 Conditions
ease in the Centre after a cold, wet week
 Cold
in southern WA, with widespread record lows  26Mar01 |
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| Maximum temperature
departures from normal from 19 to 24 March. The dark blue area represents
temperatures more than 12° below normal. BoM |
The conditions that have brought record cold
days to southern NT and between 100 and 300mm of rain to much of northeastern
WA and western NT eased today as the sun broke out for the first time in
nearly a week. As the animation at left shows, maximum temperatures to the
west of Alice Springs have been more than 12° below average for the
last five days, and only began recovering today as the cloud area responsible
for keeping temperatures low moved away to the ESE.
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.
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| This morning's minimum
temperatures compared to normal. BoM |
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
Data provided
by the Bureau
of Meteorology
Last updated at 17:04 EDST on 25/03/01
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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
91.4 TANDANGLE HILL Roper-McArthur NT
63.6 LISSADELL E Kimberley WA
61.0 WATERHOUSE Roper-McArthur NT
51.0 VAUGHAN SPRINGS Alice Springs NT
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
E
Kimberley
63.6 LISSADELL
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Roper-McArthur
113.8 UPPER WATERHOUSE
91.4 TANDANGLE HILL
61.0 WATERHOUSE
Alice Springs
51.0 VAUGHAN SPRINGS
50.0 ERLDUNDA
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High rainfall for periods
of 6 hours or less.
WESTERN AUSTRALIA
N
Kimberley
WYNDHAM AERO
10.8mm in 1 hr 5 min to 16:00 10.0mm/h
14.6mm in 30 min to 18:00 29.2mm/h
KURI BAY
72.0mm in 6 hr to 15:00 12.0mm/h
E Kimberley
KUNUNURRA AERO
13.4mm in 30 min to 16:00 26.8mm/h
13.0mm in 30 min to 16:30 26.0mm/h
26.4mm in 1 hr to 16:30 26.4mm/h
31.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 10.3mm/h
NORTHERN TERRITORY
Arnhem
MILINGIMBI
11.4mm in 34 min to 14:00 20.1mm/h
Roper-McArthur
CENTRE ISLAND
38.0mm in 1 hr to 15:30 38.0mm/h
38.0mm in 3 hr to 17:30 12.7mm/h
Victoria
LAJAMANU
5.0mm in 12 min to 20:30 25.0mm/h
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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
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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
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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
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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
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Todays greatest temperature
variations from normal
|
| 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
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-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
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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
THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW: 83
(330/ 69 ) at 17:00
MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC: 85 (360/ 65 ) at 19:47
HARTZ MOUNTAIN(KEOGHS PIMPLE) Southeast TAS: 91 (260/
65 ) at 04:00
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Other extremes
..
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