Tag Archives: climate

April 2020: cool, moist

Posted in Manilla NSW, Monthly weather by

Weather log for April 2020

[Note.
Due to illness, all days of this month were missed for some Manilla values. No values were noted for cloud or soil temperature; mean values shown for the month are estimates only. Daily maximum and minimum air temperatures were estimated by regression on values from Tamworth Airport Automatic Weather Service.]

April weekly mean temperatures were one or two degrees below normal, except in the final week.
There were five rain days, with the highest reading of 18.4 mm on the 11th.

Comparing April months

The mean monthly temperature, at 17.7°, was rather low, half a degree below normal. The mean daily maximum, at 24.7°, was one-and-a-half below normal, while the mean daily minimum, at 10.7°, was normal.
Apart from rainfall, the only moisture indicator available this month is daily temperature range. At nearly 2° narrower than normal, it implies more moist conditions than the rainfall. The rainfall total of 32.8 mm was at the 50th percentile for April, which is rather below the average (44 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. The gauge failed again during February (25/02/2020 ), but was repaired on 11/3/20.
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.

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.

2019-20 summer hot and moist

Posted in Manilla NSW, Season Weather, Weather extremes by
Sef-sown senna plants

Pepper-leaf Senna

Through December and January, this summer had a series of heat waves perhaps worse than those of the previous two summers, and rainfall and humidity were low. Similar droughty weather elsewhere brought catastrophic bushfires.
On the 3rd of February the weather changed dramatically. Heat waves were replaced by spells of cool or normal temperature, with high humidity, overcast days, and rain. Up to that date, cool spells had not occurred since November 2018, 15 months earlier. During those 15 months, regardless of the season, the weekly mean temperature often rose several degrees above normal, but never fell below normal.
Coincidentally, there were 14 rain days in both the hot-dry part of the season (65 days) and in the cool-wet part (26 days).

Weather log summer 2019-20

Seasonal average or total figures for this summer mean little because of the climatic break from 3 February.
Mean temperatures (max, mean, min) were close to the records set in the summers of 2017 and 2019, which they would have exceeded if February had not become cooler. Subsoil temperature remained normal.
In summer 2018-19, two of the moisture measures (daily temperature range and cloudiness) had been near normal, while rainfall and dew point had been low. Now, in 2019-20, rainfall and dew point were higher, making all four moisture measures normal.
The summer rainfall total of 232 mm is at the 55th percentile, very close to the average (227 mm).

Manilla summer climate

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. I have used it since 20 July, when the Museum gauge began recording again.  Unfortunately, the gauge failed during this season (25/02/2020 ). Pending repair, I am using my own gauge. My estimates of early morning dew point have become anomalously low. From 1 August 2019, I use values taken from Tamworth Airport graphs at the time of minimum temperature.
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.