Monday, 3 June 2013 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC17R0

Tasmania in autumn 2013: Hot start, cold finish, warm and dry overall

March was exceptionally warm, several sites observing their highest autumn temperature on record, but then in May Launceston and Devonport observed their coldest autumn day on record. Local heavy rain events in the north and in the southeast saw some sites break autumn daily rainfall records, but most areas had below average autumn rainfall overall.

• Both record warm and record cold temperatures
• Launceston's warmest autumn days on record
• Isolated, record heavy rain in the north and southeast
• Below average autumn rain for most areas

Monthly summaries have also been prepared for March, April and May. The heatwave that affected southeast Australia in early March was discussed in a Special Climate Statement.

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

A record warm start, but a cold finish

Autumn 2013 started off very warm: March 2013 was Tasmania's warmest on record, with a prolonged heatwave affecting Tasmania between the 2nd and 13th. Several sites, including Launceston, recorded their highest autumn temperature on record during this period, with some sites also observing their warmest autumn night on record. Bushy Park's 37.4 °C on the 12th was the highest temperature observed in autumn 2013, Burnie's 21.2 °C that morning the warmest night of the season.

The rest of autumn had a mix of both warm and cool weather. A notable run of warm days and nights from the 7 to 12 May was followed by especially cold temperatures in cloudy and wet conditions on 20 May, when both Launceston and Devonport observed their coldest autumn day on record. Liawenee recorded a low of -7.0 °C that morning, the coldest temperature of the season. Earlier that month, Mount Wellington recorded a maximum of just -0.6 °C on the 4th, the coldest day of autumn 2013.

Record falls in the north and southeast

Some localised heavy rain events pushed autumn rainfall totals above average in parts of the north and southeast of Tasmania, but autumn rain was below average elsewhere. This is in stark contrast to the generally wet autumn 2012.

There were two significant rainfall events in autumn. On 21 March thunderstorms produced heavy rain across northern Tasmania, some sites breaking autumn daily rainfall records. On the morning of 9 April isolated showers produced very heavy rain in the southeast, Eaglehawk Neck's 156.4 mm its wettest autumn day on record. Other wet events were overnight on 3 May when a cold front delivered daily rainfall totals of around 50 mm to the west, and between 14 and 16 May when a low in Bass Strait brought daily falls of up to 65 mm to the north.

The driest overall was Tunbridge with just 52 mm for the whole of autumn, whilst the wettest was Mount Read with 957 mm.

A warm autumn overall

Autumn temperatures were warmer than average overall, by up about 1.5 to 2 °C by day and about 0.5 to 1.0 °C by night. A few sites (including Launceston) had their highest mean daily maximum temperature, or their warmest for many years.

Damaging winds, fires and hail

The windiest day of autumn was 27 April when an approaching cold front directed very strong northwesterly winds across Tasmania. Maximum wind gusts reached 156 km/h at Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse, the strongest wind gust of autumn, 96 km/h in Hobart and 113 km/h at Cape Bruny.

The winds pushed temperatures into the low twenties in the southeast, the warm and very windy conditions causing late-season bush fires to flare near Tea Tree, Cygnet, Judbury, Ouse and Campania. The strong winds also caused some damage to property and downed trees and power lines, leaving thousands of premises without power across Tasmania. A few days later, thunderstorms blanketed the Launceston area with small hail on 1 May, contributing to a number of car crashes.

A warm and dry autumn in Hobart

Autumn was warmer and drier than usual in Hobart. 93 mm of rain was recorded, much less than Hobart's autumn average of 143 mm. It rained on 35 days, close to the autumn average of 37 days, but only 5 days of those days saw 5 mm or more recorded (the autumn average is 8 days).

Hobart's autumn mean maximum temperature was 1.7 °C above average at 19.0 °C, with markedly more warm days than usual. The temperature reached 20 °C or more on 34 days, much more than Hobart's autumn average of 23 days. The autumn mean minimum temperature of 10.0 °C was also warmer than usual, by 1.1 °C. The coldest morning was a chilly 1.6 °C on 20 May, Hobart's coldest autumn morning since 2010.

