Monday, 3 March 2014 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Canberra - Product code IDCKGC15R0

Canberra in summer 2013-14: Hot, dry summer for Canberra

• Third-warmest summer on record for mean maximum temperatures
• Record-breaking numbers of days above 35 °C, 38 °C and 40 °C
• Two record-breaking hot spells
• Well below average rainfall; driest summer since 2002-03

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall - Driest summer since 2002-3

Canberra Airport recorded 111.6 mm of rain during summer 2013-14, well below the historical average of 170.7 mm and the driest summer since 2002-03 (84.8 mm). Conditions were very dry during the first half of summer, associated with the persistence of high pressure over the continent and a lack of major rain events, with the fourth-driest December-January on record (28 mm). This was followed by above average rainfall during February, with surface troughs and storms producing substantial rainfall mid-month.

There were seventeen rain days during the season(average 22) but only five recorded at least 5 mm (average 9 days). Most of the rain fell between 16-20 February (73.2 mm), with falls on the 20th reaching 33.2 mm at the airport and 86.4 mm at Tuggeranong, causing flooding across the ACT. Thunderstorms also produced localised falls of 42 mm at Tharwa on 16 December, but little rainfall at the airport.

Temperature - Most hot days on record

The average maximum temperature at Canberra Airport during summer 2013-14 was 29.8 °C, 2.7 °C above the historical average. This is the third-warmest summer on record for Canberra, following 29.9 °C in the summers of 1990-91 and 2005-06. Temperatures were well above average during all three months, associated with the generally dry and sunny conditions and several significant heat events.

There were 43 days that reached at least 30 °C during the season, well above the average of 26 days and the most since 2006-07. Twenty of these days reached at least 35 °C, four times the historical average of 5 days and substantially higher than the previous record of 14 days in 2005-6. A record eleven days reached at least 38 °C (average 1 day; previous record 5 days in 2009-10) and three days reached at least 40 °C, among only 13 such days ever recorded at Canberra.

These temperatures included two exceptionally hot spells, with five consecutive days above 37 °C between 14 and 18 January and a further six consecutive days above 37 °C between 29 January and 3 February - such a spell has only been recorded once before, during the five days 6 to 10 January 1979.

The average minimum temperature during summer was 12.4 °C, close to the historical average of 12.5 °C. The mean temperature was consequently 21.1 °C, 1.3 °C above the historical average.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top