Thursday, 10 January 2019 - Monthly Climate Summary for Remote Islands and Antarctica - Product code IDCKGC1RR0
Remote Islands and Antarctica in December 2018
Jump to a map of the areas covered in this summary
Australia's Indian Ocean islands
- Temperatures were below average on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands for most of the month, with the minimum at the airport of 20.4 °C on the morning of the 20th the lowest December temperature on record
- Cocos Islands Airport's mean daily maximum temperature of 28.9 °C was only half a degree below average, but the lowest since 1992
- Most of the month's 84 mm of rainfall on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands fell overnight from the 15th into the 16th
- Daytime temperatures on Christmas Island were close to or below average for most of the month, but some warm weather in the final week resulted in the mean being a little above average
- There were some unusually cool nights on Christmas Island in the second half of the month, with a minimum of 17.1 °C on the morning of the 20th the lowest December temperature on record
- Problems with the automated observing equipment at Christmas Island airport meant data from the final few days of the month are missing and the rainfall total is uncertain: there had been only 2.4 mm up to 9 am on the 28th (well down on the December average of 220 mm)
Australia's Pacific Ocean islands
- There were many cool days on Lord Howe Island, but warm weather around the 20th and again in the final days of the month meant overall the month was a little warmer than average
- With only 7.8 mm of rainfall for the whole month (much falling around the 22nd), well down on the December average and Lord Howe Island Airport's driest December on record, although other sites on the island had somewhat more rain
- Temperatures were above average on Norfolk Island, despite rather cool mornings on the 12th and 19th
- Norfolk Island Airport reported only 7.2 mm of rainfall for the whole month, the second-driest December on record (records go back to 1891)
Australia's Antarctic and sub-Antarctic territories
- Cold weather was dominant in the first half of the month at Mawson and Davis, while at Casey there were also some cold days in the final week
- Overall, Mawson and Casey were a little cooler than average for December, but a spell of mild days gave Davis a mean maximum temperature above average
- Macquarie Island had a very warm month: the highest December mean daily maximum temperature on record, the third-warmest December for mean daily minimum temperatures and the second-warmest (behind 2005) for overall mean temperature
- Total precipitation on Macquarie Island was a little below average
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
| Record lowest December total precipitation | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (mm) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Average for December |
||
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 7.8 | 24.6 | in 2009 | 31 | 102.9 |
| Lowest December total precipitation for at least 20 years | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Observed (mm) |
Most recent lower |
Average for December |
|||
| Norfolk Island Aero | 7.2 | 5.2 | in 1899* | 85.9 | |
* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a lower value has gone unreported
| Record highest December mean daily maximum temperature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Average for December |
||
| Macquarie Island | 10.2 | 9.9 | in 2005 | 70 | 7.9 |
