Thursday, 1 February 2007 - Monthly Climate Summary for Western Australia - Product code IDCKGC11R0

Western Australia in January 2007
A cooler than normal month

Summary

For Western Australia as a whole, January 2007 was slightly cooler than the 1961−1990 long term average in terms of both maximum and minimum temperature. The mean maximum temperature for WA was 0.44°C below average, with the area around Geraldton over 3°C cooler than normal for daytime temperatures. The mean minimum temperature was 0.23°C below average with overnight temperatures up to 3°C cooler than normal in parts of the southeast Gascoyne and northern Goldfields.

The monthly rainfall across WA was 76.7 mm, about 15 mm above the long-term average mainly due to above average falls in parts of the Kimberley, Interior, Goldfields, Southwest Land Division and Eucla. Areas around Esperance and Balladonia received their record highest January rainfall.

Details

In the first week of January, a tropical system in the Pilbara interacted with a deep mid-latitude trough producing heavy rain across the Goldfields, Southeast Coastal and Eucla districts. Esperance was in the centre of the so called "once in a generation " storm and was hit the hardest. The South Coastal Highway was cut off by flood water with some bridges damaged. Approximately 50 000 sheep died because of hypothermia and drowning. Many rainfall records were broken and many locations in the south of the state recorded their lowest daily maximum for January.

Some extremes and records for individual locations in WA are tabulated below.

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Further information

Yanhui Blockley or Glenn Cook
Western Australia Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 9263 2222
Email climate.wa@bom.gov.au

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Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 47.4°C at Marble Bar on the 27th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 42.7°C at Marble Bar
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 22.1°C at Albany
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 14.5°C at Newdegate Res.Station on the 4th
14.5°C at Ravensthorpe on the 4th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 3.1°C at Bridgetown on the 20th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 11.7°C at Collie East
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 27.3°C at Marble Bar
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 33.8°C at Wittenoom on the 27th
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 731.9 mm at Kuri Bay
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 197.4 mm at Kuri Bay on the 15th
Highest wind gust
 111 km/h at Esperance on the 4th

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Records

Record highest total January rainfall
Total rainfall
for January 2007 (mm) 		Previous highest
for January 		Normal for
January		Years of
record
Balladonia140.1129.6in 200018.497
Gabbin152.493.6in 200017.468
Telina Downs216.4170.9in 200028.944
Erinair185.0164.8in 199926.840
Esperance Aero240.0209.3in 199929.437




Record highest January mean daily maximum temperature
Mean daily maximum
temperature
for January 2007 (°C) 		Previous highest
for January 		Normal for
January		Years of
record
Eyre29.228.6in 190826.249


Record lowest January daily maximum temperature
Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in January 2007 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for January 		Normal for
January		Years of
record
Perth Airport20.1on the 3rd20.6on the 22nd in 200031.562
Cunderdin17.9on the 3rd18.5on the 22nd in 200034.156
Dalwallinu Comparison16.2on the 3rd17.9on the 22nd in 196735.250
Katanning Comparison15.4on the 4th15.6on the 7th in 196030.250
Carnamah20.5on the 3rd21.2on the 28th in 199036.039
Lake Grace Comparison15.2on the 4th16.4on the 22nd in 200031.443
Merredin15.8on the 4th16.2on the 22nd in 196733.641
Northam18.2on the 3rd19.2on the 22nd in 200034.042
Ongerup15.0on the 4th15.2on the 5th in 199928.540
Wongan Hills Res.Station17.3on the 3rd19.9on the 15th in 197834.041
Narrogin15.8on the 3rd16.6on the 5th in 199930.839
Salmon Gums Res.Stn.16.4on the 5th16.9on the 29th in 200630.436
Hyden14.8on the 4th16.4on the 22nd in 200033.532
Wagin16.2on the 4th17.3on the 13th in 200630.932


Record lowest January mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for January 2007 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for January 		Normal for
January		Years of
record
Wiluna17.919.1in 192522.999
Leonora19.619.9in 195521.758


Record highest January daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in January 2007 (°C) 		Previous highest
for January 		Normal for
January		Years of
record
Ravensthorpe27.0on the 15th26.7on the 3rd in 199714.044
Esperance23.8on the 30th23.6on the 3rd in 199715.537


Record lowest January temperature
Lowest temperature
in January 2007 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for January 		Normal for
January		Years of
record
Cocos Island Airport21.0on the 2nd21.1on the 7th in 196524.854
Katanning Comparison5.4on the 20th5.5on the 2nd in 199413.650
Roebourne16.6on the 3rd18.6on the 4th in 198826.250
Pemberton4.0on the 20th5.0on the 16th in 196013.148
Eneabba9.2on the 5th9.8on the 6th in 198218.633
Emu Creek Station16.1on the 3rd18.2on the 1st in 199224.432
Learmonth Airport16.1on the 4th16.3on the 14th in 198822.831
Telfer Aero18.8on the 5th19.0on the 31st in 199226.031


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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 9 am on Thursday 1 February 2007. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Normals are long-term averages 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 30 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.

Further information

Western Australia Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 9263 2222
Email climate.wa@bom.gov.au