Friday, 1 June 2007 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Canberra Averages Summary - Product code IDCKGC27L0
Canberra has warmest autumn on record
Summary
- Warmest Autumn on record
- Another dry Autumn
- Large variability of rainfall totals throughout the ACT
Canberra Airport has again recorded a total rainfall for autumn well below average with 105.8 mm (historic average 143.2 mm); however it is the wettest Autumn since 2000 when 163.2 mm was recorded. There were 27 rain days during autumn which was above the historic average of 22 rain days. Rainfall across the A.C.T. were highly variable during autumn with totals ranging from 224.8 mm at Mt Ginini to 101.6 mm at Tralee.
Temperature
Generally warm conditions prevailed in Canberra during autumn with an average monthly temperature (the average of the day-time and night-time temperatures) of 15.4°C, which is 2°C above the historic average of 13.4°C and the warmest on record. The previous warmest was 14.9°C in 1980 and 1998.
Day-time temperatures were particularly warm with the average maximum temperature of 22.0°C being the 2nd highest since records commenced in 1939 (the highest was 22.4°C in 2005) and well above the historic average of 19.9°C. Night-time temperatures (average minimum) were also well above average at 8.8°C (historic average is 6.8°C), the 3rd highest on record and the same as 1968 (the highest on record was 10.1°C in 1989).
Extremes of temperature at Canberra Airport during autumn ranged from 35.1°C on 4 March, while the lowest temperature was 0.0°C on 31 May. Corresponding extremes at Tuggeranong ranged from 33.7°C on 5 March to a low of −2.9°C on 31 May.
Other phenomena
There were 3 thunderstorms (average 3) during autumn. Average sunshine for autumn averaged 7.6 hours per day (average is 7.1 hours per day). There were 7 frosts, well below the historic average of 19 frosts, indicative of the continuing warm conditions the region is experiencing. There were 9 fogs (average 12). It was a little windier than usual with an average wind run of 160.7 km/day compared to the historical average of 156.3 km/day. The 3 strong wind days recorded during autumn were the same as the average of 3 windy days. The average pressure of 1019.1 hPa was well above the historic average of 1018.8hPa., indicating the persistence of high pressure systems over SE Australia during autumn. Evaporation was 121.5 mm, slightly up on the historic average of 116.9 mm.
Further information
Owen OfflerClimate Information
Climate Services Centre
Canberra Meteorological Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 62470411
Email climate.act@bom.gov.au
Extremes for the A.C.T.
| Hottest day Highest temperature | 35.1°C at Canberra Airport on 4 March |
|---|---|
| Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature | 22.0°C at Canberra Airport |
| Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature | 21.9°C at Tuggeranong AWS |
| Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature | 10.6°C at Canberra Airport on 30 May |
| Coldest night Lowest temperature | −2.9°C at Tuggeranong AWS on 31 May |
| Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature | 8.3°C at Tuggeranong AWS |
| Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature | 8.8°C at Canberra Airport |
| Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature | 19.0°C at Tuggeranong AWS on 5 March |
| Wettest overall Highest total rainfall | 224.8 mm at Mt Ginini AWS |
| Driest overall Lowest total rainfall | 101.6 mm at Tralee |
| Wettest day Highest daily rainfall | 36.0 mm at Mt Ginini AWS on 18 May |
| Highest wind gust | 80 km/h at Canberra Airport on 29 May |
Jump to: Extremes Records Summaries Notes the top
Summaries for the Canberra area
In the following table, certain key sites have been highlighted to make them easier to identify.
| Summary statistics for autumn 2007 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures for autumn (°C) |
Minimum temperatures for autumn (°C) |
Rainfall for autumn (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for autumn 2007 |
Diff from normal |
Highest for autumn 2007 |
Mean for autumn 2007 |
Diff from normal |
Lowest for autumn 2007 |
Total for autumn 2007 |
Normal for autumn |
Rank of autumn 2007 |
Fraction of autumn normal |
|||
| Canberra Airport | 22.0 | +2.1 | 35.1 | 4 Mar | 8.8 | +2.0 | 0.0 | 31 May | 105.8 | 142.6 | normal | 74% |
| Tuggeranong* | 21.9 | +0.7 | 33.7 | 4 Mar | 8.3 | +1.4 | −2.9 | 31 May | 118.6 | 80.4 | high | 148% |
* new station, averages based on period 1996−2006 only
Jump to: Extremes Records Summaries Notes the top
Notes
This statement has been prepared based on information available atnoon on Friday 1 June 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 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 "normal" 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,
normal in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of normal shows how much rain has fallen this time as a
percentage of the long-term mean.