Tuesday, 4 March 2008 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Western Australia - Product code IDCKGC21R0

Western Australia in summer 2007/08
A wetter than normal summer

Summary

  • WA statewide rainfall above average.
  • Near average daytime temperature for WA (−0.30°C )
  • Near average overnight temperature for WA (+0.21°C )

Rainfall

Above to very much above average summer rainfall was recorded in much of the Kimberley and southern half of WA, whilst below to very much below average summer rainfall was recorded in a small area of the inland east Pilbara and northern Interior (see summer 2007/08 rainfall decile map). The summer rainfall total, for WA as a whole, was above the 1961−1990 average by 29.8 mm. The wetter than normal summertime conditions were mainly due to monsoonal bursts in the north and active troughs in the southern half in both December and February.

Temperature

Mean maximum temperatures in summer 2007/08 were near average across a large area of WA whilst below average daytime temperatures were experienced  in parts of the southern half of the state, with very much below average temperatures in the South and Southeast Coastal districts. The statewide mean maximum temperature was 0.30°C below normal.

Mean minimum temperatures were also near average across a large area of WA, however above to very much above average overnight temperatures were recorded in the northwest and west of the state, whilst below average minima were recorded in the east Kimberley. The statewide mean minimum temperature was 0.21°C above normal.

Some extremes and records for individual locations in WA are tabulated below.

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Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 49.2°C at Onslow on 11 Jan 2008
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 41.1°C at Marble Bar
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 21.6°C at Albany
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 13.8°C at Salmon Gums Res.Stn. on 14 Dec 2007
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 2.2°C at Busselton Aero on 6 Dec 2007
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 12.7°C at Shannon
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 26.7°C at  Marble Bar & Troughton Island
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 34.2°C at Marble Bar on 21 Jan 2008
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 1302.6 mm at Kuri Bay(some missing rainfall)
Driest overall
Lowest total rainfall		 16.2 mm at North Island
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 172.8 mm at Kalumburu on 13 Feb 2008
Highest wind gust
 113 km/h at Argyle Aerodrome on 13 Jan 2008

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Notes  the top

Records



Record highest summer daily rainfall
Highest daily rainfall
in summer 2007−08 (mm) 		Previous highest
for summer		 Years of
record
Burnerbinmah 123.0 on 22 Feb 2008 121.4 on 4 Feb 1918 101
Mount Narryer 128.0 on 21 Feb 2008 120.2 on 21 Feb 1975 92
Muggon 152.0 on 21 Feb 2008 79.0 on 26 Feb 1995 65
Mount Padbury 74.0 on 8 Feb 2008 68.3 on 14 Feb 1999 63
Eneabba 78.4 on 7 Feb 2008 67.0 on 28 Feb 1976 42
Wyndham 135.0 on 29 Feb 2008 95.6 on 11 Feb 1997 40

Record highest total summer rainfall
Total rainfall
for summer 2007−08 (mm) 		Previous highest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Normal for
summer
Kokardine 174.4 142.2 in 2005 100 41.5
Eneabba 119.0 104.5 in 1988 41 31.1
Wyndham 923.6 912.4 in 1996 40 512.9


Record highest summer temperature
Highest temperature
in summer 2007−08 (°C) 		Previous highest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Normal for
summer
Port Hedland Airport 49.0 on 11 Jan 2008 48.2 on 18 Feb 1998 60 36.4
Meekatharra Airport 45.7 on 5 Jan 2008 45.5 on 4 Feb 2007 58 37.0
Onslow 49.2 on 11 Jan 2008 48.3 on 3 Feb 1959 48 35.5
Onslow Airport 48.9 on 11 Jan 2008 48.7 on 21 Jan 2003 43 36.2
Telfer Aero 48.1 on 10 Jan 2008 47.5 on 21 Dec 1990 34 39.7


Record lowest summer daily maximum temperature
Lowest daily maximum
temperature
in summer 2007−08 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Normal for
summer
Carnamah 19.0 on 20 Feb 2008 20.0 on 18 Dec 1964 67 35.0
Mullewa 19.0 on 20 Feb 2008 20.0 on 4 Dec 1990 63 35.8


Record highest summer daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in summer 2007−08 (°C) 		Previous highest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Normal for
summer
Roebourne 32.6 on 11 Jan 2008 32.5 on 6 Feb 1994 52 25.8
Ravensthorpe 28.6 on 27 Dec 2007 27.3 on 3 Feb 1997 47 13.7


Record lowest summer temperature
Lowest temperature
in summer 2007−08 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Normal for
summer
Northam 4.5 on 6 Dec 2007 4.7 on 2 Dec 1998 102 16.5
Kellerberrin 4.1 on 6 Dec 2007 5.3 on 2 Dec 1998 98 16.3
Pearce RAAF 5.3 on 7 Dec 2007 5.4 on 3 Dec 1973 51 16.2


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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Tuesday 4 March 2008. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Normals 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 30 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of "normal" rain.

Further information

Yanhui Blockley & Glenn Cook
Western Australia Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 9263 2222
Email climate.wa@bom.gov.au