Greater Perth in winter 2023

Rainfall

  • Winter rainfall totals were in the 220-440 mm range at most sites, up to 500-560 mm in the Perth Hills, which were about 70% to 110% of winter mean rainfall.
  • Perth Metro recorded 424.2 mm this winter, which was 7% above its winter mean rainfall (394.9 mm), and the wettest winter since 2019 (434.8 mm).

Temperature

  • Mean maximum temperatures were generally below August averages, although Perth Airport and Pearce RAAF observed 0.4 °C above average mean maximum temperatures.
  • Mean minimum temperatures were generally close to August averages, but Perth Airport observed cooler than normal nights(0.6 °C below average).
  • The warmest winter day was on 31 August, with daily maximum temperatures climbing to high 20s to the low 30.0 °C. Perth Airport and a number of other sites recorded their highest winter temperature on record.
  • Perth Metro recorded a maximum temperature of 29.7 °C on the 31st August, which was its second-highest winter temperature on record. The record is 30.0 °C in 28 August 2019.

Perth Metro

  • Total rainfall for Perth Metro was 424.2 mm, which is 107% of the long-term average of 395.8 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Perth Metro was 18.8 °C, which is 0.2 °C below the long-term average of 19.0 °C.
  • The warmest day was 29.7 °C on 31 August, and the coolest day was on 5 June when the temperature reached 14.4 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Perth Metro was 8.4 °C, which is 0.1 °C above the long-term average of 8.3 °C.
  • The coldest morning was 0.7 °C on 27 June, and the warmest morning was on 8 August when the minimum temperature was 15.4 °C.

Extremes in winter 2023
Hottest day 30.2 °C at Perth Airport on 31 Aug
Warmest days on average 18.9 °C at Pearce RAAF
18.9 °C at Perth Airport
Coolest days on average 15.4 °C at Bickley
Coldest day 8.1 °C at Bickley on 6 Jun
Coldest night -0.9 °C at Jandakot Aero on 27 Jun
Coolest nights on average 7.5 °C at Jandakot Aero
7.5 °C at Millendon (Swan Valley)
Warmest nights on average 12.6 °C at Rottnest Island
Warmest night 17.6 °C at Rottnest Island on 8 Aug
Warmest on average overall 15.2 °C at Rottnest Island
Coolest on average overall 11.5 °C at Bickley
Wettest overall 562.0 mm at Huntly
Wettest day 92.0 mm at Roleystone on 5 Jun
Strongest wind gust 128 km/h at Rottnest Island on 2 Aug

Record highest winter temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
winter
Perth Airport 30.2 on 31 Aug 29.9 on 28 Aug 2019 80 18.5
Pearce RAAF 29.9 on 31 Aug 29.6 on 30 Aug 1948 66 18.5
Rottnest Island 28.3 on 31 Aug 25.3 on 15 Aug 2015 36 18.2
Jandakot Aero 29.4 on 31 Aug = 29.4 on 28 Aug 2019 34 18.6



Record lowest winter daily maximum temperature
New record
(°C)
Old
record
Years of
record
Average for
winter
Bickley 8.1 on 6 Jun 9.0 on 16 Jun 2005 30 15.8



Summary statistics for winter 2023
Maximum temperatures
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
(°C)
Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
winter
2023
Diff
from
average
Highest for
winter
2023
Mean for
winter
2023
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
winter
2023
Total for
winter
2023
Average
for
winter
Rank of
winter
2023
Fraction of
winter
average
Bickley 15.4 -0.4 26.0 31 Aug 7.7 0.0 1.9 26 Jun 553.4 590.5 average 94%
Garden Island HSF 17.7 -0.7 21.1 30 Aug 11.1 -0.5 4.7 16 Jul 336.2 334.6 average 100%
Jandakot Aero 18.4 -0.2 29.4 31 Aug 7.5 +0.2 -0.9 27 Jun 375.4 451.3 low 83%
Karnet 15.7 -0.3 24.0 25 Aug     1.0 4 Aug 393.8 601.1 v low 66%
Mandurah 17.4 -0.7 26.6 31 Aug 10.8 -0.3 5.5 4 Aug 304.6 330.7 average 92%
Millendon (Swan Valley) 18.8   29.9 31 Aug 7.5   -0.5 27 Jun 297.2
Pearce RAAF 18.9 +0.4 29.9 31 Aug 8.1 -0.6 0.0 27 Jun 268.2 369.0 low 73%
Perth Airport 18.9 +0.4 30.2 31 Aug 8.1 -0.3 -0.6 27 Jun 359.2 426.3 low 84%
Perth Metro 18.8 -0.2 29.7 31 Aug 8.4 +0.1 0.7 27 Jun 424.2 395.8 average 107%
Rottnest Island 17.9 -0.3 28.3 31 Aug 12.6 -0.1 7.5 26 Jun 220.4 302.9 v low 73%
Swanbourne 18.2 -0.7 29.9 31 Aug 10.2 0.0 4.5 26 Jun 438.2 397.0 average 110%

Notes

The Seasonal climate summary, usually published in the first week of the following month, lists the main features of the weather in Greater Perth using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated.

This summary includes data from observing sites in or near the Greater Perth “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” (GCCSA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics designed the GCCSAs to represent a socio-economic definition of each capital city. This means the greater capital city boundary includes people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the capital city, but live in the small towns and rural areas surrounding the capital city. It does not define the built up edge of the capital city.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Monday 4 September 2023. 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 rainfall 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 rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site, based on the decile ranking (very low rainfall 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 rain 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.

Information about Australian Indigenous seasonal calendars is available at the Indigenous Weather Knowledge website.


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