Australian Weather

[Styx]

Not much of a winter in Australia so far!  Minimal snow cover on the mountains and only at the very highest levels. Colder nights in parts have taken the edge off the warmer days. In Western Australia and northern Australia it has been anomalously very warm.  Yesterday, Darwin had its hottest June day on record with 35.0c ( 3 above average ).  The average temperature in the tropics this month is almost running at late wet season values.

Darwin highest temperatures in June ( records since 1941 )

35.0c.......2020  15th

34.6.........2016  27th

34.5.........2003  5th

34.5.........1980  2nd

34.5.........1958  1st 

[Styx]

An east coast low off New South Wales is bringing heavy snow to alpine regions - 60 to 80cm over the last 36 hours and more to come. This is a very high snowfall rate by historical standards. At the end of the week hydrologists will be measuring the snow depth at Spencers Creek ( 1830m ) near Thredbo, and will be publishing an official figure, as they have done for 70 years on a near weekly basis. The long-term annual snow depth peak is 200cm  so just about half way there following a 34cm reading last week. In Tasmania there's hardly anything around but high pressure is at least chilling things down a bit. 

 

Edited July 13, 2020 by Styx

[Kirkcaldy Weather]

 

[Styx]

I am going to go out on a limb here by saying Tasmania has just had its biggest snow event of the century. This is hard to quantify because of the size of the island and its different mini climate zones, but the variables I have used are   a) traffic disruption across large areas b) rarity of low-level snow on the ground in places- at or near sealevel -  c) quantity of snow.  Hobart had more favorable conditions in August 2015, but its been a snow bonanza in so many other places over the last 24 hours. Later, I will write some more and post some of the better pictures. The winter snow drought of 2020 is officially over.

Cold front brings snow to Tasmania as weather alert issued for damaging winds - ABC News

WWW.ABC.NET.AU

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Snow falling across Tasmania causes power cuts and road closures, stranding some motorists on the major north-south highway. The Bureau of Meteorology warns severe weather is predicted to...

 

Edited August 4, 2020 by Styx

[stainesbloke]

Some pics from my family’s farm, just outside Hobart

[Styx]

BREAKING 6AM.....In the wake of the cold snap, Tasmania has recorded its coldest temperature on record early Friday morning, -14.2c at Liawenee in central Tasmania! Liawenee is a small settlement near Great Lake - 1000m asl. Records from Liawenee ( covering the winter months ) began in 1988. It has an August mean minimum of -1.4c.  There are widespread sub zero readings away from the coast this morning, but nothing like this.  Tasmania's previous record low was -13.0c and previous August low -11.1c.

 

Edited August 6, 2020 by Styx

[Styx]

Part 1  Tuesday began with a very cold airmass over Tasmania originating from waters close to Antarctica. Extreme minimums were -10.1c at Liawenee ( 1050m asl ) in Central Tasmania and -7.2c Mt.Wellington/kunanyi ( 1260m asl ) above Hobart, in the south-east. Behind the front, heavy snow about the western and southern mountains and a dusting in places below 200m asl mostly near the west and south coast and to the south of Hobart. If the cold outbreak had wound down in usual fashion at this point, it would have been the wintriness outbreak for Tasmania as a whole for about 4 years - but there was more to come. I have selected some of the nicest photos from newspaper and social media accounts I have seen this week, and double checked they are all recent. These were taken on Tuesday morning:

 

[Coopsy]

Bloody global warming Love the pics 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Coopsy

[Styx]

Part 2  Snow eased about Tasmania's exposed west and south during the day, but an east coast low was forming. Very cold and overcast in the east before thunder rain broke out in the south-east during the afternoon ( Hobart ) with low level snowfall, but rain turned to snow slightly inland and worked itself up over the lowland corridor all the way to the north shutting down the major north-south link. This was a rare weather phenomena. Launceston is Tasmania's second largest city ( population 105,000 ); first snow of its kind there since 1921. The last settled fall was 1974 (but about half an inch)

 

 

Edited August 10, 2020 by Styx

[Styx]

Part 3  End. Launceston, Tasmania. That feeling of witnessing snow for the very first time in your home environment. 

 

[Coopsy]

On 10/08/2020 at 06:43, Styx said:

Part 3  End. Launceston, Tasmania. That feeling of witnessing snow for the very first time in your home environment. 

 

I’m smiling with ya bud. Great video, it really captures the feeling 

[Weather-history]

 

[Styx]

I hate to ruin the winter theme here but Australia has just recorded its highest winter temperature on record,  41.2c at Roebuck in Western Australia's Kimberley region this afternoon. The previous record was set yesterday - 40.7c at Yampi Sound Defence and before this event began, the Australia winter high was 40.0c at  Kalumbura Mission, in 1970. Roebuck appears to have only 17 years of records and I am unable to readily find anything for Yampi. These sites may have replaced closed sites.  Nevertheless, August heat records were widespread in that part of the world, including the main  towns of Port Hedland and Broome ( 600 kilometres apart ). The ACCESS 850hpa chart is a forecast chart, advancing the situation four hours ahead of time. At least with La Nina on the horizon, we could be looking at a wet spring/summer and a cooler theme, so with a bit of luck,  no more heat records to report for a while. 

Edited August 23, 2020 by Styx

[Summer Sun]

A beautiful end to the final few days of the winter season in Sydney

Edited August 27, 2020 by Summer Sun

[Styx]

Australia had a warm winter overall with record warmth in Western Australia. No state managed to drop below the 1961-1990 temperature average but Victoria was just below the 1981-2010 average . It was a dry winter too, with a 20% rainfall deficiency. 

Mean temperature anomaly ( compared to 1961-1990 ) :  +1.15c

June.....+1.1

July......+1.0

August.....+1.4

[Styx]

A snowline of near 800m this morning. A typical September will usually produce a snowline as low as 300-400m on at least one day, but I don't see that happening this month. 

[Weather-history]

 

[Kiwi]

7 minutes ago, Weather-history said:

 

love the sheep warning symbols in this clip!!

[Weather-history]

 

[Weather-history]

 

 

[Weather-history]

South Island of New Zealand could be in for a wintry episode on Tuesday even gets into the North Island the -5C 850hpa line

 

[Kiwi]

My sister in Queenstown should get the benefit of this.

And should freshen up the snow conditions for the last week(s) of the ski season.

[Styx]

Nothing too unusual about the recent cold snap in south-east Australia from my perspective. Wintry outbreaks still happen in September with light snow in higher towns but they never last for long. The seasonal shift happens in earnest from October.  I was quite surprised BoM issued a severe video warning about it. It would be better if they added a few words about the historical significance of interesting weather events. Social and commercial media always hyper exaggerate snow weather, as happens over there.

Edited September 26, 2020 by Styx

[Zak M]

Storm season has started to get going in N Australia, check out this little isolated storm I spotted on the 24hr webcam archive today:

This camera is located in Jabiru.

[Eagle Eye]

supercell thunderstorms in queensland. 

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