Category Archives: Monthly weather

March 2020: cool, moist

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

Weather log for March 2020

[Note.
Due to illness, 45 days were missed for some Manilla values, beginning in March (23/3/20). No values were noted for cloud or soil temperature; daily maximum and minimum air temperatures were estimated by regression on values from Tamworth Airport Automatic Weather Service.]

March weekly mean temperatures were near normal, but cooler in the second week.
Cloudy skies, with high dew points and rain came early and late in the month. There were nine rain days, with the highest reading of 19.0 mm on the 26th.

Comparing March months

The mean monthly temperature, at 21.8°, was rather low: cooler than in the last six March months. Days, at 28.6°, were third coolest for March in the new century, only March of 2001 and 2003 having cooler days.
Most moisture values were rather higher than in March of 2018 or 2019. The rainfall total of 53.2 mm was at the 60th percentile for March (and near the average (53 mm)).

Drought

I will report separately on the on-going drought.

Data. A Bureau of Meteorology automatic rain gauge operates in the museum yard. From 17 March 2017, 9 am daily readings are published as Manilla Museum, Station 55312.  These reports use that rainfall data when it is available. Recording resumed on 20 July 2019. Unfortunately, the gauge failed during February (25/02/2020 ). Until its repair on 11/3/20, I used my own gauge.
My estimates of early morning dew point have drifted anomalously low. From August 2019, I use data from the Tamworth Airport published graphs.
All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

February 2020: wet, humid, cool

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by
Garden path suddenly overgrown.

Overgrown Path

High weekly temperature persisted only a few days into February. After that, the temperature was normal or below normal. Day temperatures varied, without reaching extremes. Although the warmest February night (27.6°) came on the 2nd, most nights were near normal (18.0°).
After the first days, the dew point was high, making for very humid mornings, which were also overcast.
There were fourteen rain days, over twice the usual number.
Two days had over 40 mm of rain, causing local erosion and flooding. For Manilla, these are not very wet days. [See note below: “Very Wet Days”.]

Weather log for Feb 2020.

Comparing February months

The mean monthly temperature, at 25.2°, is near normal, and cooler than the last four February months. More dramatic is the low mean daily maximum temperature (31.1°), which is fourth coolest for February in the new century.
All moisture indicators were extremely high. Compared to 21st century February values, they were:

Cloudy days percent (62%): highest.
Daily temperature range (11.9°): lowest.
Dew point (16.7°): 2nd highest.
Rainfall total (165.4 mm): 2nd highest.

The rainfall total of 165.4 mm is at the 92nd percentile for February, well above the average of 67 mm. The previous eight months all had rainfall below average.

Clime to Feb 2020.

Drought

I will report separately on the on-going drought that has again broken a low-rainfall record for a duration of 96-months.

NOTE.
Very Wet Days

I have a blog post that shows the 125 rain days at Manilla that exceeded 50 mm.
From time to time, there is a period of years without extreme daily rainfalls: when no day has more than 80 mm of rain. We are in the longest such period, beginning 21 years ago, on 7 September 1998. [That day was the 5th wettest, at 112 mm, which filled Split Rock Dam.] See the “Comments” section in the linked post.

Data. A Bureau of Meteorology automatic rain gauge operates in the museum yard. From 17 March 2017, 9 am daily readings are published as Manilla Museum, Station 55312.  These reports use that rainfall data when it is available. Recording resumed on 20 July 2019. Unfortunately, the gauge failed during this month (25/02/2020 ). Pending repair, I am using my own gauge.
My estimates of early morning dew point have drifted anomalously low. From August 2019, I use data from the Tamworth Airport published graphs.
All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

January 2020 more humid

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by
Rain in the main street

It rained!

Weekly average temperatures were 7 deg high early in the month, normal in the third week, then 6 deg high at the end. In these hot weeks, ten days went over 40 deg.
The night of the 11th, at 28.1 deg, was extremely warm. It was the 2nd warmest on record, after 28.2 on 14/01/17.
Although the wettest day had only 22.8 mm of rain, there were 11 rain days. Other signs of moisture included 11 days with half cloud cover or more, and 9 mornings with dew points over 20 deg.

