Thursday 1 March 2007 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Sydney - Product code IDCKGC25L0
Sydney has a mild summer with a rainy end
Mild days along the coast. Above average rainfall in western suburbs.
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Details
- Mild summer - average maximum temperatures lowest for 7 years
- Slightly above average minimum temperatures
- Above average rainfall in western suburbs, slightly below average in the east
- Above average sunshine hours
Rainfall
The total summer rainfall of 227.2 mm at Observatory Hill was slightly below the historic summer average of 297.9 mm. There were 31 rain days, which is slightly below the historic average of 36 rain days. Almost half the summer rainfall total fell during February (107.6 mm) with December and January receiving below average totals. In a reversal of the usual pattern, the western suburbs received seasonal totals significantly higher than coastal suburbs, mainly due to the heavy rain in western Sydney during mid February. The highest summer total was 330.8 mm at Berowra in Sydney's north followed by 314 mm at Campbelltown and Springwood in the far west. The lowest was 201 mm at Sans Souci in the south.
Sydney's water catchments received above average rainfall during summer. Warragamba Dam recorded a summer total of 350 mm and Woronora Dam 438 mm. The historic summer average is around 304 mm for both sites.
Temperature
Below average maximum temperatures were experienced in coastal Sydney during summer. The average maximum (daytime) temperature at Observatory Hill was 25.5°C, which was below the historic average1 of 25.9°C. This is the mildest summer since 1999−2000 when the average maximum temperature was 25.3°C. Persistent cooling sea-breezes and frequent southerly changes contributed towards the mild conditions along the coast. Average maximum temperatures in the western suburbs were about 3−4°C warmer than coastal suburbs. There were only 4 hot days (temperature exceeding 30°C) at Sydney Observatory Hill during summer, only half the historic average of 8 hot days. In the western suburbs, Richmond recorded 37 hot days (historic average 38 days).
Average minimum (night-time) temperatures in Sydney were generally close to or slightly above the historic summer average. The average minimum at Observatory Hill of 19.3°C was 0.4°C above the historic average. Average minimum temperatures in the western suburbs were about 2°C cooler than coastal suburbs and were close to the summer historic average.
The highest temperature at Sydney Observatory Hill during summer was 38.7°C on 21 January while the lowest temperature was 13.4°C on 4 December. Corresponding extremes across the Sydney metropolitan area ranged from 42.0°C at Badgerys Creek on 21 January to 7.0°C at Campbelltown and Holsworthy on 26 December.
Other phenomena
Sunshine hours were slightly above average during summer at 8.0 hours per day (historic average 7.6 hours per day). There were 8thunderstorms recorded at Observatory Hill compared to the historic average of 9 storms for summer. Thunderstorms at Penrith on 24 February produced wind squalls of 104 km/h. Flooding from thunderstorms in the Campbelltown area occurred twice during February, on the 12th and 28th (for more details see February climate summary for Sydney).
Further information
Mike De SalisNSW Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1542
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au
Extremes for Sydney area
| Hottest day Highest temperature |
42.0°C at Badgerys Creek on 21 Jan 2007 |
|---|---|
| Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature |
30.3°C at Penrith |
| Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature |
25.5°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill) |
| Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature |
14.8°C at Springwood on 12 Dec 2006 |
| Coldest night Lowest temperature |
7.0°C at Holsworthy and Campbelltown on 26 Dec 2006 |
| Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature |
15.7°C at Springwood |
| Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature |
19.3°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill) |
| Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature |
22.8°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill) on 22 Jan 2007 22.8°C at Sydney Airport on 11 Feb 2007 |
| Wettest overall Highest total rainfall |
330.8 mm at Berowra |
| Driest overall Lowest total rainfall |
201.0 mm at Sans Souci |
| Wettest day Highest daily rainfall |
103.6 mm at Badgerys Creek on 12 Feb 2007 |
| Highest wind gust |
104 km/h at Penrith on 24 Feb 2007 |
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Summaries for Sydney area
| Summary statistics for summer 2006−07 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures for summer (°C) |
Minimum temperatures for summer (°C) |
Rainfall for summer (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for summer 2006−07 |
Diff from normal |
Highest for summer 2006−07 |
Mean for summer 2006−07 |
Diff from normal |
Lowest for summer 2006−07 |
Total for summer 2006−07 |
Normal for summer |
Rank of summer 2006−07 |
Fraction of summer normal |
|||
| Sydney (Observatory Hill) | 25.5 | −0.4 | 38.7 | 21 Jan 2007 | 19.3 | +0.4 | 13.4 | 4 Dec 2006 | 227.2 | 297.9 | normal | 76% |
| Parramatta | 28.1 | +0.2 | 41.0 | 21 Jan 2007 | 17.1 | +0.1 | 9.8 | 17 Dec 2006 | 303.1 | 299.7 | normal | 101% |
| Richmond | 29.6 | +0.7 | 40.9 | 12 Jan 2007 | 17.0 | −0.1 | 8.5 | 26 Dec 2006 | 287.6 | 270.6 | normal | 106% |
| Camden | 29.2 | +0.4 | 41.1 | 21 Jan 2007 | 16.5 | +0.4 | 9.1 | 26 Dec 2006 | 278.4 | 231.9 | normal | 120% |
| Springwood | 27.2 | 38.1 | 12 Jan 2007 | 15.7 | 8.2 | 26 Dec 2006 | 314.2 | 362.5 | normal | 87% | ||
| Terrey Hills* | 26.1 | 39.7 | 21 Jan 2007 | 17.0 | 9.6 | 26 Dec 2006 | 216.0 | |||||
* new station, no historic average temperatures available for Springwood and no historic average temperatures or average rainfall available for Terrey Hills
| Summary phenomena for Sydney for summer 2006−07 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Summer 2006−07 |
Normal for summer |
|
| Number of rain days |
31 |
36 |
| Average sunshine hours per day* |
8.0 |
7.6 |
| Average humidity at 3pm (%) |
62 |
62 |
| Number of thunderstorms |
8 |
9 |
| Number of windy days* |
28 |
17 |
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Notes
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 12 pm on Thursday 1 March 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.