Tuesday, 2 September 2008 - Seasonal Climate Summary for ACT  - Product code IDCKGC25R0

A dry and mild 2008 winter for the ACT

Summary

  • Warmer mean minimum and maximum temperatures, mostly due to the warm June conditions.
  • 16th consecutive winter for above average maximum temperatures.
  • Below average rainfall, falling within the lowest 20% of records.

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Rainfall

The total winter rainfall of 82.6 mm at Canberra Airport was well below the historical winter average1 of 128.3 mm. This is the 14th driest winter on record for Canberra Airport, the driest since 2002 (80.4 mm), and falls within the lowest 20% of winter rainfall observations. Below average rainfall was recorded in both June and August, with July totals being close to average.

The highest rainfall for winter in the ACT was recorded at Mt Ginini, where they recorded 289.0 mm.

See a map of total rainfall. See a map of rainfall deciles.

Temperature

The average1 maximum temperature for winter at Canberra Airport was 13.0°C, which is above the historical average of 12.2°C. This is the 16th consecutive winter with above average maximum temperatures. This was mainly the result of a particularly warm June, where maximum temperatures were around 2−3°C above average across the ACT.

The average minimum temperature for winter for Canberra Airport was 1.6°C, which is also above the historical average of 0.6°C. Again, this was mainly as a result of the very warm June conditions. Minimum temperatures were 3−4°C above average through most parts of the ACT during June.

See a map of mean maximum temperatures. See a map of maximum temperature anomalies.

See a map of mean minimum temperatures. See a map of minimum temperature anomalies.

Wind

The prevailing winter winds at Canberra Airport were close to the long term averages. During the mornings (9am) the prevailing wind was from the NW for 23% of the time, compared to the expected 21%. During the afternoons (3pm) the prevailing wind direction was from the NW quadrant, accounting for 68% of the observations (from W through to N), which is close to what is expected for this season.

The number of days with strong winds observed during winter was 7, with 2 days each in June and August and 3 days in July. This is below the winter average of 8.5 days.

Other phenomena

There were no thunderstorms (average 1.7) or hail days (average 1.6) reported at Canberra Airport during winter. Bright sunshine averaged 6.1 hours per day, which is only slightly above the historical average of 6 hours per day. There were 52 frosts, just below the average of 58, and 8 fogs, compared to the average of 20. There were no official reports of snow in Canberra during winter, however, there were unofficial reports in the northern suburbs on the 10th August.

Further information

NSW Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 17.3°C at Canberra Airport on 26 Aug
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 13.0°C at Canberra Airport
13.0°C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 2.8°C at Mount Ginini AWS
12.2°C at Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 −3.5°C at Mount Ginini AWS on 10 Aug
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 −7.3°C at Mount Ginini AWS on 22 Jul
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 −2.3°C at Mount Ginini AWS
0.5°C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 1.6°C at Canberra Airport
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 10.6°C at Canberra Airport on 4 Jun
10.6°C at Tuggeranong (Isabella Plains) AWS on 4 Jun
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 289.0 mm at Mount Ginini AWS
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 37.6 mm at Bendora Dam on 8 Jul
35.4 mm at Mount Ginini AWS on 31 Aug
Highest wind gust
 78 km/h at Canberra Airport on 1 Jul

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Summaries

Summary statistics for winter 2008
Maximum temperatures
for winter
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for winter
(°C)		 Rainfall
for winter
(millimetres)
Mean for
winter
2008		 Diff
from
normal		 Highest for
winter
2008		 Mean for
winter
2008		 Diff
from
normal		 Lowest for
winter
2008		 Total for
winter
2008		 Normal
for
winter		 Rank of
winter
2008		 Fraction of
winter
normal
Canberra Airport 13.0 +0.8 17.3 26 Aug 1.6 +1.0 −5.3 19 Aug 82.6 128.3 low 64%
Mount Ginini AWS 2.8 10.7 17 Jun −2.3 −7.3 22 Jul 289.0
Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve 12.2 +0.5 16.0 14 Jul 0.8 −0.1 −4.0 17 Aug 169.9 243.5 low 70%
Tuggeranong 13.0 17.2 31 Aug 0.5 −5.3 25 Jul 103.6

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Monday, 1 September 2008. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

1Averages:  historical average temperatures and rainfall are based on all available records.

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 20 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.

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.

Further information

NSW Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au