November 2015 had warm days and nights

Photo of seeding clematis

“Old Man’s Beard”

By the last week of October, the weather had cooled down to normal. In November, this continued until the 15th, with rain falling on eight of the days. The highest rainfall reading was 30.0 mm on the 5th.
After that, the weather was fine. Both days and nights were warm, but no day got to 40°. The weekly average temperature reached about four degrees above normal, as it had done early in October.

Weather log November 2015

 Comparing November months

This was a warm November, by day and by night. However, November 2014 had been hotter, and November 2009 very much hotter. The average daily maximum temperature in November 2009 (34.3°) was nearly 3° higher than in this month (31.5°).
Moisture indicators for this month were close to normal, although there was not much cloud. The dew point is no longer very low, as in the last three Novembers.
The rainfall of 73.8 mm was above average, in the 63rd percentile. The climate graph still includes the phenomenally high rainfall of November 2011: 242.9 mm, the highest November rainfall since the record began in 1883. (The next highest was 226 mm in November 1961.)
There are now no serious shortages in rainfall totals for ANY number of months. For the last 30 years, Manilla has enjoyed rainfalls close to normal. The 30-year total of 19,449 mm to this date is within 100 mm from the median 30-year total of 19,360 mm. In all that time, the most extreme major rainfall events were the 2002 winter-spring drought, and the 2011-2012 summer deluge.

Climate for November 2015


Data. All data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla. Rainfall data up to 26/3/15 is from Manilla Post Office, Station 055031.

3-year trends to November 2015

Parametric plots of smoothed climate variables at Manilla
“November 2015: warm days and nights”

Trends to November 2015

November raw anomaly data (orange)

While November daily maximum anomalies were not as warm as in October, daily minimum anomalies were warmer (on the lower left graph). Apart from these, nearly all other climatic anomalies for November were near normal.

 Fully smoothed data (red)

The latest fully smoothed data (May 2015) completes the autumn months (MAM) of 2015. In that season, no variables were changing much. Daily maximum temperature, daily minimum temperature, subsoil temperature, and monthly rainfall were all near normal. Skies were rather cloudy, daily temperature range rather narrow and dew point (as is now usual) rather low. It seemed certain that the winter season would see a trend reversal: minimum values in the anomalies of daily maximum temperature and daily temperature range, and maximum values in the anomalies of daily minimum temperature, subsoil temperature, monthly rainfall, cloudiness, and dew point.

The three-year pattern

In these three years, a repeating annual cycle is best seen in the centre-right graph, which relates daily temperature range to daily maximum temperature. In May of each year the climate was relatively cool and equable (or maritime), while in October of each year it was relatively warm and extreme (or continental).


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.

October 2015 very warm

Photo of native jasmine

Sweetest Jasmine

The first 30-degree day of the season came on the 3rd. That was ten days late, but the first 35-degree day followed soon after, on the 6th. Most days and nights were warm through the month, and the weekly mean temperature was three or four degrees above normal until the last week.
Ten sunny days were followed by days with much more cloud, and four rain days (usually seven). On the 22nd and 23rd, I recorded 17.4 and 8.0 mm.

Weather log for October

 Comparing October months

This was the warmest October of the new century for all daily temperatures: maximum, mean and minimum. The mean temperature of 21.7° was 3° above average, and much higher than in the other warm Octobers of 2014 (20.6°) and 2007 (20.4°).
The graph shows the curious fact that October months have warmed steadily since 2011. Since 2012, Octobers have not become drier: rainfall, cloudiness and humidity have increased rather than decreased.
The rainfall of 35.0 mm was below average, in the 29th percentile. As in last month’s report, there are no serious shortages in rainfall totals for small numbers of months. The only serious shortages are in the 30 month total (6th percentile) and in the 42 month total (7th percentile). There are still deep ponds in Greenhatch Creek.

Climate for October 2015


Data. All data, including subsoil at 750 mm, are from 3 Monash Street, Manilla. Rainfall data up to 26/3/15 is from Manilla Post Office, Station 055031.

December 2014 rainy with warm nights

Photo of a rain-shower

A shower on Mt Baldwin

Few days or nights were unusually warm or cool, except for a very cold day on the 28th. Thunderstorm clouds were often seen, but only a few yielded any rain. Later, overcast skies brought steady rain recorded on the 27th (25.2 mm) , 28th (11.2 mm) and 29th (12.6 mm). There were fourteen rain days: twice the usual number.

Weather log December 2014

Comparing December months

The mean daily maximum temperature (31.8°) was normal, but the mean daily minimum temperature (18.0°) was very high (Very warm nights!), just below the record of 18.6° set in 2009.
Subsoil temperature (24.7°) fell to normal after two Decembers above normal.
The total rainfall of 99.0 mm was in the 72nd percentile, well above the average of 74 mm. This clears most of the shortages in rainfall totals for groups of months. Two serious shortages remain: the nine month total of 306 mm is in the 8th percentile, and the eighteen month total of 659 mm is in the 6th percentile.

Climate for December 2014

The Year 2014

This year had the warmest nights (11.34°) of the new century. Although the days, at 26.67°, were cooler than in 2002 (26.72°), this year had also the warmest mean temperature: 19.01°. The second-warmest, at 18.85°, was 2009 and the coolest, at 17.19°, was 2008.
The subsoil temperature: 20.5°, fell back to near average.
In the year, 39% of the mornings were cloudy (more than four octas of cloud). This is close to the recent average (40%) for 2007 to 2014, but much more cloudy than the earlier average (26%) for 2000 to 2006.
The rainfall, 447 mm, was second lowest in the new century, after 2002 (366 mm). In the long-term rainfall record, this is a serious, but not severe deficiency: it is in the 8th percentile.


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 2014 dry and hotter

Weather log for spring 2014

Warm weather developed in early October, followed by a cool spell with one rain day of 26.4 mm. After that came three hot spells. There were showers and storms in the district, but little more rain fell at Manilla.
This spring was slightly hotter than spring 2013 and spring 2009, but not as hot as spring 2002. The air was not as extremely arid (dew point 3.6°) as in last spring (dew point 2.3°), and skies were a little more cloudy.
The total rainfall of 69.8 mm was in the 8th percentile: the 10th lowest spring rainfall. (Spring 2002 had been equal 5th lowest at 66 mm, and spring 1957 the lowest at 23 mm.) Rain fell on 11 days: more than in spring of 2002 (9 days), but fewer than in 2013 (13).

Climate for spring 2014


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