Monday, 1 December 2008 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Sydney - Greater Sydney - Product code IDCKGC25x0
Variable spring temperatures in Sydney and average rainfall
Summary
Sydney had a warm spring with close to average rainfall. Except for the Richmond area, both daytime and night-time temperatures were about 1°C above the historic averages. As is typical for spring, daily temperatures were quite variable with several hot days often followed by periods of cool to cold and wet weather.
An archive of previous seasonal summaries for Sydney - Greater Sydney is also available, as are summaries for other states and many other climate summaries and diagnostics.
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Details
- rainfall was close to average
- warm days - average daytime temperatures about 1°C above the historical average
- mild nights - average minimum temperature half to 1°C above historical average
- slightly below average sunshine
Rainfall
The total spring rainfall of 239.0 mm at Sydney (Observatory Hill) was close to the historic spring average1 of 230 mm. The rain was fairly evenly distributed over the 3-month period. There were 39 rain days, which is above the historic average of 33 rain days. The highest spring rainfall totals were on Sydney's North Shore with Turramurra recording 308 mm for the season. The lowest totals were in western Sydney with Willmot recording only 123 mm for the season.
Most of Sydney's spring rainfall was associated with two east coast lows (on 5th September and 20th November) and several low pressure troughs (on 15th October, 15th and 29th November). Thunderstorms brought the majority of the rainfall during November.
Sydney's Warragamba Dam catchment area recorded quite variable spring rainfall totals ranging from 150 mm in the upper catchment to 250 mm in parts of the lower catchment. Katoomba, on the catchment divide, recorded a total of 334 mm during spring. Storage levels have fallen only slightly over the spring period. Recent rainfall and current levels in Sydney's water catchments can be found on the Sydney Catchment Authority web site http://www.sca.nsw.gov.au/dams/rainfall.html
Temperatures
The average maximum (daytime) temperature at Observatory Hill during spring was 22.7°C, which is 0.9°C above the historic average1 of 21.8°C. This falls in about the warmest 15% of all springs over the past 150 years of record. The western suburbs recorded spring temperatures closer to the historic average with Richmond and Penrith the only sites to record below average maximum temperatures.
Sydney's nights during the season were generally mild and above the historic average minimum temperature. The average minimum at Observatory Hill of 14.5°C was 1.1°C above the historic spring average1 of 13.4°C. This ranks as equal 9th warmest over the 150 year record. It is also the 16th consecutive spring with above average minimum temperatures at Observatory Hill. The mild overnight conditions along the coast was partly due to the moderating influence of the ocean and mild NE - NW winds, especially during September. The slightly higher than normal cloud cover over the season also contributed towards the mild nights.
The highest temperature at Sydney Observatory Hill during spring was 35.0°C on 31 October while the lowest temperature was 7.0°C on 10 September. Corresponding extremes over the Greater Sydney area ranged from a high of 37.0°C at Sydney Airport on 31 October to a low of −0.3°C at Camden Airport AWS on 11 September.
Wind
There were 20 windy days* in coastal Sydney during spring, close to the historic average of 19 windy days. The prevailing coastal wind direction during spring afternoons was E-NE for 50% of the time compared to the normal 42% from this direction. The highest wind gust recorded in the Sydney region was 100 km/h at Wattamolla (Royal National Park) on the 6 September associated with an east coast low pressure system.
Other phenomena
There were 5 days on which thunderstorms were reported at the Sydney Observatory Hill site during spring which is below the historic average of 8 for the season. The most severe was on 29 November when 3cm hail was reported from several suburbs. There was a mix of clear sunny days and overcast days during spring associated with the periods of warmer and cooler temperatures. The average sunshine was 7.6 hours per day, slightly below the historic spring average of 7.8 hours per day.
Further information
NSW Climate Services Centre
NSW Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au
* Windy day defined as average wind speed of 40 km/hr or more over a 10 minute period.
Extremes
| Hottest day Highest temperature |
37.0°C at Sydney Airport on 31 Oct |
|---|---|
| Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature |
25.0°C at Penrith Lakes AWS |
| Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature |
21.9°C at Terrey Hills AWS |
| Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature |
11.6°C at Springwood on 5 Sep |
| Coldest night Lowest temperature |
−0.3°C at Camden Airport AWS on 11 Sep |
| Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature |
10.1°C at Campbelltown (Mount Annan) |
| Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature |
14.5°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill) |
| Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature |
22.5°C at Sydney (Observatory Hill) on 3 Oct |
| Wettest overall Highest total rainfall |
308.2 mm at Turramurra
|
| Driest overall Lowest total rainfall | 123.0 mm at Willmot |
| Wettest day Highest daily rainfall |
84.6 mm at West Pymble on 6 Sep |
| Highest wind gust |
100 km/h at Wattamolla (Royal N.P.) on the 6 Sep |
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Records
Nil recordedJump to: Extremes Records Summaries Notes the top
Summaries
This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.
| Summary statistics for spring 2008 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures for spring (°C) |
Minimum temperatures for spring (°C) |
Rainfall for spring (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for spring 2008 |
Diff from average |
Highest for spring 2008 |
Mean for spring 2008 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for spring 2008 |
Total for spring 2008 |
Average for spring |
Rank of spring 2008 |
Fraction of spring average |
|||
| Sydney (Observatory Hill) | 22.7 | +0.9 | 35.0 | 31 Oct | 14.5 | +1.1 | 7.0 | 10 Sep | 239.0 | 229.9 | average | 104% |
| Bankstown Airport AWS | 24.1 | +0.7 | 35.8 | 31 Oct | 12.0 | +0.5 | 3.1 | 11 Sep | 166.0 | 182.6 | average | 91% |
| Camden Airport AWS | 24.0 | +0.1 | 35.9 | 14 Nov | ** | −0.3 | 11 Sep | 173.0 | 182.2 | average | 95% | |
| Liverpool | 24.7 | +1.2 | 35.8 | 31 Oct | 11.2 | 0.0 | 1.4 | 11 Sep | 182.8 | 184.4 | average | 99% |
| Parramatta North | 23.9 | +0.3 | 35.4 | 31 Oct | 12.3 | +0.6 | 4.2 | 2 Sep | 228.5 | 206.2 | average | 111% |
| Penrith Lakes AWS | 25.0 | −0.2 | 36.5 | 14 Nov | 12.3 | +0.2 | 3.1 | 11 Sep | 181.2 | 170.8 | average | 106% |
| Prospect Reservoir | 24.4 | +1.1 | 35.8 | 14 Nov | 12.0 | +0.1 | 3.1 | 10 Sep | 176.5 | 179.8 | average | 98% |
| Richmond RAAF | 23.8 | −1.0 | 35.0 | 14 Nov | 10.6 | −0.4 | 0.5 | 2 Sep | 178.0 | 198.3 | low | 90% |
| Springwood* | 23.0 | 34.0 | 14 Nov | 11.6 | 3.1 | 11 Sep | 202.6 | 226.4 | average | 89% | ||
| Terrey Hills* AWS | 21.9 | 34.9 | 31 Oct | 12.9 | 5.3 | 10 Sep | 261.4 | |||||
* new stations, no historic average temperatures available and no historic average rainfall available for Terrey Hills
** missing data during September, no average minimum available
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Notes
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 1 pm on Monday 1 December 2008. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.
Averages 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 long-term average 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,
average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a
percentage of the long-term mean.
Further information
NSW Climate Services CentreNSW Regional Office
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (02) 9296 1555
Email reqnsw@bom.gov.au