Thursday 1 June 2017 — Seasonal Climate Summary for Australia — Product Code IDCKGC1A00

Australia in autumn 2017

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

In Brief

• A very warm autumn for most of Australia
• Mean temperature amongst top ten for Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania and South Australia
• Mean maximum temperature seventh warmest on record for Australia, and amongst top ten for all but Western Australia
• Days warmest on record for an area of western Queensland
• Mean minimum temperatures above average nationally, also amongst top ten for Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania
• A very mixed season for rainfall:
• wetter than average for the east coast, western Victoria and parts of Western Australia
• drier than average for western Tasmania, western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory, and west of Western Australia
• Severe tropical cyclone Debbie caused March flooding in Queensland and New South Wales

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Temperatures

The autumn mean temperature was above average for Australia, with an anomaly of +0.82 °C. All states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory ranked amongst the warmest ten autumns on record for mean temperatures. March was exceptionally warm for the eastern half of Australia, while the April mean temperature was close to average over much of the continent, and May was very warm for daytime temperatures in the north.

Mean maximum temperatures were very much above average (+1.21 °C) for Australia as a whole, coming in as seventh warmest on record for autumn nationally. Autumn maxima were amongst the top ten warmest for the Northern Territory and all states except Western Australia. National mean minimum temperatures were also above average, with an anomaly of +0.42 °C, though only Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania placed amongst the ten warmest autumns for their state.

Maximum temperatures for autumn were above to very much above average for most of the Northern Territory; along the eastern boarder of Western Australia south of the Kimberley; across all of South Australia; most of Queensland except an area just inland of the coast in central east and inland of the ranges in the south; inland New South Wales; all of Victoria and Tasmania; and an area of Western Australia between the western Pilbara and Central Wheat Belt. Maxima were warmest on record for autumn for an area of western Queensland and an adjacent area of the Northern Territory.

Mean minimum temperatures were also above to very much above average for most of eastern Australia, the east of South Australia, and the northern half and far southeast of the Northern Territory. Minimum temperatures were mostly near average for Western Australia during autumn, although they were cooler than average for an area spanning the southwestern Northern Territory and the adjacent eastern interior and southeastern Kimberley in Western Australia. They were also cooler than average for a smaller area of the western Eucla, reaching inland into the Nullarbor Plain.

Areal average temperatures
	Maximum Temperature			Minimum Temperature			Mean Temperature
	Rank (of 108)	Anomaly (°C)	Comment	Rank (of 108)	Anomaly (°C)	Comment	Rank (of 108)	Anomaly (°C)	Comment
Australia	102	+1.21	7th highest	= 88	+0.42		97	+0.82
Queensland	102	+1.53	7th highest	99	+0.99	10th highest	= 104	+1.26	equal 4th highest (record +2.34 °C in 2016)
New South Wales	97	+1.01		95	+0.87		99	+0.94	10th highest
Victoria	101	+1.21	8th highest	99	+0.95	10th highest	105	+1.08	4th highest (record +1.87 °C in 2016)
Tasmania	101	+0.95	8th highest	100	+0.72	equal 8th highest	104	+0.84	5th highest
South Australia	102	+1.46	7th highest	78	+0.36		97	+0.91
Western Australia	84	+0.73		59	−0.10		79	+0.32
Northern Territory	102	+1.66	7th highest	80	+0.29		93	+0.98

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 108 (highest). A rank marked with ’=‘ indicates the value is tied for that rank. Anomaly is the departure from the long-term (1961–1990) average.

Temperature maps
	Mean	Anomaly	Deciles
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures
Mean daily temperatures

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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Rainfall

Rainfall for autumn was slightly below average for Australia as a whole, but varied markedly across the country.

Rainfall for the season was above to very much above average from the central base of the Cape York Peninsula in Queensland, along the east coast to southeastern New South Wales, extending into parts of central New South Wales. Severe tropical cyclone Debbie brought heavy rainfall and floods to parts of eastern Queensland and northeastern New South Wales at the end of March (see Monthly Weather Review), with numerous monthly and daily rainfall records set in Queensland and New South Wales. Heavy rain in Queensland on the 18th and 19th of May also contributed to high seasonal totals between the Gulf Country and the tropical and central coasts, with some locations setting monthly rainfall records for May in part due to this event.

Above average rainfall was also observed in western Victoria and adjacent parts of New South Wales border country and southeastern South Australia; an area of central South Australia; the coastal Top End in the Northern Territory; and areas of Western Australia's between the southern Kimberley and southern interior, and along a broad strip extending from the eastern Pilbara coast to the western Eucla coast.

Rainfall for the season was below average for much of western and southwestern Queensland, extending across the eastern half of the Northern Territory south of the Top End; on each of the Yorke, Eyre, and Fleurieu peninsulas in South Australia; across the west of Western Australia from the far western Pilbara to the south coast around Esperance; and across the west of Tasmania.

In Western Australia the South West Land Division recorded its 11th-driest autumn on record, and driest autumn since 2012, while total rainfall for the season was approximately one-fifth of average for coastal regions to the north of Perth, and was the driest autumn for at least two decades at many locations. Rainfall was below average in the west of Western Australia for both April and May.

In western and southern Tasmania rainfall was below average for both March and April, resulting in the emergence of serious rainfall deficiencies in some parts of western and southern Tasmania for periods commencing February or March. The Drought Statement discusses these deficiencies and will be updated within the next week to reflect rainfall to the end of May.

Area-average rainfall
	Rank (of 118)	Average (mm)	Departure from mean	Comment
Australia	69	113.5	−6%
Queensland	76	157.8	−3%
New South Wales	92	153.2	+7%
Victoria	80	162.0	+3%
Tasmania	20	256.6	−25%
South Australia	58	42.9	−24%
Western Australia	66	94.4	+5%
Northern Territory	51	104.4	−25%
Murray-Darling Basin	81	115.7	−3%

Rank ranges from 1 (lowest) to 118 (highest). A rank marked with ’=‘ indicates the value is tied for that rank. Departure from mean is relative to the long-term (1961–1990) average.

Rainfall maps
	Totals	Percentages	Deciles
Total rainfall

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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Australian weather extremes in autumn 2017
Hottest day	44.6 °C	at Mandora (WA) on 5 March
Coldest day	−1.8 °C	at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on 29 May
Coldest night	−8.5 °C	at Thredbo AWS (NSW) on 3 May
Warmest night	30.2 °C	at Oodnadatta Airport (SA) on 27 March
Wettest day	635.0 mm	at Mt Jukes (Qld.) on 30 March

Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top

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