Monday, 1 September 2008 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Western Australia - Product code IDCKGC11R0

Western Australia in winter 2008
An average winter for WA

Summary

  • WA statewide rainfall near average.
  • Near average daytime temperature for WA.
  • Near average overnight temperature for WA.

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Notes  the top

Details

Rainfall

This winter, much of WA saw near average rainfall whilst parts of central and southern WA experienced below to very much below average rainfall. This contrasts with above to very much above average winter rainfall in the north and east Kimberley (see winter 2008 rainfall decile map). For Western Australia as a whole, winter 2008 was near average for rainfall..

Temperature

Mean maximum temperatures in winter 2008 were average to above average across most of WA with departures from the long-term mean commonly less than 1°C, except for parts of the west Kimberley and Gascoyne coasts, which saw mean values 1 to 2ºC above average. Overall, the statewide mean maximum temperature was near average.

Mean minimum temperatures in winter 2008 were near average across most of WA. However, an area near Kalgoorlie saw above average overnight temperatures, up to 2°C higher than normal, whilst below average minima were recorded in the east Kimberley and northern Interior, an area surrounding Carnarvon, and parts of SWLD, with temperatures down to 2°C below normal in places. Overall though, the statewide mean minimum temperature was near average.

A notable cold event occurred during the month at Eyre, in the Eucla district, as it recorded a minimum temperature of −7.2ºC on 17 August, setting an all time lowest temperature record for WA (see the media release for more details at http://www.bom.gov.au/announcements/media_releases/wa/20080818.shtml )

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 37.9°C at Curtin Aero on 27 Aug & 28 Aug
37.9°C at Derby Aero on 27 Aug
37.9°C at Fitzroy Crossing Aero on 27 Aug
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 32.1°C at Wyndham Aero
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 14.7°C at Rocky Gully
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 9.7°C at Shannon on 30 Jul
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 −7.2°C at Eyre on 17 Aug
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 2.3°C at Collie East
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 22.3°C at Troughton Island
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 20.9°C at Troughton Island
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 616.2 mm at Karri Valley Resort
Wettest day
Highest daily rainfall		 80.4 mm at Wallareenya on 13 Jun
Highest wind gust
 120 km/h at Rottnest Island on 18 Jul

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Notes  the top

Records

Record lowest total winter rainfall
Total rainfall
for winter 2008 (mm) 		Previous lowest
for winter		 Years of
record		 Normal for
winter
Nannup 288.0 306.1 in 1976 105 483.7



Record highest winter temperature
Highest temperature
in winter 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for winter		 Years of
record		 Normal for
winter
Jurien Bay 27.8 on 3 Jun 27.7 on 5 Jun 1975 39 19.9


Record lowest winter mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for winter 2008 (°C) 		Previous lowest
for winter		 Years of
record		 Normal for
winter
Corrigin 3.6 3.7 in 2001 60 5.2
Albany Airport 6.6 6.8 in 1965 44 7.7
Ongerup 4.9 5.2 in 1968 40 6.2
Wagin 4.5 4.7 in 1990 33 5.9



Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Notes  the top

Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 1 pm on Monday 1 September 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 long-term average ("normal") rain.

Further information

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