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Extremes in autumn 2013
Hottest day	37.4 °C at Bushy Park (Bushy Park Estates) on 12 Mar
Warmest days on average	20.2 °C at Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)
Coolest days on average	9.6 °C at Mount Wellington
Coldest day	-0.6 °C at Mount Wellington on 4 May
Coldest night	-7.0 °C at Liawenee on 20 May
Coolest nights on average	2.3 °C at Liawenee
Warmest nights on average	12.7 °C at Swan Island
Warmest night	21.2 °C at Burnie (Round Hill) on 12 Mar
Warmest on average overall	15.9 °C at Larapuna (Eddystone Point)
Coolest on average overall	6.3 °C at Mount Wellington
Wettest overall	957.4 mm at Mount Read
Driest overall	52.4 mm at Tunbridge (Austin-Vale)
Wettest day	156.4 mm at Eaglehawk Neck (Jetty Road) on 9 Apr
Highest wind gust	156 km/h at Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse on 27 Apr

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

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Record highest autumn daily rainfall
	Highest daily rainfall in autumn 2013 (mm)		Previous wettest for autumn		Years of record
Eaglehawk Neck (Jetty Road)	156.4	on 9 Apr	110.2	on 27 May 1947	92
Poatina (Billopp)	90.2	on 22 Mar	80.6	on 13 Mar 1989	65
Dunorlan (Sharmans Road)	82.4	on 22 Mar	80.0	on 30 May 1971	62

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Record highest autumn temperature
	Highest temperature in autumn 2013 (°C)		Previous warmest for autumn		Years of record	Average for autumn
Marrawah	29.8	on 6 Mar	= 29.8	on 12 Mar 1998	43	16.9
Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)	33.0	on 7 Mar	32.9	on 17 Mar 2008	32	19.0
Strathgordon Village	33.1	on 12 Mar	31.5	on 14 Mar 1985	32	14.3
Wynyard Airport	30.3	on 7 Mar	28.9	on 10 Mar 2008	28	17.6
Geeveston (Cemetery Road)	36.8	on 12 Mar	36.4	on 1 Mar 1989	27	17.3
Dover	37.0	on 12 Mar	36.5	on 13 Mar 1998	24	16.9
Strahan Aerodrome	35.4	on 12 Mar	34.3	on 17 Mar 2008	22	16.7
Maydena Post Office	35.7	on 12 Mar	35.2	on 17 Mar 2008	21	16.1

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Record lowest autumn daily maximum temperature
	Lowest daily maximum temperature in autumn 2013 (°C)		Previous coolest for autumn		Years of record	Average for autumn
Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)	9.0	on 20 May	9.6	on 12 May 2011	32	19.0
Devonport Airport	8.8	on 20 May	9.4	on 29 May 1997	22	17.7

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Record highest autumn mean daily maximum temperature
	Mean daily maximum temperature for autumn 2013 (°C)	Previous warmest for autumn		Years of record	Average for autumn
Cape Sorell	17.6	17.2	in 1956*	72	15.6
Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)	20.2	20.1	in 2010	29	19.0
Cape Grim BAPS (Comparison)	17.6	17.5	in 2007	20	16.5
Strahan Aerodrome	18.1	17.7	in 2007	20	16.7

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported.

Highest autumn mean daily maximum temperature for at least 20 years
	Mean daily maximum temperature for autumn 2013 (°C)	Most recent autumn at least this warm		Years since warmer	Average for autumn
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	15.7	16.2	in 1985	28	14.5
Marrawah	18.1	18.5	in 1989	24	16.9
Dover	17.8	18.0	in 1990	23	16.9
Flinders Island Airport	20.0	=20.0	in 1989*	23	18.7
Geeveston (Cemetery Road)	18.3	18.7	in 1990*	22	17.3
Mount Wellington	9.7	11.1	in 1993	20	8.4

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported.

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Record highest autumn daily minimum temperature
	Highest daily minimum temperature in autumn 2013 (°C)		Previous warmest for autumn		Years of record	Average for autumn
Hobart Airport	20.4	on 13 Mar	19.8	on 18 Mar 1967	55	8.7
Burnie (Round Hill)	21.2	on 12 Mar	20.7	on 11 Mar 1974	49	10.1
Marrawah	20.0	on 12 Mar	19.2	on 3 Mar 1974	43	10.3
Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)	19.1	on 10 Mar	19.0	on 21 Mar 2012	32	7.5
Scamander	20.0	on 13 Mar	= 20.0	on 12 Mar 1974	31	9.7
Wynyard Airport	21.0	on 12 Mar	18.9	on 10 Mar 2001	28	7.3
Cape Grim BAPS (Comparison)	19.8	on 12 Mar	19.0	on 10 Mar 2001	22	11.5

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Highest autumn mean temperature for at least 20 years
	Mean daily temperature for autumn 2013 (°C)	Most recent autumn at least this warm		Years since warmer	Average for autumn
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	13.2	13.4	in 1985	28	12.0

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Summary statistics for autumn 2013
	Maximum temperatures for autumn (°C)				Minimum temperatures for autumn (°C)				Rainfall for autumn (millimetres)
	Mean for autumn 2013	Diff from average	Highest for autumn 2013		Mean for autumn 2013	Diff from average	Lowest for autumn 2013		Total for autumn 2013	Average for autumn	Rank of autumn 2013	Fraction of autumn average
Northern (district 91)
Bridport (Sea View Villas)	18.7	+0.4	27.1	12 Mar	9.7	+0.1	2.7	2 May	177.3	169.5	average	105%
Burnie (Round Hill)	18.8	+1.1	26.5	7 Mar	11.0	+0.9	4.2	19 May	232.8	218.7	average	106%
Cape Grim	17.3		25.5	10 Mar	12.0		5.1	19 Apr	177.2
Cape Grim BAPS (Comparison)	17.6	+1.1	25.7	10 Mar	12.0	+0.5	5.3	19 Apr	156.4	189.7	average	82%
Cressy Research Station	19.4	+0.8	34.3	7 Mar	5.7	0.0	-4.0	20 May	153.0	130.0	average	118%
Devonport Airport	18.3	+0.6	26.6	12 Mar	9.0	+0.3	0.8	19 May	205.0	182.1	average	113%
Launceston (Ti Tree Bend)	20.2	+1.2	33.0	7 Mar	7.4	-0.1	-1.5	19 May	140.2	152.2	average	92%
Launceston Airport	19.3		33.9	7 Mar	6.6		-1.7	6 May	134.2
Low Head	18.0	+0.4	25.8	10 Mar	11.3	+0.1	4.4	2 May	245.0	164.8	high	149%
Luncheon Hill (Forestry)	17.1	+1.4	31.7	10 Mar	8.8	+0.6	0.9	19 Apr	334.0	341.9	average	98%
Marrawah	18.1	+1.2	29.8	6 Mar	10.8	+0.5	3.0	19 Apr	249.2	256.3	average	97%
Scottsdale (West Minstone Road)	18.4	+0.4	32.0	7 Mar	8.2	+0.3	0.4	2 May	233.0	232.0	average	100%
Sheffield School Farm	17.5	+0.9	31.0	7 Mar	7.3	+0.1	-0.3	5 May
Smithton Aerodrome	18.7	+0.9	32.5	7 Mar	7.9	+0.1	-1.8	20 Apr	189.0	186.6	average	101%
Wynyard Airport	18.4	+0.8	30.3	7 Mar	7.9	+0.6	-0.5	20 Apr	209.2	218.3	average	96%
East Coast (district 92)
Bicheno (Council Depot)	19.2	+0.6	28.5	13 Mar	10.7	+0.4	3.5	2 May	125.1	173.4	average	72%
Fingal (Legge Street)	19.1	+0.8	32.6	6 Mar	5.0	-0.4	-4.6	30 Apr	121.2	146.9	average	83%
Friendly Beaches	19.6	+0.9	28.9	12 Mar	10.3	+0.3	2.5	7 May	127.2	170.3	average	75%
Lake Leake (Elizabeth River)	15.3	+1.0	28.9	12 Mar	4.0	-0.1	-4.3	20 May	135.1	204.5	low	66%
Larapuna (Eddystone Point)	19.9	+1.8	27.8	12 Mar	11.8	+0.3	4.4	19 May	127.6	189.9	low	67%
Maria Island (Point Lesueur)	18.1		27.7	27 Mar	11.6		5.9	20 May	63.6
Orford (Aubin Court)	18.7	+0.5	31.0	27 Mar			0.7	7 May	85.6	162.5	low	53%
St Helens Aerodrome	19.2	+0.8	32.7	6 Mar	9.6	+0.2	1.8	5 May	121.6	168.3	average	72%
Swan Island	18.9	+0.8	27.1	27 Mar	12.7	+0.1	5.5	5 May	148.6	155.1	average	96%
Swansea (Francis Street)	19.6		32.8	27 Mar	8.7		-0.1	20 May	78.5
Midlands (district 93)
Ross (The Boulevards)	19.1	+1.3	33.6	7 Mar	5.1	-0.5	-5.3	20 May	92.0	100.6	average	91%
Southeast (district 94)
Campania (Kincora)	20.1	+1.2	35.7	12 Mar	7.8	+0.2	-1.4	28 May	69.8	103.0	low	68%
