|
When reading these descriptions of today's weather events, please refer to the charts and tables for support and details. The descriptions serve to point out significant events and add information that is not available elsewhere on the page.
 E AUS: Low temperature records tumble in 5 states and the NT
Cold, dry southern air, which has been pushing northwards into the Continent since the weekend, combined with a clear night to send temperatures tumbling to record levels this morning. The minimum temperature map shows that almost the entire SE quarter of the continent recorded temperatures below 3C (frost usually forms at 2C), while a large area of subzero temperatures occurred, unusually, in eastern and SE SA. The minimum temperature anomaly map is even more dramatic, with a vast area covered by temperatures more than 8 below the average. The greatest departures were in southern QLD and NE NSW, where Amberley, Oakey, Port Macquarie and Tenterfield were 12 or 13 below. Coldest actual temperatures were Woolbrook NSW -9.0, Yongala SA -6.1, Liawenee TAS -5.8, Stanthorpe QLD -5.0, Nhill VIC -3.7 and Arltunga NT -1.1. Other low readings are on the State Extremes page. At Brisbane Airport, where the instruments are only about a kilometre from Moreton Bay, the minimum air temperature was 3.9 (9 below) but the grass minimum was minus 2.9. It was the airport's coldest morning since July 2004 and the lowest May temperature in the 12 years the present airport site has been operating.
The numerous records are listed below. Significant ones include:
- Hawker SA, which has a 39-year climatic history, broke the May record of -1.5 with a reading of -1.7 yesterday, and broke that again with a reading of -2.7 this morning
- Clare SA recorded -3.7, knocking 3.5C off its previous May record in 12 years, and equalling its all-time lowest temperature recorded 1 July 2002
- Keith SA, with a 45 year history, broke its previous May record by 1.0C
- Amberley QLD, with a 65 year history, broke its previous May record by 1.7C
- Inverell Research Centre NSW, with a 42 year history, broke its previous record by 1.6C
- -2.1 at Mildura VIC was the city's lowest May temperature in 60 years.
Cloud again kept daytime temperatures well below normal around Adelaide and in the Derwent Valley in TAS. Edithburgh on the Yorke Peninsula and Kingscote on Kangaroo Island both again broke the low maximum temperature records they set yesterday, while in the Derwent Valley Maydena set a new low with a chilly 5.1 top temperature.
 VIC: Flooding in lower Snowy River
The mouth of the Snowy River has silted closed and rising waters from the river are flooding low-lying dairy farms. The situation is said to have been caused or worsened by lack of environmental flows in the river. Parks Victoria told ABC Radio today that it is waiting for the right tidal conditions to breach the sandbank to release the water.
NT, WA: Flooding slows deliveries
Continuing wet weather across the Top End is severely interrupting trucking movements. Luke Fraser from the Australian Livestock Transporters Association told Supply Chain Review that livestock and produce carriers have been hit hard. "We've got blokes just sitting there basically just waiting for things to dry out and they've got millions of dollars worth of equipment tied up waiting there and can't move," he says.
In WA, a number of communities continue to be cut off following flooding from recent cyclones. In both the NT and WA, truckies say that flooded roads aren't the only problem. Even when flooding recedes, roads are so boggy that the chances of bogging a large rig are high, and they aren't prepared to take the risk of waiting weeks to be pulled out.
VIC: Lack of rain slows crop preparations
Continuing dry weather has slowed or even stopped the planting of crops in the Mallee and Wimmera areas of the state's northwest. Farmers told ABC Local Radio that dry top soil in some parts will result in patchy germination and crops will struggle unless there is more rain soon.
|
