Monday, 3 March 2014 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Melbourne area - Product code IDCKGC26L0

Melbourne area in summer 2013-14: A Record Number of Hot Days

  • Very hot days
  • Warm nights at some stations
  • Below average rainfall.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Overall temperatures warmer than normal

Mean temperatures (the average of maximum and minimum temperatures) were very much warmer than normal at some stations. The warmest station on average was Melbourne Regional Office with 21.6 °C, whilst the coolest on average was Ferny Creek with 18.2 °C.

Hot daytimes

Most stations observed their highest number of days above 41 °C on record. This includes Melbourne Regional Office who passed this mark on six occasions. Warmer than normal daytime temperatures were a feature of this summer as was one of southeast Australia most significant heatwaves.

Average maximum temperatures were very much hotter than normal at most stations. The hottest day was January 17 when Avalon Airport recorded 46.3 °C. Coldstream and Viewbank shared the warmest days on average with 28.1 °C, whilst Ferny Creek recorded the coolest days on average with 24.0 °C. The coldest day was December 5 when Ferny Creek recorded 11.4 °C.

Warm nights at some stations

Average overnight temperatures ranged from close to normal to very much warmer than usual. The coldest night was December 30 when Coldstream recorded 2.2 °C and Coldstream also recorded the coolest nights on average with 11.0 °C. Melbourne Regional Office recorded the warmest nights on average with 16.0 °C. The warmest night was January 15 when both Bundoora (Latrobe University) and Essendon Airport recorded 28.8 °C. A handful of stations had their warmest summer night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.

A dry summer

Rainfall totals in the Melbourne area were below average for summer. The wettest overall was Ferny Creek with 183.2 mm, whilst the driest was Avalon Airport with 48.0 mm. The wettest single day was February 20 when Ferny Creek recorded 32.6 mm on 20 Feb 2014. The majority of stations recorded half their normal rainfall for summer. Stations to Melbourne's east generally recorded over 100 mm but stations in the west received a little over 50 mm.

Wind

The strongest wind gust was at Laverton RAAF with 104 km/h on 28 Dec 2013

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries
Extremes in summer 2013-14
Hottest day 46.3 °C at Avalon Airport on 17 Jan 2014
Warmest days on average 28.1 °C at Coldstream
28.1 °C at Viewbank
Coolest days on average 24.0 °C at Ferny Creek
Coldest day 11.4 °C at Ferny Creek on 5 Dec 2013
Coldest night 2.2 °C at Coldstream on 30 Dec 2013
Coolest nights on average 11.0 °C at Coldstream
Warmest nights on average 16.0 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Warmest night 28.8 °C at Bundoora (Latrobe University) on 15 Jan 2014
28.8 °C at Essendon Airport on 15 Jan 2014
Warmest on average overall 21.6 °C at Melbourne Regional Office
Coolest on average overall 18.2 °C at Ferny Creek
Wettest overall 183.2 mm at Ferny Creek
Driest overall 48.0 mm at Avalon Airport
Wettest day 32.6 mm at Ferny Creek on 20 Feb 2014
Highest wind gust 104 km/h at Laverton RAAF on 28 Dec 2013

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top


Record highest summer daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in summer 2013-14 (°C) 		Previous warmest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Average for
summer
Essendon Airport 28.8 on 15 Jan 2014 26.7 on 29 Jan 1943 45 13.0
Moorabbin Airport 28.6 on 15 Jan 2014 28.0 on 21 Jan 1997 43 13.7
Bundoora (Latrobe University) 28.8 on 15 Jan 2014 28.5 on 1 Jan 2008 31 13.6
Viewbank 28.0 on 15 Jan 2014 26.3 on 1 Jan 2008 15 13.8

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for summer 2013-14
Maximum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Rainfall
for summer
(millimetres)
Mean for
summer
2013-14		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
summer
2013-14		 Mean for
summer
2013-14		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
summer
2013-14		 Total for
summer
2013-14		 Average
for
summer		 Rank of
summer
2013-14		 Fraction of
summer
average
East Central (district 86)
Bundoora (Latrobe University) 27.5 +1.5 44.2 17 Jan 2014 13.9 +0.3 6.7 6 Dec 2013 67.5 153.7 v low 44%
Cerberus 24.8 +1.0 42.9 17 Jan 2014 13.4 +0.1 6.2 7 Dec 2013 97.2 130.4 low 75%
Coldstream 28.1 +1.4 42.0 17 Jan 2014 11.0 -0.1 2.2 30 Dec 2013 127.4 154.7 average 82%
Cranbourne Botanic Gardens 25.9 +1.0 42.0 17 Jan 2014 13.0 -0.1 7.1 6 Dec 2013 105.8 164.1 low 64%
Essendon Airport 27.4 +1.9 43.9 17 Jan 2014 14.3 +1.3 6.1 6 Dec 2013 62.6 140.6 v low 45%
Ferny Creek 24.0 38.6 17 Jan 2014 12.3 4.6 6 Dec 2013 183.2
Melbourne (Olympic Park) 26.1 43.4 16 Jan 2014 15.6 8.2 6 Dec 2013 76.4
Melbourne Airport 27.5 +1.7 43.9 17 Jan 2014 13.8 +0.5 6.2 6 Dec 2013 57.0 132.6 low 43%
Melbourne Regional Office 27.2 +1.9 43.9 17 Jan 2014 16.0 +2.0 7.9 6 Dec 2013 78.0 154.2 low 51%
Moorabbin Airport 26.6 +1.4 43.7 17 Jan 2014 14.5 +0.8 7.1 1 Dec 2013 101.4 150.2 low 68%
Scoresby Research Institute 27.5 +2.0 42.4 16 Jan 2014 13.5 +0.5 5.3 30 Dec 2013 122.8 182.8 low 67%
Viewbank 28.1 +1.3 43.9 16 Jan 2014 14.0 +0.2 6.0 6 Dec 2013 76.2 157.5 v low 48%
West Central (district 87)
Avalon Airport 26.9 +1.4 46.3 17 Jan 2014 13.5 +0.1 5.6 7 Dec 2013 48.0 93.3 low 51%
Laverton RAAF 26.5 +1.5 44.7 17 Jan 2014 14.1 +0.8 5.9 6 Dec 2013 62.4 131.8 v low 47%

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

A Seasonal Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Melbourne area using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 2 pm on Monday 3 March 2014. 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.

The ACORN-SAT dataset is being used for temperature area averages from December 2012 onwards. The major change from earlier datasets is that the ACORN-SAT dataset commences in 1910, rather than 1950, and hence rankings are calculated using a larger set of years.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries

Creative Commons By Attribution logo Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Climate