Thursday, 1 June 2017 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Brisbane - Product code IDCKGC24L0

Brisbane in autumn 2017: Above average rainfall; warm nights

Brisbane had well above average autumn rainfall. A wet March, but a dry April and May followed. Daytime temperatures were slightly above average, while overnight temperatures were well above average for autumn. Flooding in late March and early April from ex-tropical cyclone Debbie.

A wet autumn overall

  • Well above average autumn rainfall was recorded in Brisbane
  • A very wet March, with record heavy falls associated with the passage of ex-tropical cyclone Debbie
  • Wet March followed by a very dry April for Brisbane (less than 10% of the April average received); and below average rainfall in May

Warm autumn overall; some hot days

  • Mean maximum temperatures were slightly above the long-term average at all locations; mean minimum temperatures well above average 
  • Hot days at the start of the season, with the warmest autumn day occurring on 17 March; it was the hottest autumn day in 23 years at the Brisbane Aero
  • Warm nights overall, with most locations recording more than 1 °C above average

Flooding and strong winds from ex-tropical cyclone Debbie

  • Waterford, on the Logan River, peaked at 10.4 m on the evening of 1 April, the highest since the flood peak of 12.95 m in January 1974
  • A peak wind gust of  115km/h was recorded at Redcliffe on the evening of 30 March, as ex-tropical cyclone Debbie tracked over the southeast

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
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Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes in autumn 2017
Hottest day 36.7 °C at Amberley AMO on 17 Mar
Warmest days on average 27.3 °C at Amberley AMO and at Archerfield Airport
Coolest days on average 25.7 °C at Redcliffe
Coldest day 18.9 °C at Brisbane Aero on 10 May
Coldest night 3.2 °C at Amberley AMO on 31 May
Coolest nights on average 14.6 °C at Amberley AMO
Warmest nights on average 18.3 °C at Redcliffe
Warmest night 24.7 °C at Redcliffe on 29 Mar
Warmest on average overall 22.5 °C at Brisbanet
Coolest on average overall 21.0 °C at Amberley AMO
Wettest overall 541.2 mm at Brisbane Botanic Gardens Mt Coot-Tha
Driest overall 328.6 mm at Amberley AMO
Wettest day 221.0 mm at Oxley on 31 Mar
Strongest wind gust 115 km/h at Redcliffe on 30 Mar

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Record highest autumn daily rainfall

New record
(mm)		 Old
record		 Years of
record
Amberley AMO 143.6 on 31 Mar 140.0 on 21 May 2009 76
Oxley 221.0 on 31 Mar 172.7 on 3 Apr 1972 46


Record highest autumn temperature

New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
autumn
Brisbane Aero 34.9 on 17 Mar 34.2 on 30 Mar 2007 23 25.9


Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for autumn 2017

Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
autumn
2017		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
autumn
2017		 Mean for
autumn
2017		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
autumn
2017		 Total for
autumn
2017		 Average
for
autumn		 Rank of
autumn
2017		 Fraction of
autumn
average
Amberley AMO 27.3 +0.4 36.7 17 Mar 14.6 +0.7 3.2 31 May 328.6 194.2 high 169%
Archerfield Airport 27.3 +0.8 34.5 17 Mar 16.2 +1.1 8.2 16 May 451.6 279.1 high 162%
Brisbane^ 27.2 +0.3 35.7 17 Mar 17.9 +0.9 11.2 31 May ^340.0 303.0 high 112%
Brisbane Aero 26.0 +0.1 34.9 17 Mar 17.2 +0.9 9.0 31 May 337.8 284.5 average 119%
Logan City Water Treatment Plant 26.6 +0.3 34.8 5 Mar 16.8 +0.9 10.9 16 May 449.2 313.1 high 143%
Redcliffe 25.7 0.0 32.0 18 Mar 18.3 +0.8 11.8 31 May 349.8 300.9 average 116%

^Brisbane had missing rainfall observations during autumn, therefore the true total is unknown, but likely to be higher. Average calculated using old (closed) and new (open) sites. 

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

The Seasonal climate summary, generally published on the first working day of each month, lists the main features of the weather in Brisbane using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Thursday 1 June 2017. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Averages for individual sites 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.

Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries