Tag Archives: 2019

No Rain Days in April 2019

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

Split Rock Reservoir 4-5-19

A warm spell in the third week was 4.2° above normal. There were 29 days over 25°, many more than usual. Anzac Day (25th) was sunny, calm and warm. It reached 28.2°, which was four degrees above average for that day, but not up to the 28.7° of Anzac Day 2002.
There were no rain days (usually four) and the dew point on the 28th reached a record low April value of minus 3.2°. There were no frosts.

Weather log for April 2019

Comparing April months

This month was warm (average 19.8°), but not as warm as April 2018, 2016 or 2005. The mean daily maximum of 27.8° was well below that of April 2005 (29.5°).
There was no rain, as in April 1912, 1925, 1942 and 1971. Dry air was shown by early morning readings of low dew point (5.8°) and very low relative humidity (67%). However, normal moisture was shown by 30% cloudy days and a daily temperature range of 15.9°.

The last seven April months

Drought

The on-going unprecedented drought is reported in another 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.  Since no 9 am readings have been recorded since August, I have substituted my non-standard gauge readings for all days.
All other data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla.

3-year trends to April 2019

Posted in 3-year climate trends, Manilla NSW by

April no rain

3-year trends to April 2019

April raw anomaly data (orange)

In April 2019, a rainfall total of zero made the raw anomaly for rainfall minus 40 mm. Rainfall, and the other moisture indicators (cloudiness, dew point, and daily temperature range) were much further up the graphs towards drought than they had been in March.
Daily maximum, minimum and subsoil temperatures were high, near the high-side limits of (smoothed) normal temperature.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

Fully smoothed data to October 2018 show rainfall just short of the record negative anomaly set in May 2018, and both maximum and minimum temperatures near record positive anomalies. However, cloudiness, dew point, and daily temperature range continued a movement (down) away from drought.

Notes:

January data points are marked by squares.

Smoothing

Smoothing uses Gaussian functions.
For fully smoothed data the function has a Standard Deviation of 2.5 months, it spans 13 monthly data points, and has a half-width of 6 months, which suppresses cycles shorter than 12 months. For partly smoothed data, the span of the function is reduced to 11 months, 9 months and so on.
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April 2019: 7 lowest rainfall totals

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

In April 2019, rainfall totals were the lowest-ever values for 1 month and for 15, 18, 24, 30, 72, and 84 months.

Rainfall status Mar-Apr 2019

Graph of Rainfall Shortages

This graph shows all the present rainfall shortages at Manilla, short term and long term, as percentile values. The latest values, as at the end of April, are shown by a thick black line with large circles. Those from one month earlier are shown by a thinner line with smaller circles. [The method is described in “Further Explanation” below.]

Record and near-record low rainfall totals

There never has been a month at Manilla when rainfall totals have included so many record or near-record low values.

  • The 1-month total for April is zero (as in April 1912, 1925, 1942, and 1971).
  • The 12-month total of 283 mm is second-lowest after February 2019 (271 mm).
  • The 15-month total of 397 mm is a new record, beating September 2018 (400 mm).
  • The 18-month total of 510 mm is a new record, beating April 1966 (514 mm).
  • The 24-month total of 745 mm is a new record, beating July 1966 (766 mm).
  • The 30-month total of 1005 mm is a new record, beating March 2019 (1078 mm).
  • The 72-month total of 3060 mm is equal-lowest with February 1903.
  • The 84-month total of 3653 mm is a new record, beating February 2019 (3672 mm).

Other changes from March to April

When rainfall in April was 55 mm less than in March, the short-duration totals for 3, 4, 5, and 6 months became serious shortages again.
New severe rainfall shortages appeared at the very long durations of 144 months (12 years) and 240 months (20 years). Such shortages have not been seen in half a century: not since 1969 in the case of 144 months duration, and not since 1950 in the case of 240 months duration.

May and June 2019 data

Data for the following month, May 2019, is plotted in the same way in the post “May 2019 rain gives some relief“. See also “June breaks more drought records”.

