Category Archives: Monthly weather

October 2009 began cool and dry

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

The daily weather log

Weather log October 2009

The first two weeks of October were cool – as cool as September, and no warmer than late August. There was little rain, low humidity and strong winds. The sub-soil temperature (at 750 mm) also remained low, not reaching 18° until the 18th, two weeks later than usual. Some cotton plantings suffered.
A warm spell came on the 20th, with the maximum on the 23rd (35.4°) being 8° above normal. By contrast, a rainy day on the 26th reached only 18.1°, more than 9° below normal. That day was the first in 33 days to have more than 5 mm of rain. Ten rain days (usually 7) brought 47.4 mm for the month.
Seven days began with a brown dust haze, adding to one in July, three in August, and seven in September.

 Comparing October months

Climate October 2009

Mean temperatures were close to normal. The mean humidity (early morning Dew Point: 4.3°) was low: lower than in 2007, but higher than in 2002 (3.3°). The percentage of cloudy mornings was normal.
The rainfall total, 47 mm, is in the 39th percentile for October, just 6 mm below the median (53 mm). Despite early worries, most rainfall totals improved. The only serious shortage affects the 6-month total. At 164 mm, it is in the 7th percentile.
Totals for periods longer than nine months are normal: the lowest is the ten-year total, which is in the 21st percentile. From November 1999 Manilla has had 6133 mm of rain, against the median 6393 mm. That is a shortfall of only 26 mm per year.

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperature and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

 

September 2009 warm and dusty

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

The daily weather log

Weather log September 2009

Two large dust storms from South Australia filled the sky on the 23rd and 26th, reducing visibility to about 600 metres. (The dust was reported, with a photo, in the “Manilla Express” for 29/9/09.) There was a brown dust haze also on the 2nd, 13th, 14th, 16th, and 17th, and on three days in August and one in July..
The dust storms put an end to a week of very warm days and nights. The cooler air was dry, with Dew Points below zero.
On the 3rd 14.8 mm of rain fell, after 43 days without 5 mm of rain. Six rain days brought 34.2 mm for the month.

 Comparing September months

Climate September 2009

Mean temperatures were all about half a degree above normal, but not as high as in September 2006. The humidity (early morning Dew Point: 2.7°) was a little low, and the percentage of cloudy mornings (30%) a little high.
The rainfall total, 34 mm, is on the 47th percentile for September, very close to the median (37 mm). As a result, rainfall totals have improved. Serious shortages, below the 10th percentile, now affect only the 3-, 4-, 5-, and 6-month totals. The 5-month total (117 mm), being in the 5th percentile, could be called a severe shortage. Totals for longer periods are normal.

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperature and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

 

August 2009 HOT and dry

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

The daily weather log

Weather log August 2009

Nearly all the days of August were warmer than normal. While half the nights were cold, some others were very warm. A regional heat wave struck from the 22nd to the 25th, setting records for exceptionally high temperature at Manilla and many other places. The maximum on the 23rd (31.8°) was 11.4° above normal, beating +10.5° set on 11/10/02. The minimum on the morning of the 25th (18.2°) was 14.0° above normal, beating +13.1° set on 23/9/03.
Sixteen minimum temperatures qualified as frosts (usually 15) but the coldest was no lower than -1.4°. Dew Points were low, often far below the air temperature, making the air unpleasantly dry.
Very light rain fell on four days, to a total of 6.8 mm. By the end of the month, there had been forty days without 5 mm of rain.

 Comparing August months

Climate August 2009

Mean daily maximum, mean, and minimum temperatures were far above normal for the month, by 3.1°, 2.5°, and 1.7° respectively. It was the warmest August in the 11-year record, and more than 4° warmer than the previous August (2008).
Manilla is very short of rain. Serious shortages (below the 10th percentile) are found not only in the August total (7 mm) but in totals for the 2, 3, 4, and 5 months to date. Worse, the 6-month total (145 mm) is a severe shortage (in the 4th percentile): it is 163 mm less than the median 6-month rainfall (308 mm). Rainfall totals for longer periods are good. The worst is the 8-year total that includes the 2002 drought: it is in the 24th percentile.

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperature and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

 

July 2009 getting short of rain

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

The daily weather logWeather log July 2009

Apart from a scarcity of rain, and an abundance of cloud, the weather in July was very much as usual. One day reached 23°, another only 12°. There were 18 frosts (normally 17), but no night was colder than -2° (normally 4 nights are). Fog filled the valley on the 28th.
There had been twenty-three days without 5 mm of rain when 9 mm fell on the 16th. In six rain days the month’s total was 21.3 mm. This is well below the median for July (35 mm): it is in the 25th percentile.

 Comparing July months

Climate July 2009

All mean daily temperatures for the month were normal.
There is a serious shortage of rain in the five months to date: the total of 138 mm is on the 10th percentile. Five-month totals below the 10th percentile are rare in recent years: July 2008 (9th percentile), August 2006 (9th), May 2005 (5th) and September 2003 (7th).
(Very much drier 5-month conditions prevailed in 2002: November had a severe rainfall shortage (in the 2nd percentile) while July, August, September and October had extreme rainfall shortages, in the first percentile. September 2002 had the lowest 5-month total (61 mm) in 75 years.)

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.

 

June 2009 cloudy, with warm nights

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

The daily weather log

Weather log June 2009

Cloudy skies kept most June nights warm. A cold snap took the minimum on the 12th down to -3.2°. As in June 2005, there were only 5 frosts, compared with 13 normally. Few days were very warm or cool, but the 11th reached only 12.1° (6° below normal). There was patchy fog in the valley on three mornings.
Ten rain days brought 36.4 mm. The wettest was the 22nd, with 13.2 mm.

 Comparing June months

Climate June 2009

This June was very cloudy: 60% of the mornings had more than 4 octas of cloud. June 2005 (53%) and June 2007 (60%) were similar. The 11-year trend shows a big rise in June cloudy mornings: from 6 in 1999 to 16 in 2009!

The mean daily maximum temperature was normal for June. However, the mean daily minimum (5.9°) was the highest for the decade, beating other Junes that had warm nights: 2005 (5.7°) and 2008 (5.4°). The month’s mean temperature was high (like last June) and the temperature range low (12.1°). The mean humidity (early morning dew point) was also high.
The rainfall total of 36 mm is on the median (50th percentile) for June. Rainfall totals for groups of months up to six months are below the median, indicating shortages. However, even the worst is not serious: the four-month rainfall March to June (117 mm) is on the 14th percentile. Rainfall totals for longer periods up to 72 months are all above the median, except for the 36-month total, which is on the 49th percentile.

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.