| Lowest December mean daily maximum temperature for at least 20 years | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Observed (°C) |
Most recent lower |
Average for December |
|||
| Cocos Island Airport | 28.9 | 28.5 | in 1992 | 29.4 | |
| Record lowest December temperature | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Average for December |
|||
| Cocos Island Airport | 20.4 | on the 27th | 21.1 | on the 9th in 1960 | 67 | 24.6 |
| Christmas Island Aero | 17.1 | on the 20th | 18.0 | on the 7th in 1985 | 46 | 22.6 |
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
| Summary statistics for December 2018 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures (°C) |
Minimum temperatures (°C) |
Precipitation (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for December 2018 |
Diff from average |
Highest for December 2018 |
Mean for December 2018 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for December 2018 |
Total for December 2018 |
Average for December |
Rank of December 2018 |
Fraction of December average |
|||
| Offshore Islands (district 200) | ||||||||||||
| Christmas Island Aero | 28.0 | +0.2 | 30.1 | 25th | 22.1 | -0.5 | 17.1 | 20th | 219.9 | |||
| Cocos Island Airport | 28.9 | -0.5 | 30.6 | 29th | 24.5 | -0.1 | 20.4 | 27th | 84.0 | 117.9 | average | 71% |
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 24.3 | +0.2 | 27.4 | 21st | 19.5 | +0.2 | 12.0 | 4th | 7.8 | 102.9 | lowest | 8% |
| Norfolk Island Aero | 23.9 | +0.5 | 26.9 | 23rd | 18.5 | +0.7 | 15.1 | 12th | 7.2 | 85.9 | v low | 8% |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (district 300) | ||||||||||||
| Casey | 1.3 | -0.2 | 4.3 | 23rd | -3.7 | -0.1 | -8.2 | 9th | 16.0 | 13.2 | average | 121% |
| Davis | 3.1 | +0.6 | 7.1 | 21st | -2.4 | -0.3 | -6.3 | 1st | ||||
| Macquarie Island | 10.2 | +2.3 | 11.6 | 12th | 6.0 | +1.7 | 2.8 | 21st | 71.8 | 80.5 | average | 89% |
| Mawson | 2.0 | -0.1 | 5.5 | 29th | -3.8 | -0.5 | -7.1 | 4th | ||||
| Note: Precipitation values from Casey and Davis should be used with caution. | ||||||||||||
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
| Daily maximum temperatures for December 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Islands (200) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Christmas Island Aero | 27.4 | 27.6 | 28.1 | 28.4 | 27.5 | 27.9 | 26.5 | 28.1 | 27.5 | 28.6 | 27.5 | 27.9 | 27.5 | 27.2 | 27.8 | 28.1 | 28.5 | 27.6 | 27.4 | 28.1 | 28.3 | 28.1 | 27.7 | 28.6 | 30.1 | 29.7 | 29.3 | ||||
| Cocos Island Airport | 28.5 | 28.8 | 28.6 | 28.8 | 28.7 | 29.1 | 29.2 | 28.4 | 28.6 | 28.6 | 28.3 | 28.9 | 29.4 | 28.4 | 28.0 | 27.9 | 29.1 | 27.0 | 28.3 | 28.5 | 28.7 | 28.9 | 28.9 | 29.5 | 29.0 | 28.9 | 29.1 | 29.4 | 30.6 | 30.4 | 30.3 |
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 23.0 | 25.1 | 23.7 | 24.3 | 22.1 | 21.6 | 21.1 | 23.1 | 22.9 | 23.6 | 24.1 | 23.6 | 23.8 | 24.5 | 24.8 | 24.2 | 25.0 | 25.6 | 26.4 | 27.1 | 27.4 | 25.1 | 23.3 | 23.2 | 23.6 | 24.1 | 24.7 | 25.6 | 26.1 | 25.7 | 26.3 |
| Norfolk Island Aero | 23.3 | 23.3 | 24.1 | 23.1 | 25.6 | 21.7 | 21.5 | 22.5 | 22.3 | 22.5 | 21.9 | 22.5 | 24.1 | 24.6 | 24.2 | 24.4 | 24.3 | 23.8 | 24.2 | 24.8 | 25.1 | 25.9 | 26.9 | 23.7 | 23.7 | 23.9 | 23.9 | 24.5 | 24.5 | 24.8 | 24.5 |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (300) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Casey | 1.8 | 1.4 | -1.9 | -2.4 | -0.1 | -0.6 | -1.8 | -0.3 | 0.7 | 0.6 | 0.9 | 0.2 | 2.2 | 2.2 | -0.3 | 0.7 | 1.8 | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 3.2 | 4.3 | 2.3 | 1.5 | 1.1 | 1.3 | 1.6 | 2.1 | 2.4 | 0.3 |
