Remote Islands and Antarctica in spring 2024

Australia's Indian Ocean islands

  • The spring rainfall total at Christmas Island Aero was 165.8 mm, noting that there were several days of missing observations in October and November, so a final rainfall total for spring may be higher.
  • At Christmas Island Aero, the mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures were above average, noting there was several days of missing temperature data in November.
  • At Cocos Island Airport, total spring rainfall was below average at 76.0 mm, noting that there were several days of missing observations in October and November, so a final rainfall total may be higher.
  • Both, the mean maximum and minimum temperatures at Cocos Island Airport were above average, noting there was several days of missing temperature data in November.

Australia's Pacific Ocean islands

Australia's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic territories

  • The strongest wind gust recorded at the Australian Antarctic stations during September was 157 km/h at Davis on the morning of the 24 September
  • At Casey and Mawson, both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were below average, while at Davis the mean maximum temperature was equal to the long-term average and the mean minimum temperature was above average.
  • Casey had its lowest spring mean maximum temperature for at least 20 years at -8.1 °C. The average for spring is -6.7 °C.
  • Spring precipitation at Macquarie Island was close to average at 222.8 mm, compared to the long-term average for spring at 229.7 mm.
  • At Macquarie Island, both the mean maximum and minimum temperatures were 0.5 °C above average.
  • The strongest wind gust recorded this spring at Macquarie Island was 120 km/h on the evening of 30 September.

Record highest spring mean maximum temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
Spring
Norfolk Island Aero 21.6 =21.6 in 1988 85 20.4
Lord Howe Island Aero 22.2 22.0 in 2020 35 21.1



Highest spring mean maximum temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)
Most recent
higher
Average for
Spring
Norfolk Island Aero 21.6 =21.6 in 1988 20.4
Cocos Island Airport 29.5 29.7 in 1999 28.7

note: there may be gaps in the historical record at some sites, so it is possible more recent higher values have gone unreported




Lowest spring mean maximum temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)
Most recent
higher
Average for
Spring
Casey -8.1 -8.5 in 1993 -6.7

note: there may be gaps in the historical record at some sites, so it is possible more recent lower values have gone unreported




Record highest spring mean minimum temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
Spring
Lord Howe Island Aero 16.8 16.6 in 2017 35 15.9
Christmas Island Aero 23.6 23.5 in 2015 48 22.7



Highest spring mean minimum temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)
Most recent
higher
Average for
Spring
Norfolk Island Aero 16.3 16.6 in 1988 15.0

note: there may be gaps in the historical record at some sites, so it is possible more recent higher values have gone unreported




Record highest spring mean temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
Spring
Lord Howe Island Aero 19.5 19.2 in 2020 35 18.5



Highest spring mean temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)
Most recent
higher
Average for
Spring
Norfolk Island Aero 19.0 19.1 in 1988 17.7
Cocos Island Airport 27.4 27.6 in 1999 26.5

note: there may be gaps in the historical record at some sites, so it is possible more recent higher values have gone unreported





Summary statistics for spring 2024
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
Spring
2024
Diff
from
average
Highest for
Spring
2024
Mean for
Spring
2024
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
Spring
2024
Total for
Spring
2024
Average
for
Spring
Rank of
Spring
2024
Fraction of
Spring
average
Offshore Islands
Lord Howe Island Aero 22.2 +1.1 26.1 29 Nov 2024 16.8 +0.9 9.7 15 Sep 2024 292.5 325.7 average 90%
Norfolk Island Aero 21.6 +1.2 24.5 14 Nov 2024 16.3 +1.3 12.6 16 Sep 2024 133.8 250.7 v low 53%
Christmas Island Aero 27.6 +0.7 28.9 03 Nov 2024 23.7 +1.0 19.9 22 Sep 2024 165.8 299.3 average 55%
Cocos Island Airport 29.5 +0.8 31.4 29 Nov 2024 25.4 +1.1 22.1 06 Sep 2024 76.0 268.7 low 28%
Antarctica and Macquarie Island
Casey -8.1 -1.4 1.4 29 Nov 2024 -15.2 -1.5 -30.7 11 Sep 2024 35.4 44.9 average 79%
Davis -7.8 0.0 1.9 22 Nov 2024 -13.7 +0.4 -27.3 21 Sep 2024 4.0 11.3 lowest 36%
Macquarie Island 6.5 +0.5 9.2 17 Nov 2024 2.6 +0.5 -3.2 17 Sep 2024 222.8 229.7 average 97%
Mawson -9.2 -0.4 0.2 29 Nov 2024 -15.5 -0.4 -26.7 15 Sep 2024

Map of the areas covered by this summary

Notes

The Monthly climate summary, usually published in the first week of the following month, lists the main features of the weather in Remote Islands and Antarctica using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated.

This statement has been prepared based on information available on Monday 2 December 2024. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases, the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.

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.

Information about Australian Indigenous seasonal calendars is available at the Indigenous Weather Knowledge website.

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