Greater Melbourne in Winter 2024

Rainfall

  • Winter area-averaged rainfall total for Greater Melbourne was below to very much below average for most of Greater Melbourne, and around average for parts of the north-east.
  • Rainfall totals for winter ranged from 61% of average at Cerberus to 112% of the average at Ferny Creek.
  • A series of cold fronts brought strong winds and rain to Greater Melbourne close to the end of winter, with Fawkner Beacon recording a maximum daily wind gust of 107.0 km/h on 28 August. This was the second highest daily wind gust in August at this station.

Temperature

  • Winter mean maximum temperatures were generally up to 1.2 °C above average at all reporting sites across Greater Melbourne.
  • Mean minimum temperatures were above average for most of Greater Melbourne sites, within 1.3 °C of their average.
  • All stations in Greater Melbourne had their highest winter daily maximum temperatures on 25 August, as the strong north-westerly winds ahead of a cold front dragged warm air from the north into Greater Melbourne.
  • Cerberus had its highest winter mean maximum temperature on record, at 15 °C.
  • Late in August, strong north-westerly winds allowed warm air to arrive from the north, which brought unusually warm days and nights.

Melbourne (Olympic Park)

  • Total rainfall for Melbourne (Olympic Park) was 122.0 mm, which was 98% of the long-term average of 124.6 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Melbourne (Olympic Park) was 15.3 °C, which was 0.5 °C above the long-term average of 14.8 °C.
  • The warmest day was 23.5 °C on the 25 August 2024, and the coolest day was on the 13 June 2024 when the temperature reached 10.1 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Melbourne (Olympic Park) was 7.8 °C, which equalled the long-term average of 7.8 °C.
  • The coldest morning was 1.0 °C on the 3 July 2024, and the warmest morning was on the 28 August 2024 when the minimum temperature was 14.0 °C.

Extremes in Winter 2024
Hottest day 25.0 °C at Laverton RAAF on 25 August
Warmest days on average 15.5 °C at Laverton RAAF
Coolest days on average 10.4 °C at Wallan (Kilmore Gap)
Coldest day 6.2 °C at Wallan (Kilmore Gap) on 13 June
Coldest night -4.5 °C at Coldstream on 19 June
Coolest nights on average 3.9 °C at Coldstream
Warmest nights on average 7.8 °C at Melbourne (Olympic Park)
Warmest night 14.0 °C at Melbourne (Olympic Park) on 28 August
Warmest on average overall 11.6 °C at Melbourne (Olympic Park)
Coolest on average overall 7.7 °C at Wallan (Kilmore Gap)
Wettest overall 445.5 mm at Powelltown DNRE
Wettest day 113.6 mm at Powelltown DNRE on 16 July
Strongest wind gust 107.0 km/h at Fawkner Beacon on 28 August

Record highest Winter mean maximum temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
Winter
Cerberus 15.0 14.9 in 2005 32 14.2




Summary statistics for Winter 2024
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
Winter
2024
Diff
from
average
Highest for
Winter
2024
Mean for
Winter
2024
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
Winter
2024
Total for
Winter
2024
Average
for
Winter
Rank of
Winter
2024
Fraction of
Winter
average
Cerberus 15.0 +0.8 23.4 25 Aug 2024 6.5 -0.1 -2.0 03 Jul 2024 133.4 219.2 v low 61%
Coldstream 14.5 +0.4 22.8 25 Aug 2024 3.9 -0.3 -4.5 19 Jun 2024 203.0 200.6 average 101%
Essendon Airport 15.0 +1.2 23.2 25 Aug 2024 7.1 +1.3 -0.7 19 Jun 2024 107.0 130.9 average 82%
Ferny Creek 11.2 +0.9 19.5 25 Aug 2024 6.0 +0.5 1.3 28 Jul 2024 418.4 374.2 high 112%
Frankston (Ballam Park) 14.8 23.2 25 Aug 2024 7.1 -0.3 07 Jul 2024 188.6
Laverton RAAF 15.5 +1.2 25.0 25 Aug 2024 6.7 +1.1 -1.1 03 Jul 2024 75.4 120.2 v low 63%
Melbourne (Olympic Park) 15.3 +0.5 23.5 25 Aug 2024 7.8 0.0 1.0 03 Jul 2024 122.0 124.6 average 98%
Melbourne Airport 14.7 +0.9 23.1 25 Aug 2024 6.3 +0.4 -0.9 03 Jul 2024 91.6 119.0 low 77%
Moorabbin Airport 15.2 +0.9 23.5 25 Aug 2024 6.9 +0.2 -1.3 03 Jul 2024 161.2 181.2 average 89%
Point Cook RAAF 15.1 24.9 25 Aug 2024 6.8 -1.6 03 Jul 2024 78.6
Scoresby Research Institute 14.9 +1.2 23.3 25 Aug 2024 6.5 +0.3 -1.8 03 Jul 2024 200.4 222.5 average 90%
Viewbank 15.0 +0.5 22.6 25 Aug 2024 6.0 -0.2 -2.1 03 Jul 2024 163.2 158.7 average 103%
Wallan (Kilmore Gap) 10.5 +0.6 18.4 25 Aug 2024 4.9 +0.5 1.2 28 Jul 2024 137.6 198.1 low 70%

Notes

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

This summary includes data from observing sites in or near the Greater Melbourne “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” (GCCSA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics designed the GCCSAs to represent a socio-economic definition of each capital city. This means the greater capital city boundary includes people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the capital city, but live in the small towns and rural areas surrounding the capital city. It does not define the built up edge of the capital city.

This statement has been prepared based on information available on Thursday 5 September 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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