Do you know when the wettest day in Australia was and how much rain fell? How high was the hottest temperature recorded in your state? Where was it coldest last night?
The Bureau's Australian Climate and Weather Extremes provides information about extremes of temperature and rainfall. The highest and lowest maximum and minimum temperatures and highest daily rainfall are presented as tables, graphs and maps for each state, the Northern Territory and Australia.
The Bureau's Australian Climate and Weather Extremes provides information about extremes of temperature and rainfall. The highest and lowest maximum and minimum temperatures and highest daily rainfall are presented as tables, graphs and maps for each state, the Northern Territory and Australia.
Tables, Maps or Graphs
The tables display the top ten temperature and daily rainfall records around Australia on any particular day, month, season or year that you select. Highest and lowest maximum and minimum temperatures are displayed, as well as the highest daily rainfall totals.
The official records of maximum and minimum temperature, and daily rainfall for Australia and each state or Territory for each month, season and year are also displayed. Daily temperature extremes are available from 1957 to present. Daily rainfall extremes are available from 1910 to present.
The maps show the area of Australia, or the selected State or Territory, that has experienced remarkably cold, hot or wet conditions on the day that you select; the graphs show values for each day in your selected month or year. The percentage area of Australia where temperature or rainfall records for that month were either broken or nearly broken on a particular day are also shown for the states, Northern Territory and Australia in a table accompanying the maps, or in your selected state and Australia for the graphs.
Recurrence interval maps show extreme rainfall or temperature events in terms of the average amount of time in years that one would have to wait before expecting such an event to occur again (based on the past climate record and assuming no change in the future climate).
The graphs and maps are based on a percentile analysis. To determine whether a temperature or rainfall observation is unusual for a particular month, it is compared with all other daily observations for the same month in the climate record. All observations for that month are ranked in order, from coolest to hottest for temperature, and driest to wettest for rainfall and then broken into 100 equal groups, or percentiles. The area of each state or Territory that falls into the 1st, 3rd, 97th, 99th percentile (group) and highest and lowest on record are calculated for each day.
The official records of maximum and minimum temperature, and daily rainfall for Australia and each state or Territory for each month, season and year are also displayed. Daily temperature extremes are available from 1957 to present. Daily rainfall extremes are available from 1910 to present.
The maps show the area of Australia, or the selected State or Territory, that has experienced remarkably cold, hot or wet conditions on the day that you select; the graphs show values for each day in your selected month or year. The percentage area of Australia where temperature or rainfall records for that month were either broken or nearly broken on a particular day are also shown for the states, Northern Territory and Australia in a table accompanying the maps, or in your selected state and Australia for the graphs.
Recurrence interval maps show extreme rainfall or temperature events in terms of the average amount of time in years that one would have to wait before expecting such an event to occur again (based on the past climate record and assuming no change in the future climate).
The graphs and maps are based on a percentile analysis. To determine whether a temperature or rainfall observation is unusual for a particular month, it is compared with all other daily observations for the same month in the climate record. All observations for that month are ranked in order, from coolest to hottest for temperature, and driest to wettest for rainfall and then broken into 100 equal groups, or percentiles. The area of each state or Territory that falls into the 1st, 3rd, 97th, 99th percentile (group) and highest and lowest on record are calculated for each day.
Climate Records
The rainfall and temperature records give the annual highest and lowest temperature as well as highest daily, monthly and annual rainfall for each state and the Northern Territory. These values are available in national or state tables as well as full colour PDF brochures.