Cape Bruny (Cape Bruny)	17.3	+0.9	35.5	12 Mar	10.4	+0.3	4.3	20 May	183.6	172.9	average	106%
Cape Bruny Lighthouse	16.8	+1.3	33.8	12 Mar	10.5	+0.8	4.4	20 May	191.9	232.0	average	83%
Dennes Point	18.2		33.5	12 Mar	10.5		3.9	28 May	141.8
Dover	17.8	+0.9	37.0	12 Mar	7.6	+0.3	-0.5	20 May	163.0	202.5	average	80%
Dunalley (Stroud Point)	18.3		31.3	27 Mar	11.2		4.8	20 May	139.0
Geeveston (Cemetery Road)	18.3	+1.0	36.8	12 Mar	6.7	+0.2	-2.9	20 May	139.0	192.6	low	72%
Grove (Research Station)	19.0		37.3	12 Mar	6.1		-3.5	28 May	118.4
Hobart (Ellerslie Road)	19.0	+1.7	36.6	12 Mar	10.0	+1.1	1.6	20 May	92.8	142.5	low	65%
Hobart Airport	19.3	+1.3	36.1	12 Mar	9.0	+0.3	2.0	20 May	84.2	114.5	average	74%
Maatsuyker Island Lighthouse	15.7	+1.2	30.2	12 Mar	10.7	+1.2	5.7	4 May	256.0	308.5	average	83%
Melton Mowbray (North Stockman)	18.6	+1.2	34.6	12 Mar	6.0	-0.1	-5.4	20 May	68.0	90.7	average	75%
Mount Wellington	9.7	+1.3	26.1	12 Mar	3.1	+0.9	-3.9	4 May
Tasman Island	16.0	+1.0	26.2	5 Mar	10.4	+0.6	4.5	4 May	186.2	211.9	average	88%
Tunnack Fire Station	16.7	+1.2	31.2	6 Mar	5.1	-0.3	-6.0	20 May	97.8	138.6	average	71%
Derwent Valley (district 95)
Bushy Park (Bushy Park Estates)	19.7	+1.7	37.4	12 Mar	5.7	-0.5	-4.7	28 May	73.0	130.7	v low	56%
Maydena Post Office	17.3	+1.2	35.7	12 Mar	5.3	-0.3	-0.5	24 May	210.6	246.3	low	86%
Ouse Fire Station	19.4	+0.9	36.4	12 Mar	5.6	+0.1	-4.6	28 May	74.8	86.0	average	87%
Central Plateau (district 96)
Butlers Gorge	14.7	+1.5	28.9	4 Mar	3.6	+0.2	-4.5	28 May	314.2	403.3	low	78%
Lake St Clair National Park	14.3	+1.0	28.7	8 Mar	3.5	+0.5	-3.8	28 May	407.8	401.6	average	102%
Liawenee	13.1	+0.7	27.7	5 Mar	2.3	+0.5	-7.0	20 May	247.0	216.1	high	114%
West Coast (district 97)
Cape Sorell	17.6	+2.0	28.8	12 Mar	11.2	+0.9	5.4	19 Apr	231.2	321.2	low	72%
Hartz Mountain (Keoghs Pimple)	12.5	+1.1	31.0	12 Mar	5.5	+0.8	-0.7	4 May	220.8	213.5	average	103%
Low Rocky Point	17.2		31.2	12 Mar	10.6		3.8	20 May	324.2	319.3	average	102%
Mount Read	9.8	+0.8	24.4	12 Mar	4.1	+0.6	-2.0	19 Apr	957.4	949.6	average	101%
Scotts Peak Dam	16.1	+1.3	35.4	12 Mar	7.2	+0.3	-0.7	20 May	415.0	399.7	average	104%
Strahan Aerodrome	18.1	+1.4	35.4	12 Mar	8.6	+0.1	-0.2	20 Apr	358.6	358.6	average	100%
Warra	15.0		32.3	12 Mar	6.0		-3.3	20 May	342.6
King Island (district 98)
King Island Airport	19.2	+1.5	36.8	12 Mar	11.2	+0.6	3.8	12 Apr	235.4	194.7	high	121%
Flinders Island (district 99)
Flinders Island Airport	20.0	+1.3	31.9	27 Mar	10.7	0.0	-0.4	5 May
Antarctica and Macquarie Island (district 300)
Macquarie Island	7.1	+0.2	10.3	27 Mar	3.8	+0.2	-4.2	28 May	372.2	277.7	v high	134%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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