Discussion: Australia General Weather

[RWood]

Here's an interesting item on Bourke in the "daily extremes" list on Planet Watch:

Australian daily extremes - Page 22 - THE PLANET WATCH COMMUNITY FORUM

[rainfan]

Appeared in today's paper.

"Australian landscapes are unique after million of years of erosion have left it quite flat.

This is why that other countries (for instance our friends over the Tasman, New Zealand) can have much more dramatic scenery, including glaciers.

In NZ, glaciers carve out steep sections of rock from huge mountains.

Of interest is that the glaciers have had cycles throughout the past 100 years - every 25-28 years, the glaciers retreat and then advance.

This is interesting for Australia, as there is a theory that every 25-28 years we have a much wetter followed by a much drier period than normal.

Over the past couple of years, the glaciers in NZ have begun to advance again after their retreat from 1976 onwards, which was when rainfall took a significant dive in Australia.

It would be very interesting to see if this is just a coincidence, or if we really are in another cycle in rainfall over the coming years".

[RWood]

If the PDO phase has really switched and we're going to get more La Ninas, the relevant NZ glaciers (ones not all that well related to warming issues) will probably retreat significantly over the next couple of decades.

[rainfan]

Hello folks.

Am in Melbourne atm, am having a ball, doing lots of sight-seeing and enjoying the arts/books culture in which I must admit is lacking in Sydney. Cafes and clothes stores very excellent. Visiting old haunts & reliving the old good times. Many people have said Melbourne is very similar to Wellington, NZ and Auckland - Sydney.

Weather since I arrived on Wednesday:

Wednesday: Sunny when I arrived at 8 30am,clouded over by 9am then sunny from midday with gale force cold northerlies.

Thursday: Sunny morning/cloudy afternoon with few showers especially over eastern suburbs. Gale-force northerlies changing to much colder gale-force south-westerlies in the afternoon. Some minor damage to trees and fences. Wind gusts were reported to be over 110km/hr.

Friday: Mixed periods of sun and cloud. Strong cold SW winds.

Today: Currently overcast and cold and for the first time since arriving there is no wind!

[Grant]

I hope you enjoy the holiday rainfan

[ATO2]

Glad you are having a good time,mate. The weather there sounds not unlike some of ours, the past few days!

[rainfan]

Since my last post, the N-NW wind happened to rev up once again from midday onwards becoming strong to gusty at times. Remained overcast and cold.

Sunday: Overcast, dark, cold and windy with N-NW reaching gale force at times.

Monday: Sun and cloud periods during the morning with strong to gusty cold N-NW winds. Arrived at Melbourne airport at 11am in the midst of some quick-moving showers. Departed at 12 15pm under full cloudy skies, remained so til we flew over the Great Dividing Range into NSW where it was clear with high cloud patches. Stepped outside into sunshine/warm NW winds at Sydney Airport, maximum at Sydney was 22oC and 14oC at Melbourne.

Having lived in Melbourne previously, I had forgotten how cold and quite windy it can get especially with N-NW winds, they in the summer can bring sorching heat. The cloudiness didn't surprise me at all but still a bit of a shock to see how grey and dark it was, plenty of threatening rain-clouds but didnt rain at all and I must admit by the time Monday had arrived I was getting sick of the incessant wind

From what people have told me, it appears that whilst I was away Sydney basked in wall to wall sunshine with cold night & mild afternoon temps.

(Sydneysiders usually refer Melbourne to as the "Bleak City"). Looking at the locals, they didn't look very happy people at all. Only smiling faces were from tourists like me and kids. I asked someone why was this and he said "Oh its the damn weather - nothing to smile about!"

I really enjoyed being in Melbourne once again, it was fun travelling on the trams & hearing the bells, went to Queen Victoria Markets - huge that one, visited the new "Eureka" Building at Southbank, took a ride to "Deck 88" and even went in the "Edge" box - quite scary as the whole box is made of glass, it's frosted at first, when the box is pearched right outside Deck 88, glass defrosted and we're staring through the bottom and seeing everything that is below us . Excellent fashion, arts, books and cafes/restaurants. Went to St Kilda/Collingwood/Brunswick/CBD for lunches/dinners, it was too windy and cold to eat outside so ate inside, really nice with the heaters/fires going & they were absolutely packed over the weekend. Melbourne definitely feels like Europe, not Australia. Wore scarf, woolen hat and gloves the whole time whenever went or spent time outside - the strong strength of the winds made it feel much colder than acutally was.

Got a call from mate this morning, apparently they had storm force winds early this morning, trees toppled onto train tracks at Heyington (Glen Waverley Line in the eastern suburbs) with wind gusts exceeding 100km/hr in exposed areas, rather than battle his way through crowds to get buses to the city he ended up taking the day off and spent it at home watching DVDs

Melbourne has recorded it's warmest June since 1957 with the mean minimum of 9.8 degrees C being the warmest ever since records began in 1855. Speaking to several Melbourians - said it wasn't as cold as normally expected especially at night, in fact Sydney recorded lower minimum temps than Melbourne when I was down there.

(Also visited the National Climate Centre in the city - discovered quite a lot of interesting stuff & gathered heaps more new data)

[rainfan]

June 2008

PERTH
Rain: 142.6
Average: 134.3

Sun: 199.2
Average: 177

DARWIN
Rain: NIL
Average: 2

Sun: 293.1
Average: 297

BRISBANE
Rain: 121.8
Average: 67

Sun: 208.7
Average: 216

SYDNEY
Rain: 127.2
Average: 130.6

Sunshine: 141.1
Average: 180

MELBOURNE
Rain: 14.2
Average: 49.4

Sun: 110.5
Average: 108

[RWood]

Good sun/rain mixture for Perth, but I really like the Darwin numbers of course! I see Sydney made a fair recovery from its very dull start.

[rainfan]

Perth (RO site) - wettest June since 2005 (251mm).

Didn't include Adelaide as their sun data is a shambles with too many gaps/days missing which has been so for the past year or two