The daily weather log

The second week of August was the coldest week of the year. Temperatures by day and night were six degrees below normal. In the whole month few temperatures were above normal. Only six days got above 20°, compared to the usual twelve. The very last night soared to nine degrees above normal.
However, no days or nights were particularly cold. Although the 13th was the coldest morning of the winter at -2.8°, it was only a little lower than -2.7° on the 11th and 20th (and also on the 12th of July).
Most days had very dry air, with morning dew points below zero. Despite that, there was a lot of cloud. The number of mornings free of cloud was only five, the fewest in ten Augusts.
There were nine rain days spaced through the month, totalling 31.6 mm.

 Comparing August months

All the mean temperatures (daily maximum, daily mean, and daily minimum) were the lowest for August in a decade. The mean was over two degrees below normal.

It was a frosty month. In ten Augusts, none had as many minima below -2° (6) or below zero (14) as this one, but August 2005 had more total frosts (21 versus 18) counting minima below +2.2° in the screen.
Mean humidity (morning dew point) was extremely low. At -0.4°, it was over two degrees below normal. In the decade, only July 2002 had drier air, with a mean morning dew point of -3.1°.
There were more cloudy mornings (55%) than in any August of the decade. Five of the seven cloudiest months of the decade have come within the last ten months: Nov ’07, Dec ’07, Feb ‘08, Jul ’08, and Aug ’08. All had 50% or more cloudy mornings, almost twice the decade median of 27%.
The rainfall total, 31.6 mm, is on the 46th percentile for August, and below the average (40 mm). Totals for several months together are much the same as a month ago, but the serious shortage has moved back to the six-month total. The total for 2 months (July and August) is in the 28th percentile, 3 months in the 41st, 4 months in the 25th, 5 months in the 17th, and 6 months in the 7th percentile . Rainfall totals for longer periods are normal.

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Dew point values before August 2005 are from Tamworth Airport 6 am data supplied by the Bureau of Meteorology. Temperature and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.