 58.2 average 87%
East Gippsland (district 84)
Combienbar AWS 20.8 +2.3 28.6 16th 8.5 +0.5 4.4 28th 57.6 90.5 low 64%
Gabo Island Lighthouse 18.4 +1.2 24.2 20th     8.2 1st 47.4 74.0 average 64%
Gelantipy 17.9 +1.3 23.8 19th 6.4 +0.4 2.0 11th 56.6 71.7 average 79%
Lakes Entrance (Eastern Beach Road) 19.6 -0.1 28.3 16th 9.2 -0.3 3.0 12th 26.6 60.6 low 44%
Mallacoota 20.1 +1.0 26.5 3rd 10.2 +0.3 4.7 1st 38.2 77.9 low 49%
Mount Nowa Nowa 20.6 +1.4 30.6 16th 9.8 +0.7 5.8 28th 33.4 71.4 v low 47%
Orbost 21.2 +1.3 30.1 15th 8.9 -0.2 3.0 1st 31.4 58.2 low 54%
Point Hicks (Lighthouse) 20.8 +2.1 29.6 16th 11.1 +0.1 3.5 1st 35.2 75.0 low 47%
West Gippsland (district 85)
Bairnsdale Airport 21.0 +1.1 29.4 16th 7.4 -0.1 0.6 1st 39.0 60.4 low 65%
Corner Inlet (Yanakie) 18.0   25.3 15th 9.3   2.5 1st 27.0
East Sale 21.1 +1.8 28.8 16th 7.6 +0.1 2.8 1st 33.8 56.8 low 60%
East Sale Airport 21.5   29.3 16th 8.1   2.9 1st 31.2
Morwell (Latrobe Valley Airport) 21.0 +1.4 28.3 15th 7.4 -0.1 0.7 28th 30.0 69.9 low 43%
Mount Baw Baw 10.7 +1.9 15.4 30th 2.6 +1.0 -3.5 28th 53.4 147.1 v low 36%
Mount Moornapa 20.7 +1.9 28.8 15th 9.0 +0.8 4.8 1st 46.6 81.0 low 58%
Nilma North (Warragul) 19.7   27.1 15th 8.2   1.5 28th 38.8
Pound Creek 19.2 +0.4 27.5 15th 8.3 0.0 1.9 1st 31.2 67.7 v low 46%
Wilsons Promontory Lighthouse 16.5 +0.7 22.4 2nd 11.8 +1.8 8.4 1st 23.4 91.5 v low 26%
Yarram Airport 20.7 +0.9 29.6 15th 7.2 -0.4 0.7 7th 17.6 43.5 low 40%
East Central (district 86)
Cerberus 19.7 +1.1 27.2 15th 9.6 +0.8 1.2 1st 33.0 65.6 low 50%
Coldstream 21.3 +1.6 27.2 30th 6.5 -0.2 -0.5 11th 46.8 65.5 low 71%
Cranbourne Botanic Gardens 21.0 +2.0 27.8 15th 9.0 +0.2 4.3 1st 37.6 74.9 low 50%
Essendon Airport 22.0 +2.6 28.9 8th 9.7 +1.4 2.7 1st 23.0 59.0 low 39%
Ferny Creek 17.6   23.2 30th 8.8   3.6 28th 55.4
Melbourne (Olympic Park) 21.4   28.2 8th 11.2   4.7 1st
Melbourne Airport 21.8 +2.4 27.8 19th 9.0 +0.5 3.0 1st 36.2 52.9 average 68%
Moorabbin Airport 21.3 +2.0 28.5 19th 9.5 +0.2 3.3 1st 36.4 68.3 low 53%
Rhyll 19.6 +1.6 26.0 15th 11.8 +1.2 7.3 1st 30.8 58.6 low 53%
Scoresby Research Institute 21.2 +2.1 28.4 8th 8.9 +0.1 2.1 1st 49.2 82.8 low 59%
Viewbank 22.2 +1.7 28.7 8th 9.0 +0.1 2.0 1st 34.8 60.0 average 58%
West Central (district 87)
Avalon Airport 21.8 +1.6 29.8 22nd 8.6 +0.6 2.5 1st 21.8 47.3 low 46%
Breakwater (Geelong Racecourse) 21.1   29.3 19th 9.7   4.0 1st 25.0
Laverton RAAF 21.4 +2.1 28.2 19th 9.8 +1.5 1.7 1st 25.0 54.9 low 46%
Sheoaks 20.2 +1.9 27.0 22nd 7.1 -0.2 0.2 24th 22.2 52.1 low 43%
North Central (district 88)
Castlemaine Prison 21.2 +1.8 27.3 31st       26.5 56.5 low 47%
Eildon Fire Tower 19.0 +2.1 25.2 31st 8.6 +1.2 3.0 28th 28.2 47.1 average 60%
Lake Eildon 22.2 +2.2 27.9 31st 7.5 +0.2 2.4 11th 39.4 77.2 low 51%
Mangalore Airport 22.9 +2.3 28.9 30th 8.4 +1.2 1.5 1st 36.4 45.3 average 80%
Maryborough 22.3 +2.2 28.6 22nd 8.2 +1.0 2.1 1st 32.8 48.7 average 67%
Redesdale 22.3 +2.5 30.2 31st 6.8 +1.2 0.7 1st 42.8 51.4 average 83%
Wallan (Kilmore Gap) 18.0 +1.8 24.2 30th 8.1 +1.3 3.0 11th 44.4 50.8 average 87%
Western Plains (district 89)
Ararat Prison 21.0 +2.7 28.0 22nd 5.7 -0.4 -1.0 1st 25.0 55.4 low 45%
Ballarat Aerodrome 18.8 +2.1 25.5 22nd 6.6 +0.4 -0.6 1st 26.8 66.0 low 41%
Westmere 20.5 +1.0 28.7 22nd 4.9 -0.5 -2.5 25th 17.4 39.7 average 44%
West Coast (district 90)
Aireys Inlet 19.8 +1.6 28.5 22nd 10.6 +1.3 6.7 1st 30.4 58.2 low 52%
Cape Nelson Lighthouse 18.3 +0.9 28.8 2nd 11.3 +0.9 6.0 30th 14.6 46.4 v low 31%
Cape Otway Lighthouse 17.6 +0.6 26.8 22nd 11.3 +1.7 7.1 1st 55.2 80.3 average 69%
Casterton 19.6 +0.2 26.4 2nd 7.3 +0.3 0.8 28th 29.2 44.8 low 65%
Colac (Mount Gellibrand) 19.1 +1.9 27.0 22nd 8.8 +1.3 4.1 24th
Dartmoor 20.0   27.2 2nd 8.0   1.9 24th 27.4 49.7 low 55%
Hamilton Airport 19.6 +1.7 26.3 22nd 7.0 +0.4 0.5 29th 28.6 54.9 low 52%
Mortlake Racecourse 20.0 +1.8 27.6 22nd 6.8 +0.5 -0.5 24th 14.8 49.8 v low 30%
Port Fairy AWS 19.1 +0.8 27.7 2nd 10.3 +0.9 4.2 25th 18.6 51.4 v low 36%
Portland (Cashmore Airport) 18.1 +1.1 26.1 2nd 9.1 +0.8 3.5 25th 26.6 60.2 v low 44%
Warrnambool Airport NDB 19.0 +0.9 26.3 22nd 8.3 +0.9 2.3 30th 40.6 61.4 low 66%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

The Monthly climate summary, generally published on the first working day of each month, lists the main features of the weather in Victoria using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Thursday 1 November 2018. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.

Averages for individual sites 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.

Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries