1/3/Lack of 30 Degree days this summer - Report 2008
Hello
Very good topic. A Sydney Morning Herald Report dated 29/2/2008 proves this. Titled - Summer in the City
The facts are:-
a) The typical summer heat was replaced with cool and cloudy days and lots of rain.
b) It has been the wettest summer for 6 years and Sydney city received 438 mm of summer rain which has been achieved from constant rain rather than a few large one off falls. There were no single one day rain records broken.
c) Critically, not a single summer day reached beyond 31 degrees (City).
d) This has only happened three times in the past 149 years with the last being in 1956. (The discussion on temperatures is correct, especially for Sydney city).
e) Average maximum temperatures were 25.2 degrees and it was the coldest summer since 1996/1997.
f) Sydney experienced 6.7 hours of sunshine, the lowest since 1991/1992.
This was the result of La Nina.
Where I reside in Blacktown in western Sydney the figures are different. For example:-
a) It reached 30 degrees on 13 days in October, 6 in November and December, 10 in January and 5 in February (Total 19 days in spring and 21 days in summer for a total of 40 days).
b) In the same period for 2006/2007, there were 61 days when the temperature reached 30 degrees or higher plus another 11 such days during March 2007 for a total of 73 days.
c) Interestingly there were more 30 degree days in March 2007 than that occurred during any of the months November, December, January and February 2007/08.
The number of 30 degree days is the lowest number I have experienced living in Sydney from 1997 - 2007/08.
d) October 2007 was hotter than November, December and February at 27.2 Celsius and had the most number of 30 degree days being 13 for the spring / summer period - 2007/2008.
e) The temperature reached 35 degrees or higher on just one day December to February which was 13/1/2008 when it reached 37 Celsius.
f) On all the other days when it reached 30 degrees, the maximum temperature fell between 30 and 35 degrees. In February, the maximum temperature was 31.2 Celsius on the 6.
There were no exceptionally hot days.
g) The official maximum February temperature at Prospect was 25.8 Celsius which is significantly lower than 2007. Actually, to put this into perspective, the average maximum March 2007 temperature was 27.4C meaning that February 2008 was colder than March 2007.
Further, March and October 2007 were hotter than the months of November and December 2007 and February 2008.
Amazingly not one single summer month for 2007/08 for Blacktown saw average maximum temperatures peak at 30 degrees which usually occurs for at least one month. Maximum averages were between 25.8C and 28C. January was the warmest month but it was still 2.17C colder than January 2007 where the average maximum was 30.17C.
It appears that the La Nina has resulted in cooling effect for the whole of summer.
Rainfall was around 445 mm where I live (December to February) and the cool cloudy / wet days contributed to the cooler than normal summer.
Finally, thunderstorms occurred on some 22 days where I live between 1/10/07 and 29/2/08. Although given that I went after many of them, this figure for me is inflated.
One other rare event occurred on 13/2/2008 in which I woke up to see morning fog. I cannot remember such a February morning in which fog occurred.
Overall, this has been a cooler, cloudier and wetter summer for much of eastern and northern NSW and much of Queensland and this is just a microcosm of some events in one locality.
Harley Pearman
