Category Archives: Season Weather

Spring 2011 the wettest by far

Posted in Manilla NSW, Season Weather by

 

Weather log spring 2011This spring’s rainfall of 431.7 mm far exceeded that of any other spring in the record from 1883. Winter had been very dry, with only 55 mm. While there was a lot of rain in September (91.4 mm) and October (97.4 mm), much more fell in November (242.9 mm), mainly in the second half.
The only other springs with more than 300 mm were in two small groups: 1916 (326 mm) and 1917 (327 mm); and 1949 (330 mm), 1950 (379 mm), 1954 (319 mm) and 1955 (321 mm).
Apart from the extreme rainfall, all other weather readings this spring were normal. By contrast, spring 2009 had been warm and sunny, and spring 2010, cool and cloudy.
During the season, there were two very cool spells, early in September and very early in October. They were separated by a sunny warm spell with very low humidity: it had people changing into summer gear (then back again!). By mid-November, both days and nights were very warm, but then returned to normal.Climate spring 2011

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperatures, including subsoil at 750 mm, and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

Winter 2011 extremely dry

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Weather log winter 2011For temperature, this winter was normal. Otherwise, it was strange: it had the extreme low rainfall and low humidity that come with drought, without sunny skies or severe winter frosts.
During the season, two spells of weather stood out. In mid-June cool days and very warm nights came with rain, cloud, and high humidity. The last days of July and the first week of August had very warm sunny days with very low humidity. A mid-winter spell of cold weather in mid-July was not much colder than that in early June.
The number of frosts (40) was below the average number (44). The coldest screen reading was -3.7°, exactly on the average.
The percentage of mornings with more than 4/8 cloud (50%) was a new record for winter. Winters in 2008, 2009, and 2010 had percentages in the high forties, compared with the earlier average of 34%. On four mornings fog did not clear until late; five others had some fog in the valley.
Humidity was extremely low, marked by a mean early-morning Dew Point of 1.2°, the lowest winter mean on this record.
There were 19 rain days, which is normal. However, falls were extremely light: the highest daily reading of 8.2 mm was by far the lowest maximum reading in 13 winters. The winter total of 55.0 mm is in the 11th percentile: it was the 14th driest winter on record, only slightly wetter than that in the extreme drought year 2002 (44.6 mm).Climate winter 2011

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperatures, including subsoil at 750 mm, and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

Autumn 2011 Normal but Cloudy

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Weather log autumn 2011Normal autumn weather was broken by an almost rainless period from mid-April to late May. Temperatures fell very low, particularly at night. The minimum of minus 2.8 degrees on 15/5/11 was a record for autumn. The coldest nights were exceptionally dry: 17/5/11 had the lowest Dew Point in thirteen years, -9.3°. Even during the extreme drought of July 2002, with four Dew Point readings below -6°, the air did not get nearly so dry.

On the average (as shown below) temperatures and the Dew Point were near normal, except that days were rather cool, as in autumn 2008. On average, that autumn, however, was much drier, with cold nights. Autumn 2007 had been very warm and wet.
This time, the percentage of mornings with more than 4/8 cloud was 43%. That almost matches last autumn’s 45% and is far above those of autumns in the previous decade, which averaged just 25%.
Rain fell on 21 days, an unusually large number. The total rainfall of 116.8 mm is on the 52nd percentile for autumn. It is 16 mm below the autumn average (133 mm).Climate autumn 2011

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperatures, including subsoil at 750 mm, and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

2010-11: Summer very cloudy again

Posted in Manilla NSW, Season Weather by

Weather log summer 2010-11As in summer 2008-09, day temperatures got steadily warmer. From 8° below normal in mid-December they rose to 5° above normal in early February, and crashed to below normal before recovering. As in 2008-09, the lower temperature in mid-February came with a day of very heavy rain.

As is normal, there were two days over 40° and none below 20°.

The mean daily mean temperature was normal but, due to cloud cover, the mean maximum was rather low (31.6°) and the mean minimum rather high(18.1°), reducing the mean daily temperature range to 13.6° (normally 15.1°).
This summer was the cloudiest in this record, at 54% cloudy mornings (more than four eighths of cloud), just beating the summer of 2007-08 (53%). Given that Manilla summers averaged only 31% cloudy mornings from 1999 to 2008, this is a big change indeed.
The total rainfall of 270 mm is above the long-term summer average of 225 mm. It is in the 68th percentile.Climate summer 2010-11

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperatures, including subsoil at 750 mm, and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

Spring 2010 cloudy, damp and cool

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Weather log spring 2010

Days this spring were very cool, keeping the seven-day mean maximum curve below normal nearly all the time. Twenty-two mornings were overcast, twice the usual number, and the number of rain days (29) was the highest in twelve springs.

The mean daily maximum temperature (24.1°) was a record low in this data set, more than 4° lower than last year. Similarly, the daily temperature range (12.9°) was unusually narrow, 3.5° narrower than last year. Other temperatures were near normal, except for the record low Subsoil temperature of 17.5°. Cloudy mornings, at 56%, were a record high.
The total spring rainfall of 249 mm is in the 86th percentile. While this is well above the long-term spring average of 166 mm, four of the previous eleven springs were even wetter: 1999, 2000, 2005, and 2008.
Climate spring 2010

Data. Rainfall data is from Manilla Post Office, courtesy of Phil Pinch. Temperatures, including subsoil at 750 mm, and other data are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.