Further Explanation

The following notes explain aspects of this work under these listed headings:

Data analysis

Cumulative rainfall totals
Percentile values
Severity of rainfall shortages

Limitations of this analysis

Monthly rainfalls form a single population
Observations are not retrospective
The rain gauge failed

Data analysis

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3-year trends to March 2019

Posted in 3-year climate trends, Manilla NSW by

March warm

3-year trends to March 2019

March raw anomaly data (orange)

In March 2019, the raw anomaly for daily maximum temperature was near the upper limit for normal. Daily minimum and subsoil temperatures were high. Rainfall and other moisture measures were near normal.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

Fully smoothed data to September 2018 (except daily minimum temperature anomaly) showed a movement away from drought. More recent data, only partially smoothed, suggest that temperatures and rainfall later returned towards drought.

Notes:

January data points are marked by squares.

Smoothing

Smoothing uses Gaussian functions.
For fully smoothed data the function has a Standard Deviation of 2.5 months, it spans 13 monthly data points, and has a half-width of 6 months, which suppresses cycles shorter than 12 months. For partly smoothed data, the span of the function is reduced to 11 months, 9 months and so on.
Continue reading →

March rain leaves drought extreme

Posted in Australian Climate, Climate events, Manilla NSW, Rainfall from 1883 by

Above-average rainfall in March reduced the shortage of rainfall in the last 3 months. It did not relieve extreme shortages at durations between 12 months and 7 years.

Rainfall status Feb-Mar 2019

Graph of Rainfall Shortages

This graph shows all the present rainfall shortages at Manilla, short term and long term, as percentile values. The latest values, as at the end of March, are shown by a thick black line with large circles. Those from one month earlier are shown by a thinner line with smaller circles. [The method is described in “Further Explanation” below.]

Good rain in March

A rain front at the end of March 2019 that brought about 40 mm took the March total up to the average. This raised the 2-month and 3-month totals nearer to normal. It did nothing to increase longer-duration totals.

Extreme rainfall shortages

By February, six of the eleven rainfall shortages measured over durations from 12 months to 7 years were extreme. (That is, those totals were in the driest one percent in history.)
Despite the high rainfall of March, March figures also record six extreme shortages. The 18-month total is no longer extreme, but the 30-month total has now become extreme.
Two of the rainfall totals (plotted on the 0.1% line) are near-record low values. The 24-month total of 769 mm is the second lowest after July 1966 (766 mm). The 30-month total of 1078 mm is equal lowest with October 1966.
Data for February, plotted on the thinner line, show the record low values for 12 months (271 mm) and for 84 months (3672 mm).

The previous 24 months

The development of this drought through the previous 24 months is shown in the later post “Rainfall Shortage Sequence 03/2019”. A contour graph shows severity of shortage by contoured layer tints, with serial months on the x-axis and duration of shortage on the y-axis.

Further Explanation

[Update 5 April 2019.]

The following notes explain aspects of this work under these listed headings:

Data analysis

Cumulative rainfall totals
Percentile values
Severity of rainfall shortages

Limitations of this analysis

Monthly rainfalls form a single population
Observations are not retrospective
The rain gauge failed

Data analysis

This graph is based on analysis of monthly rainfall totals from 1884. Using the spreadsheet application Excel, I calculate cumulative totals and their percentile values. Using these values, I identify rainfall shortages as serious, severe, or extreme .

Cumulative rainfall totals

I prepare two tables. The rows in each table are serial months, more than 1600 in total. The columns in each table are headed by the selected number of months, n, as specified below. In the first table I cumulate the rainfall totals. First, I add each month’s rainfall total to that of the previous month for a 2-month total. Using the previous two months, I get a 3-month total, and so on. In this way, I get n-month rainfall totals from n = 1 up to n = 360 (30 years). However, I calculate for only the following 25 values of n:

n = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 60, 72, 84, 96, 108, 120, 144, 180, 240, 360

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