| Davis | 0.5 | 2.4 | 1.4 | 0.8 | 2.5 | 2.1 | 0.7 | 0.1 | 2.2 | 1.8 | 1.0 | 2.2 | 2.0 | 3.2 | 2.9 | 2.4 | 3.4 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 5.0 | 7.1 | 6.1 | 5.5 | 4.4 | 6.1 | 5.1 | 3.8 | 4.8 | 3.5 | 3.4 | 2.9 |
| Macquarie Island | 10.9 | 9.6 | 10.7 | 11.2 | 11.0 | 9.3 | 9.9 | 11.5 | 10.4 | 10.1 | 10.0 | 11.6 | 10.6 | 10.6 | 10.7 | 10.7 | 9.6 | 9.4 | 10.1 | 10.0 | 9.6 | 10.0 | 8.9 | 10.0 | 9.9 | 9.5 | 9.5 | 10.0 | 11.4 | 8.4 | 10.1 |
| Mawson | -0.8 | 0.8 | 0.5 | 0.2 | 1.6 | -0.1 | 1.0 | -1.3 | 1.6 | 0.8 | 1.3 | 2.8 | 2.2 | -1.1 | 1.6 | 2.7 | 1.3 | 3.2 | 1.3 | 3.7 | 4.5 | 3.7 | 2.9 | 2.5 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.5 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 1.9 | 1.7 |
|
Values are the maximum temperature, usually in the 24 hours from 9 am on the day indicated, and typically occurred in the afternoon of that day. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temperatures coloured according to their difference from the long-term average for the period |
-10.0 | -9.0 | -8.0 | -7.0 | -6.0 | -5.0 | -4.0 | -3.0 | -2.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 | +1.0 | +2.0 | +3.0 | +4.0 | +5.0 | +6.0 | +7.0 | +8.0 | +9.0 | +10.0 | °C | Grey outline marks highest and lowest for the period |
||||||||
| Daily minimum temperatures for December 2018 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Islands (200) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Christmas Island Aero | 22.2 | 20.8 | 21.8 | 23.4 | 23.3 | 23.8 | 24.2 | 23.9 | 23.8 | 23.9 | 23.8 | 23.0 | 22.3 | 23.0 | 22.1 | 22.9 | 22.7 | 23.1 | 21.7 | 17.1 | 18.5 | 19.3 | 20.2 | 21.6 | 20.8 | 21.7 | 21.5 | 21.1 | |||
| Cocos Island Airport | 25.0 | 24.6 | 24.8 | 24.0 | 24.0 | 25.2 | 25.8 | 25.4 | 25.5 | 24.9 | 24.5 | 25.5 | 25.8 | 25.7 | 24.7 | 23.9 | 25.0 | 24.3 | 24.5 | 24.3 | 24.4 | 24.2 | 23.4 | 25.0 | 23.2 | 22.7 | 20.4 | 23.7 | 23.3 | 26.7 | 25.4 |
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 19.3 | 19.8 | 21.8 | 12.0 | 18.4 | 18.0 | 17.6 | 18.5 | 19.8 | 19.4 | 15.4 | 20.5 | 13.0 | 21.4 | 21.5 | 21.1 | 21.3 | 21.2 | 20.1 | 20.7 | 22.2 | 23.7 | 20.2 | 18.7 | 17.5 | 16.0 | 19.9 | 21.0 | 21.5 | 21.7 | 22.0 |
| Norfolk Island Aero | 19.3 | 18.3 | 19.3 | 20.9 | 18.7 | 18.8 | 17.0 | 17.2 | 17.4 | 17.8 | 17.2 | 15.1 | 16.9 | 18.4 | 18.1 | 17.8 | 19.2 | 19.1 | 15.9 | 18.2 | 20.5 | 20.5 | 21.7 | 18.5 | 17.5 | 18.9 | 18.1 | 18.8 | 19.0 | 19.0 | 19.5 |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (300) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
| Casey | -2.5 | -3.5 | -4.4 | -5.5 | -4.3 | -4.6 | -3.7 | -4.0 | -8.2 | -4.7 | -6.0 | -2.5 | -3.0 | -1.8 | -3.2 | -2.9 | -5.0 | -2.3 | -0.8 | -0.2 | -0.7 | -2.0 | -3.8 | -4.9 | -5.7 | -3.6 | -3.9 | -6.3 | -1.9 | -3.1 | -5.0 |
| Davis | -6.3 | -4.1 | -4.0 | -5.8 | -5.0 | -3.9 | -4.5 | -4.1 | -3.4 | -3.3 | -3.2 | -4.0 | -2.0 | -2.6 | -1.4 | -1.9 | 0.0 | -0.6 | -2.4 | -0.1 | 0.3 | -0.4 | 0.5 | -1.1 | -1.4 | -2.9 | -0.9 | -1.8 | -1.6 | -1.4 | -1.0 |
| Macquarie Island | 7.2 | 7.3 | 6.4 | 6.9 | 3.0 | 6.6 | 7.0 | 5.7 | 7.4 | 6.0 | 6.8 | 7.9 | 7.9 | 6.2 | 7.7 | 6.1 | 4.0 | 4.5 | 5.3 | 7.0 | 2.8 | 4.2 | 7.3 | 6.0 | 6.1 | 4.3 | 4.0 | 7.4 | 7.3 | 5.9 | 2.9 |
| Mawson | -5.7 | -4.8 | -6.6 | -7.1 | -5.4 | -3.9 | -4.7 | -5.0 | -6.0 | -5.4 | -4.3 | -4.8 | -4.5 | -4.4 | -3.8 | -2.1 | -4.1 | -2.2 | -2.3 | -2.6 | -2.5 | -1.8 | -1.8 | -2.8 | -3.1 | -2.1 | -3.4 | -3.9 | -1.5 | -3.5 | -2.4 |
|
Values are the minimum temperature, usually in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated, and typically occurred that morning. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Temperatures coloured according to their difference from the long-term average for the period |
