Thursday, 1 May 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Western Australia - Product code IDCKGC11R0

Western Australia in April 2008
Wetter than normal in the west

Summary

  • WA statewide rainfall near average.
  • Near average daytime temperatures.
  • Near average overnight temperatures.

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Details

Rainfall

April rainfall, for WA as a whole, was near average. However, due to the effects of a series tropical lows impacting on the west coast, areas west a line from Exmouth in the Pilbara to Hopetoun in the Southeast Coastal received above to very much above average rainfall with Perth and many other sites registering their wettest April on record. In contrast, parts of the Kimberley, Interior, Goldfields and Southeast Coastal saw below to very much below average rainfall (see rainfall decile map for April).

Temperature

April 2008 in WA was near average for mean daily maximum temperatures.

With the exception of parts of the Southwest Land Division, where the mean daily maximum temperature for April 2008 was below average, most of northern and eastern WA saw above average maximum temperatures (see April mean maximum temperature anomaly map). Averaged across the state, the mean daily maximum temperature for April was 0.54°C above the average (1961-1990).

The mean daily minimum temperature for April in WA was near average. Most of the Kimberley and small parts of the west of the state saw cooler than normal overnight temperatures, being up to 3°C below average in the east Kimberley. Large areas of the Pilbara, Eucla and adjacent areas recorded above to very much above average minimum temperatures (see April mean minimum temperatures anomaly map). The statewide average mean daily minimum temperature was 0.11°C above the average (1961-1990).

 

Further information

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

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 41.8 °C at Mandora on the 8th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 37.5 °C at Fitzroy Crossing Aero
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 20.5°C at Shannon
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 12.2 °C at Rocky Gully on the 19th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 -0.9 °C at Eyre on the 13th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 8.2 °C at Collie East
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 27.0 °C at Bedout Island
23.1°C at Onslow
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 29.0 °C at Bedout Island on the 7th, 9th & 12th
28.5°C at Broome Airport on the 12th
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 198.1 mm at Walpole
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 88.4 mm at Marron on the 29th
Highest wind gust
 111 km/h at Forrest on the 10th

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Records

Record highest April daily rainfall
Highest daily rainfall
in April 2008 (mm) 		Previous highest
for April		 Years of
record
Brookton 52.5 on the 6th 50.3 on the 24th in 1953 101
Marron 88.4 on the 29th 69.4 on the 20th in 1996 97
Tamala 59.0 on the 29th 57.2 on the 8th in 1968 91
Yaringa Station 50.6 on the 29th 43.9 on the 29th in 1966 74
Clontarf Farm 60.5 on the 29th 59.7 on the 30th in 1966 72


Record highest total April rainfall
Total rainfall
for April 2008 (mm) 		Previous highest
for April		 Years of
record		 Normal for
April
Perth Metro 153.6 148.8 in 1926 131 44
Northam 99.2 88.2 in 1974 128 23.7
Brookton 115.3 101.2 in 1974 101 26.6
Gascoyne Junction 86.8 82.2 in 2007 101 15.2
Marron 144.0 69.4 in 1996 97 14.2
Yaringa Station 110.2 84.1 in 1966 83 13.5
Dwellingup 164.6 154.4 in 1968 75 68.2
Perth Airport 130.4 113.3 in 1951 64 42.2
Wokalup 170.4 166.1 in 1980 55 53.3
Gosnells City 170.1 106.0 in 1976 48 45.4
Bickley 157.8 144.4 in 1980 40 58.1
Culford 123.2 83.4 in 1987 40 39.0
Roleystone 139.6 115.9 in 1968 40 52.5
Karragullen North 122.2 119.4 in 1980 38 53.5
Jandakot Aero 105.8 91.3 in 1985 34 43.9
Swan View 122.6 89.4 in 1980 34 41.9
Pickering Brook 149.6 125.4 in 1976 31 52.6



Record lowest April temperature
Lowest temperature
in April 2008 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for April		 Years of
record		 Normal for
April
Wyndham 16.0 on the 18th 17.1 on the 30th in 1999 41 23.7
Eneabba 7.6 on the 20th 8.0 on the 30th in 2007 35 15.3
Learmonth Airport 12.9 on the 21st 13.0 on the 22nd in 1994 34 20.5


Record lowest April mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for April 2008 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for April		 Years of
record		 Normal for
April
Wyndham 19.6 20.9 in 1969 41 23.7

Lowest April mean daily minimum temperature for at least 30 years
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for April 2008 (°C) 		Most recent lower
for April		 Years since
lower		 Normal for
April
Halls Creek Airport 18.2 17.7 in 1969 39 20.4


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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 2 pm on Thursday 1 May 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.