Thursday, 3 January 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Western Australia - Product code IDCKGC11R0

Western Australia in December 2007

A wet and cool December despite a hot finish in the south

The December rainfall, for WA as a whole, was above average mainly due to widespread rainfall in the third week with many locations in the Central West and Central Wheat Belt registering their highest December rainfall.

December 2007 was a very cool month with below to very much below average daytime temperatures experienced across much of WA. Averaged across the state, WA recorded its 6th lowest mean maximum temperature since comparable records commenced in 1950 despite an exceptionally hot spell in the Southwest Land Division(SWLD) on the last week of December. Some locations broke their highest December daytime or/and overnight temperatures on record.

The statewide mean minimum temperature was also cooler than the long term (1961-1990) average. A large area of WA saw below average overnight temperatures with only small areas around Broome and Eucla being above average minimum temperatures.

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

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Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 45.7 °C at Eneabba on the 27th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 40.9 °C at Marble Bar
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 20.3 °C at Albany
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 13.8 °C at Salmon Gums Res.Stn. on the 14th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 2.2 °C at Busselton Aero on the 6th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 10.5 °C at Collie East
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 27.7 °C at Troughton Island
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 32.4 °C at Warmun on the 3rd
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 326.0 mm at Mount Barnett (missing some rainfall)
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 102.6 mm at Kokardine on the 17th
Highest wind gust
 89 km/h at Warburton Airfield on the 8th

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Records

Record highest total December rainfall
Total rainfall
for December 2007 (mm) 		Previous highest
for December		 Years of
record		 Normal for
December
Kokardine 119.0 67.8 in 2002 100 11.4
Wongan Hills 71.4 58.5 in 1923 99 10.2
Ballidu 61.5 46.0 in 1983 97 9.8
Barberton 60.0 45.0 in 1923 97 9.1
Manjimup 98.0 90.2 in 2001 92 25.2
Lynton 32.4 28.7 in 1959 79 3.1
Riverside 79.6 48.8 in 2006 79 6.7
Kondut 58.4 47.4 in 1978 76 10.0
Willigulli North 22.4 22.1 in 1967 75 3.3
Calingiri 62.0 59.6 in 1952 73 10.2
Wongan Hills Res.Station 62.6 52.6 in 1941 70 9.2
Dandaragan West 50.4 37.6 in 1978 51 8.7
Lancelin 59.6 33.8 in 1991 43 7.5
Jurien Bay 41.0 35.0 in 1978 40 6.4
Kalbarri 30.4 19.8 in 1998 38 3.0




Record highest December temperature
Highest temperature
in December 2007 (°C) 		Previous highest
for December		 Years of
record		 Normal for
December
Bridgetown Comparison 41.5 on the 26th 40.8 on the 5th in 1931 101 27.5
Carnamah 44.5 on the 26th 44.4 on the 16th in 2006 66 33.4
Perth Airport 44.5 on the 26th 43.2 on the 20th in 2002 64 28.8
Perth Metro 44.2 on the 26th 42.3 on the 31st in 1968 110 28.8
Cape Naturaliste 37.6 on the 26th 36.3 on the 26th in 2000 51 23.5
Pemberton 40.4 on the 26th 40.0 on the 12th in 2002 50 23.8
Dwellingup 42.0 on the 26th 40.0 on the 31st in 1968 48 27.1
Manjimup 41.1 on the 26th 40.0 on the 12th in 2002 48 24.8
Narembeen 44.0 on the 27th 43.6 on the 20th in 2002 39 31.9
Hyden 45.2 on the 27th 44.9 on the 23rd in 1997 35 31.8
Wagin 43.7 on the 26th 43.2 on the 23rd in 1997 34 29.2


Record lowest December daily maximum temperature
Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in December 2007 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for December		 Years of
record		 Normal for
December
Meekatharra Airport 21.3 on the 11th 21.4 on the 19th in 1988 58 36.4


Record highest December daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in December 2007 (°C) 		Previous highest
for December		 Years of
record		 Normal for
December
Cape Naturaliste 24.3 on the 26th 22.7 on the 7th in 1978 51 13.9
Ravensthorpe 28.6 on the 27th 25.6 on the 21st in 1974 46 12.7
Merredin 27.6 on the 27th 27.4 on the 6th in 1977 42 15.7
Esperance 25.7 on the 27th 23.0 on the 26th in 1979 39 14.3
Jurien Bay 27.6 on the 26th 25.1 on the 19th in 1996 39 15.6
Wagin 24.0 on the 27th 23.5 on the 28th in 2000 35 12.9


Record lowest December temperature
Lowest temperature
in December 2007 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for December		 Years of
record		 Normal for
December
Northam 4.5 on the 6th 4.7 on the 2nd in 1998 99 15.3
Kellerberrin 4.1 on the 6th 5.3 on the 2nd in 1998 95 15.1
Pearce RAAF 5.3 on the 7th 5.4 on the 3rd in 1973 49 14.4

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 12 pm on Wednesday 2 January 2008. 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 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 30 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of "normal" rain.

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