Friday, 1 February 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Western Australia - Product code IDCKGC11R0

Western Australia in January 2008
A record hot January for WA

Summary

 

Temperature

January 2008 was an exceptionally hot month as most of WA saw above to very much above average daytime temperatures (see January mean maximum temperature anomaly map). Averaged across the state, WA recorded its highest January mean maximum temperature on record with an anomaly of 1.73°C.

Several locations in the Pilbara, Gascoyne and inland Southwest Land Division registered their highest daily January temperatures on record whilst temperatures at Port Hedland Airport (49.0°C on the 1st), Onslow (49.2°C on the 11th), Telfer Aerodrome (48.1°C on the 10th) and Meekatharra Airport (45.7°C on the 5th) were also their highest temperatures on record for any month.

Overnight temperatures were also particularly high with above to very much above average minimum temperatures experienced across most of WA during January (see January mean minimum temperature anomaly map). The statewide mean minimum temperature was the highest on record for January with an anomaly of 1.23°C.

Locations in the Pilbara, inland Gascoyne, northern Goldfields and eastern Wheatbelt recorded their highest January mean minimum temperatures. Mean minimum temperatures at Mardie (27.4°C), Meekatharra Airport ( 27.3°C) and Yeelirrie (25.4°C) were also their highest mean minimum temperature for any month.

Rainfall

The January rainfall was close to average for a large area of WA whilst some eastern parts and coastal parts received below to very much below average rainfall. Overall, the statewide mean for WA was near average.

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Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 49.2°C at Onslow on the 11th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 43.7°C at Telfer Aero
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 21.8°C at Albany
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 17.5°C at Jacup & Mount Barker on the 30th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 3.5°C at Eyre on the 14th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 12.8°C at Shannon
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 28.3°C at Marble Bar
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 34.2°C at Marble Bar on the 21st
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 482.2 mm at Kuri Bay
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 320.4 mm at Faraway Bay on the 4th
Highest wind gust
 113 km/h at Argyle Aerodrome on the 13th

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Records


Record highest January temperature
Highest temperature
in January 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for January		 Years of
record		 Normal for
January
Port Hedland Airport 49.0 on the 11th 47.5 on the 1st in 1973 60 36.4
Meekatharra Airport 45.7 on the 5th 45.4 on the 1st in 1995 58 38.2
Roebourne 49.0 on the 11th 48.4 on the 21st in 2003 52 38.7
Onslow 49.2 on the 11th 48.0 on the 21st in 2003 48 35.7
Onslow Airport 48.9 on the 11th 48.7 on the 21st in 2003 42 36.4
Narembeen 45.8 on the 3rd 45.0 on the 23rd in 1980 40 33.8
Hyden 46.4 on the 3rd 46.2 on the 3rd in 1997 34 33.5
Telfer Aero 48.1 on the 10th 47.4 on the 5th in 1981 34 40.4
Gascoyne Junction 48.3 on the 4th 47.4 on the 12th in 2005 31 40.6


Record highest January mean daily maximum temperature
Mean daily maximum
temperature
for January 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for January		 Years of
record		 Normal for
January
Meekatharra Airport 42.1 40.9 in 1998 58 38.2
Yeelirrie 41.3 40.4 in 2004 35 37.7
Telfer Aero 43.7 43.1 in 2005 34 40.4


Record highest January daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in January 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for January		 Years of
record		 Normal for
January
Roebourne 32.6 on the 11th 32.4 on the 28th in 1999 52 26.2
Badgingarra Research Stn 28.0 on the 3rd 27.5 on the 4th in 1981 40 16.8
Telfer Aero 32.5 on the 11th 32.3 on the 13th in 2003 34 25.9


Record highest January mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for January 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for January		 Years of
record		 Normal for
January
Port Hedland Airport 27.2 26.7 in 2005 60 25.5
Meekatharra Airport 27.3 26.0 in 1999 58 24.2
Mardie 27.4 26.7 in 2003 52 24.8
Narembeen 18.2 18.0 in 1978 39 16.4
Yeelirrie 25.4 24.5 in 1979 35 22.0


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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Friday 1 February 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

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

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