Tuesday, 9 January 2018 - Annual Climate Summary for Tasmania - Product code IDCKGC57R0

Tasmania in 2017: A warm year with below average rain

Tasmania saw much less rain in 2017 than it did in 2016, with a sequence of low rainfall months near the East Coast from June to November. Temperatures were above average overall, but not as warm as 2016: a cold winter and snow during August and September were countered by warm weather in March, October and November.

Rain below average

• Rainfall was below average in most areas, and well below average near the East Coast; the State total for the year rainfall was 15% below average
• The year was much drier than the exceptionally wet 2016, but wetter than 2015 for the State as a whole
• Most months were drier than average, with June and November both seeing large parts of the State well below average
• There was a sequence of low rainfall months on the East Coast from June to November
• Westerly winds ensured August and September were quite wet in the west, whilst May was quite wet in the east and north, rain with some thunderstorms meant December was wet in the eastern half

A warm year overall, but highly variable

• Tasmania had a warm year overall: cooler than the record warm 2016 but warmer than 2015
• The Tasmanian mean temperature was 0.53°C above average, equal tenth-warmest in the 108 years of comparable record
• The State's mean maximum temperature was seventh-warmest at 0.71 °C above average, and the mean minimum temperature was 0.35 °C above average
• Hobart was one of a handful of sites that had their highest annual mean daily maximum temperature on record
• March, October and November were especially warm, with several sites breaking monthly records
• February and September were relatively cool, and very cool nights in July and August saw several sites breaking monthly records
• Cold outbreaks with snow to low levels affected the State several times, especially during August and September
• A prolonged warm spell in November was ended by several cold and wet days at the start of December
• Lake St Clair (with 28 years of record) and Ross (25 years) had their lowest temperature on record early in July
• Launceston (37 years of record) had its warmest night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record on 16 March
• Despite the generally warm year, for the first year since 2002 no site in Tasmania reported a temperature over 35 °C: the warmest was 34.8 °C at Scotts Peak Dam on 30 November

A warm year for Hobart

• The mean daily maximum temperature for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was a record 18.5 °C, which is 0.2 °C warmer than the previous record from 2014 and 1.5 °C above the long-term average. The city has 133 years of temperature observations, with 122 of those in a standard Stevenson screen
• Hobart's warmest day was 33.1 °C on 30 November, and the coolest day was on 30 May when the temperature reached only 9.0 °C
• The mean daily minimum temperature for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was 9.2 °C, which is 0.8 °C above the long-term average but short of the record warm 9.8 °C from 2016
• The coldest morning was 0.6 °C on 22 June, and the warmest morning was on 16 March when the minimum temperature was 20.7 °C
• Total rainfall for Hobart (Ellerslie Road) was 493.2 mm, which is 80% of the long-term average

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

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Monthly maps
	Rainfall rank	Maximum temperature rank	Minimum temperature rank
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

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Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top