3-year trends to December 2017

Hot days and nights

3-year trends to December 2017

December raw anomaly data (orange)

December 2017 had hot days and hot nights, but the subsoil remained cold. Rainfall was low, while other measures of moisture were near normal.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

The latest fully-smoothed data point is for June 2017. By that time, all variables were within the normal range except for dew point. Even dew point was in the centre of the range of low values that has become “normal” since 2010. Three variables were static: daily maximum temperature, subsoil temperature, and rainfall. Cloudiness, dew point, and daily temperature range. were moving towards aridity. Daily minimum temperature was falling.


Note:

Fully smoothed data – Gaussian smoothing with half-width 6 months – are plotted in red, partly smoothed data uncoloured, and raw data for the last data point in orange. January data points are marked by squares.
Blue diamonds and the dashed blue rectangle show the extreme values in the fully smoothed data record since September 1999.

Normal values are based on averages for the decade from March 1999.* They appear on these graphs as a turquoise (turquoise) circle at the origin (0,0). A range of anomalies called “normal” is shown by a dashed rectangle in aqua (aqua). For values in degrees, the assigned normal range is +/-0.7°; for cloudiness, +/-7%; for monthly rainfall, +/-14 mm.

 * Normal values for rainfall are based on averages for the 125 years beginning 1883.

Spring 2017 slightly dry

Photo of a Persian silk tree at Manilla NSW

Persian silk tree

Each year, the weather warms by about eight degrees during the three months of spring. This time, the warming came all at once. After cold nights at first, by the third week of September both days and nights were five degrees above normal. As extremes, one day reached 34° and one night 22°. After that, the temperature rose no higher through to the end of the season. By then, such temperatures are normal.

For much of the season, the air was dry, but a humid spell in October brought 63 mm of rain within four days. The season’s rainfall of 134 mm was at the 40th percentile, about 30 mm below average. Other measures of moisture were slightly low.

Graphical weather log for spring 2017

Air temperatures were near normal, with days slightly warm and nights slightly cool. Spring last year had been two degrees cooler, and spring 2014 two degrees warmer. The subsoil temperature was more than a degree below normal, as it often has been in the last two years.

Climate for spring 2017


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. That gauge failed (again) on the 25th of September 2017, and later readings are from my non-standard gauge.

All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

3-year trends to November 2017

Dry with cold nights

3-year trends to November 2017

November raw anomaly data (orange)

November 2017 reverted to the anomalies of August and September: low moisture (top four graphs) and cold nights (bottom left), with continuing cold subsoil (bottom right). Day temperature (x-axes)had cooled to normal since September.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

Anomaly data for autumn 2017 (MAM) are now fully-smoothed, plotted in red. That season was near the centre for the last three years, but day temperatures fell from high towards normal (seen best on the top right graph). Meanwhile, moisture measures disagreed somewhat. Rainfall rose towards normal, cloudiness decreased towards normal, dew point fell through low values, and daily temperature range was static near normal.
Daily minimum temperature fell towards normal, and subsoil temperature rose to normal.


Note:

Fully smoothed data – Gaussian smoothing with half-width 6 months – are plotted in red, partly smoothed data uncoloured, and raw data for the last data point in orange. January data points are marked by squares.
Blue diamonds and the dashed blue rectangle show the extreme values in the fully smoothed data record since September 1999.

Normal values are based on averages for the decade from March 1999.* They appear on these graphs as a turquoise (turquoise) circle at the origin (0,0). A range of anomalies called “normal” is shown by a dashed rectangle in aqua (aqua). For values in degrees, the assigned normal range is +/-0.7°; for cloudiness, +/-7%; for monthly rainfall, +/-14 mm.

 * Normal values for rainfall are based on averages for the 125 years beginning 1883.

3-year trends to October 2017

Avoiding drought

3-year trends to October 2017

October raw anomaly data (orange)

October 2017 was moist: all moisture indicators had dropped sharply down the graphs, retreating from the aridity of August and September. Daily maximum temperature anomaly (x-axis in all graphs) fell towards normal, while that of the subsoil (lower right graph) remained low. Daily minimum temperature anomaly (lower left graph) jumped from extremely low to extremely high.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

The latest fully-smoothed data point is that for April 2017.
At that time, the climate was warm and almost static. There was a pause in a drift towards aridity.


Note:

Fully smoothed data – Gaussian smoothing with half-width 6 months – are plotted in red, partly smoothed data uncoloured, and raw data for the last data point in orange. January data points are marked by squares.
Blue diamonds and the dashed blue rectangle show the extreme values in the fully smoothed data record since September 1999.

Normal values are based on averages for the decade from March 1999.* They appear on these graphs as a turquoise (turquoise) circle at the origin (0,0). A range of anomalies called “normal” is shown by a dashed rectangle in aqua (aqua). For values in degrees, the assigned normal range is +/-0.7°; for cloudiness, +/-7%; for monthly rainfall, +/-14 mm.

 * Normal values for rainfall are based on averages for the 125 years beginning 1883.

3-year trends to September 2017

More arid

3-year climate trends to September 2017

September raw anomaly data (orange)

In September 2017 all moisture indicators except cloudiness showed even greater aridity (high up on the graphs) than in August. Daily maximum temperature anomaly (x-axis in all graphs) had now risen very high, but that of the subsoil (lower right graph) had fallen. Daily minimum temperature anomaly (lower left graph) remained extremely low.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

The latest fully-smoothed data point is that for March 2017.
At that time, the climate was warm and almost static, after a minor peak in aridity. Although later anomaly values (only partially smoothed) are subject to noise, three of them have raced away towards aridity: dew point fell, daily temperature range rose, and daily minimum temperature fell.


Note:

Fully smoothed data – Gaussian smoothing with half-width 6 months – are plotted in red, partly smoothed data uncoloured, and raw data for the last data point in orange. January data points are marked by squares.
Blue diamonds and the dashed blue rectangle show the extreme values in the fully smoothed data record since September 1999.

Normal values are based on averages for the decade from March 1999.* They appear on these graphs as a turquoise (turquoise) circle at the origin (0,0). A range of anomalies called “normal” is shown by a dashed rectangle in aqua (aqua). For values in degrees, the assigned normal range is +/-0.7°; for cloudiness, +/-7%; for monthly rainfall, +/-14 mm.

 * Normal values for rainfall are based on averages for the 125 years beginning 1883.