Weather log January 2020

Comparing January months

Mean temperatures this month are the 2nd highest for January, being lower than last year. Subsoil temperature is normal.
All moisture indicators are higher. The early morning dew point, at 16.8 deg, is remarkably high, exceeded only in January 2006.
The rainfall total of 46.8 mm is at the 28th percentile for January, well below the average of 87 mm.

January climae

Drought

I will report separately on the on-going drought that continues to break low-rainfall records at durations of 15-months and longer.

Data. A Bureau of Meteorology automatic rain gauge operates in the museum yard. From 17 March 2017, 9 am daily readings are published as Manilla Museum, Station 55312.  These reports use that rainfall data when it is available. Recording resumed on 20 July 2019.
My estimates of early morning dew point have drifted anomalously low. From August 2019, I use data from the Tamworth Airport published graphs.
All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

December 2019: very hot and dry

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by
Sun in smoke

Red Sun 17 Dec

After the first week, each week in December was very hot, reading up to 5.9° above normal. Both days and nights were hot, but only one record was set: 42.2° on the 21st was the hottest December day. That was well below the record hot day of 44.9° set on 11/2/17.
Twenty mornings were cloudless which was twice the usual number. Smoke from mainly coastal bushfires reduced visibility to 15 km or less from the 8th to the 25th. Early in the month, rain fell on three days, the highest reading being 12.4 mm on the first day.

December 2019 weather

Comparing December months

This month broke 21st century records for December mean monthly temperatures. The mean minimum of 18.7° just beat 18.6° of December 2009, the mean average of 27.6° easily beat 26.1° last year, while the mean maximum of 36.5° was far above last year’s 33.9°.
On balance, indicators of moisture make this the driest December of the century. Rainfall, at 19.6 mm, was lower than any but December 2006 (18.8 mm), and the dew point was equal lowest with 2013. This month had by far the fewest cloudy mornings (10%) and the widest daily temperature range (17.8°).

December 2019 climate

Drought

I will report separately on the on-going drought that continues to break low-rainfall records at durations of 15-months and longer.

Data. A Bureau of Meteorology automatic rain gauge operates in the museum yard. From 17 March 2017, 9 am daily readings are published as Manilla Museum, Station 55312.  These reports use that rainfall data when it is available. Recording resumed on 20 July 2019.
My estimates of early morning dew point have drifted anomalously low. From August 2019, I use data from the Tamworth Airport published graphs.
All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

November 2019: one warm week

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by
Bushfire smoke

Manilla View 18-11-2019

One week, beginning on the 20th, was 5.4° warmer than normal. The night of the 22nd did not get cooler than 24.0°, making it the 5th warmest November night in this century. (One night in November 2009 had been 27.8°, the warmest night of any month.) In other weeks of this month, temperatures were normal.
Most days were dry and sunny. However, days early and late in the month were cloudy, with high dew points and narrow daily temperature ranges. Six of these days had rain, with the highest reading 16.4 mm on the 4th.
Smoke from coastal bushfires reduced visibility from the 17th to the 29th. On the 18th, visibility was only one kilometre, as shown in the photo.

November 2019 weather log

Comparing November months

Although this month was warm. other November months have been warmer: in 2002, 2009, 2012, and 2014. All of these had especially warm days. While days this month averaged 31.8°, days in November 2009 averaged 34.3°. The coolest recent November was in 2017.
This was a dry month but, by various measures, not as dry as in 2002, 2009, 2014 or 2016. The rainfall total of 40.2 mm is in the 27th percentile.

November climate

Drought

I will report separately on the on-going drought that continues to break low-rainfall records at durations of 15-months and longer.

Data. A Bureau of Meteorology automatic rain gauge operates in the museum yard. From 17 March 2017, 9 am daily readings are published as Manilla Museum, Station 55312.  These reports use that rainfall data when it is available. Recording resumed on 20 July 2019.
My estimates of early morning dew point have drifted anomalously low. From August 2019, I use data from the Tamworth Airport published graphs.
All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.