Australian Weather News |
Saturday, 24 MAR 2001 |
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The rain event over the past week in the western NT and northeastern WA has added around 100mm to the totals across a huge area of desert, already soggy from heavy rain earlier in the month. The map (top right) shows rain totals for the week to today, reaching a high point at Rabbit Flat, with 239.8mm, in the middle of the Tanami Desert. The two lower maps show rain from the beginning of March to 9am 25 March. The middle map shows the rainfall anomaly, with a huge area recording between 100 and 250mm above normal. The lower map translates this into percentage departure from normal, and shows that almost all of this area runs off the scale with more than 4 times its average rainfall for March.
Those living in southern WA reached for their doonas this morning as a cold southern airmass dropped temperatures 8 to 12° below normal, breaking many records sometimes by considerable margins. Perth City recorded a minimum of 7.6 just after 6am, breaking its previous record for the month of 7.7 set back in 1903, though at a different site. At the airport, the temperature dropped to 4.7, shaving 0.8° off the old record in 57 years of observation, while Lancelin, on the coast 100km north of Perth, recorded 6.3°, a whopping 1.5° lower than its previous coldest March morning in 34 years of observation. Wandering, in the ranges southeast of Perth, became the coldest place on the continent with a minimum of 1.0, even beating Charlotte Pass in the Snowy Mountains, usually the chilliest place in the country. See below for the full list of records set. Much of SE inland WA recorded top temperatures today 10 to 12 below normal. See also this special report.
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National
weather extremes for today |
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Quality control note: Data is complete, and has been visually checked by AWN for gross errors. Less obvious errors may remain. See Explanation of Extremes Pages for more information | |
Records
set this day (previous record and years of computerised record shown in
brackets): Lowest minimum temperature for March: Western Australia: Denham 14.0 (14.5, 13) Wongan Hills 5.5 (5.6, 33) Perth Airport 4.7 (5.5, 57) Karnet 4.2 (4.3, 29) Lancelin 6.3 (7.8, 34) Medina Research Centre, Kwinana 4.5 (4.6, 17) Donnybrook 2.0 (2.8, 41) Dwellingup Forestry 3.0 (3.3, 40) Cunderdin 5.0 (5.3, 44) Merredin 2.8 (5.2, 35) Northam 4.9 (5.8, 33) Beverley 3.3 (3.9, 31) Brookton 3.0 (3.9, 33) Pingelly 4.0 (5.0, 29) Cashmere Downs 7.6 (8.2, 28) Kalgoorlie-Boulder AP 5.7 (6.1, 60) Leonora 8.4 (8.6, 43) Warburton Airfield 10.0 (11.1, 10) Carnegie 11.7 (12.6, 11) |
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Todays highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am. It includes the top 5 totals received, and/or all reported falls of 50mm or more. 113.8 UPPER WATERHOUSE Roper-McArthur
NT |
High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less.
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Todays highest & lowest temperatures |
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Maximum | Minimum |
41.0
LONGREACH AERO Central West QLD 40.0 ISISFORD POST OFFICE Central West QLD 40.0 BLACKALL POST OFFICE Central West QLD 39.5 WINTON POST OFFICE Northwest QLD 39.1 CLONCURRY AIRPORT Gulf Country QLD |
28.0
ALYANGULA POLICE Arnhem NT 27.4 TROUGHTON ISLAND N Kimberley WA 27.4 CENTRE ISLAND Roper-McArthur NT 27.0 DUM IN MIRRIE Darwin-Daly NT 27.0 COCONUT ISLAND N Peninsula QLD 27.0 RUNDLE ISLAND Wide Bay/Burnett QLD 27.0 CAPE FOURCROY Islands |
8.9
MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC 10.0 FALLS CREEK Upper NE VIC 10.0 MT BAW BAW W Gippsland VIC 11.6 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW 13.4 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS |
1.0
WANDERING Gt Southern WA 1.6 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW 1.9 WANDERING COMPARISON Gt Southern WA 2.0 DONNYBROOK SW & S Coast WA |
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal |
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Maximum | Minimum |
+6.9
37.8 MITCHELL POST OFFICE Maranoa QLD +6.6 41.0 LONGREACH AERO Central West QLD +6.4 40.0 BLACKALL POST OFFICE Central West QLD +6.1 37.9 SURAT POST OFFICE Maranoa QLD +6.0 37.9 CHARLEVILLE AERO Warrego QLD |
+7.4
15.6 GEEVESTON(FORESTRY CEMETERY RD) Southeast TAS +6.6 15.4 DOVER (PARKS AND WILDLIFE SERVICE OFFICE Southeast TAS +6.5 15.0 BUSHY PARK (BUSHY PARK ESTATES) Derwent Valley TAS +6.1 24.2 GAYNDAH POST OFFICE Wide Bay/Burnett QLD +5.7 22.7 MILES POST OFFICE Darling Downs W QLD |
-12.2
22.0 WARBURTON AIRFIELD Interior WA -12.2 22.2 CARNEGIE Interior WA -12.0 20.8 LEONORA Goldfields WA -11.6 22.5 WILUNA Interior WA -11.5 21.8 YEELIRRIE Goldfields WA -11.5 23.0 JERVOIS Alice Springs NT |
-13.2
2.8 MERREDIN Cent Wheatbelt WA -11.4 3.3 BEVERLEY Gt Southern WA -11.2 4.7 PERTH AIRPORT Lower West WA -11.2 4.5 MEDINA RESEARCH CENTRE Lower West WA -11.1 3.0 BROOKTON Gt Southern WA |
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. MOUNT LOFTY Mt Lofty Ranges SA
: 87 (290/ 63 ) at 13:00 |
Other extremes .. |