-10.0 | -9.0 | -8.0 | -7.0 | -6.0 | -5.0 | -4.0 | -3.0 | -2.0 | -1.0 | 0.0 | +1.0 | +2.0 | +3.0 | +4.0 | +5.0 | +6.0 | +7.0 | +8.0 | +9.0 | +10.0 | °C | Grey outline marks highest and lowest for the period |
||||||||
| Daily precipitation for December 2018 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Offshore Islands (200) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| Christmas Island Aero | 1.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.4 | 0.6 | - | - | - | - | - | 0.4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Cocos Island Airport | - | - | 3.4 | 0.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 65.8 | 1.4 | 3.0 | 0.6 | - | - | 0.8 | 3.8 | - | - | - | - | 1.6 | 1.4 | - | - | ||
| Lord Howe Island (Middle Beach) | 0.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.4 | 0.8 | 0.8 | 9.0 | 0.6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Lord Howe Island (Milky Way) | 0.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.6 | 1.0 | 9.6 | 0.4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Lord Howe Island (Orlando) | - | - | 2.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 4.0 | - | 1.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Lord Howe Island Aero | 0.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.8 | 0.8 | 0.6 | 3.6 | 0.6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Norfolk Island Aero | - | - | - | 0.2 | 0.4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 0.2 | - | 1.4 | 5.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Antarctica and Macquarie Island (300) | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | |
| Casey | 2.2 | - | - | 6.0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.0 | 1.8 | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | - | - | - | - | |||||
| Davis | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||||
| Macquarie Island | - | 0.4 | 1.4 | - | 0.4 | 0.6 | 11.4 | - | 0.4 | 0.2 | 0.6 | 0.2 | - | 0.6 | 1.8 | - | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.2 | - | 2.2 | 2.6 | 5.8 | 10.6 | 1.2 | 2.0 | 5.2 | 4.4 | 2.4 | 15.6 | 0.4 | |
|
Most values are the precipitation in the 24 hours to 9 am on the day indicated.
Days marked with → are part of a longer accumulation, which is shown on the final day. Values over 100 mm have been rounded to the nearest whole millimetre. Days marked with - have a precipitation report of zero; days left blank have no precipitation report (which often indicates no precipitation fell). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Precipitations coloured according to the amount |
0 | 1.0 | 5.0 | 10.0 | 15.0 | 25.0 | 50.0 | 100 | 150 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 600 | millimetres | ||||||||||||||||||
Records Summaries Daily observations Important notes the top
Notes
The Monthly climate summary, generally published on the first working day of each month, lists the main features of the weather in Remote Islands and Antarctica using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 4 pm on Tuesday 8 January 2019. 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 precipitation 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 precipitation.
The Rank indicates how precipitation this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
decile ranking
(very low precipitation 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 precipitation 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.
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
