Styx

Hobart, Tasmania, Australia Southern most city in Australia. Situated at sealevel, and backed by a 4200ft mountain range. Temperate climate. Headline figures: Warm. Equal records set for maxima over 30 ( 5 days ) and minima over 20 ( 2 ) Mean Maximum: 23.7 ( +1.9 ) Mean Minimum: 13.5 ( +1.2 ) Rainfall: 56mm ( Average 47mm ) Extremes: Highest maximum: 36 ( Record 41 ) Lowest maximum: 15 ( Record 11 ) Highest minimum: 21 ( Record 24 ) Lowest minimum: 6 ( Record 3 ) Wettest day: 30mm Top wind speed: 55mi/hr

Back in the 1980s the weather bureau only released a 48 hour forecast for where I live, and I remember always eagerly awaiting the 5pm update ( as it was then ) , read out on my local radio station. At 5:05pm. But the fun part was listening to the 4 day forecast for Melbourne ( 700km north ) in order to guage future developments which might affect my island home. Melbourne was the only capital city at the time to issue a forecast that far ahead. The only way to find out, was struggling to find a radio signal strong enough ( usually only possible in calm conditions and very late at night ). Those were the really fun days of weather watching for me! It's a different kind of drama now, less unexpected developments, with possibly less surprises?

Producing extreme heat ( up to 42 degrees ) and windy conditions as far south as Perth, as high pressure south of WA and Iggy combine to increase the pressure gradient.

3.1 thanks

It is interesting yet disturbing! Kind of glad I won't be around if it all comes to pass. Unless I am alive beyond 100, which I won't want to be. I am against the prospect of such control over our natural environment, and the thought that individual function needs to be improved ( why? ) by artificial insemination, technology implanted to supposedly enhance our productivity..BS! I envisage something else happening, and that is a successful rebellion against such things. A return to basic needs, less materialism, a greater connection with our instinctive connection to nature, direct human contact, a strengthning of local communties. If democracy persists, then I am preety sure these themes will win out. If not then I am going to join the rebels !

Fair shake of the sauce bottle mate, that summer humidity you experience on the sub tropical coast would be kind of.. intolerable. 20 at night every night..crikey. No wonder people are moving to temperate Tasmania to live, and the weather is only one reason for it, its bonza !

Watch developments over waters off the northern Australian coast from Sunday onwards. There is a good probability of a monsoon trough forming into a low, and then bombing into a cyclone. Probably by Tuesday is my guess, if everything falls into place.

That is interesting thanks for that. I wonder whether that stretch will be repeated. It is disappointing and troubling in a broader context, anomolies for local climatic conditions aside. ( By the way, your blog entries, very smart and engaging to read )

So lets see, if January comes in at +1.0 above average it will be the 5th consecutive month to do so! Anyone able to say whether this has happened before? A big raspberry to all the global warming conspiracists out there.

Too right. As you know, one of the great mythologies about Australia abroad is its supposed benign summer weather. But this was a really sharp cold outbreak for this time of the year. Where I live, it max'd out at 14.5C. I actually quite enjoyed it, it was windy and cloudy and my Local had the open fire burning. Canberra has been as low as -10 ( -8 last winter ), being inland and elevated though it is a special case, the standout Aus capital for extreme cold

Lowest temperature ever recorded in Canberra for January: 1.6 degrees, close to 12 degrees below average http://www.canberratimes.com.au/news/local/news/weather/keeping-it-cool-canberras-record-low/2417510.aspx

Australia had a marginally cooler than average year (-0.1 below average ) making it the first negative anomoly year since 2001 and only the third negative anomoly year since 1985. It was down to a very active La Nina year with a more intense and prolonged monsoon season, supressing temperatures markedly in tropical, the subtropical east and desert Australia. The southern half of Australia however, was milder than average, and SW Western Australia had record warmth. The annual rainfall from a widespread network of rainfall site observations was the 3rd highest on record ( since 1900 ). It was back to back wet years for Australia. Australia extremes 2011 Highest maximum: 49 ( Roebourne, Western Australia ) Lowest maximum: -5 ( Thredbo, New South Wales ) Highest minimum: 32 ( Thargomindah airport, Queensland ) Lowest minimum: -16 ( Charlottes Pass, New South Wales ) Highest rainfall: 10078mm ( Belienden Ker Top, Queensland ) Lowest rainfall: 122mm ( Bond Springs Turnoff, Northern Territory ) Highest daily rainfall: 477mm ( Mornington Island, Queensland ) Highest wind speed: 128mi/hr ( Willis island, Queensland ) Edge of cyclone. Hobart, Tasmania, Australia - State capital, sealevel Mean max: 17.5 ( +0.5 ) Mean min: 9.1 ( +0.5 ) Highest maximum: 34 ( Record is 41 ) Lowest maximum: 7 ( Record is 4 ) Highest minimum: 19 ( Record is 25 ) Lowest minimum: 1 ( Recod is -3 ) Rainfall: 691mm ( Average 617mm ) Highest daily total: 76mm

A fairly uneventful start to summer with no extreme heat. Main averages Monthly minimum: 11.6 ( +0.5 ) Monthly maximum: 20.3 ( +0.3 ) Rainfall total: 52mm ( Average 57mm ) Extremes Highest maximum: 27 ( December record 41 ) Lowest maximum: 14 ( December record 10 ) Highest minimum: 16 ( December record 24 ) Lowest minimum: 6 ( December record 3 ) Highest daily rainfall: 21mm ( During a 30 minute thunderstorm with flash flooding )

Australia had its 3rd wettest year since official records commenced at the beginning of the 20th century. Where I live however the anomoly wasn't huge, being this far south, La Nina years aren't as marked for wetness as further north. 691mm for the year fell compared to the 617mm average which covers 1881 onward

Snowflakes can be observed falling in Hobart ( sealevel ) - usually as sleet - once every 2 or 3 years. It is almost always at night or at dusk or dawn. These events are becoming less frequent. ( Newspaper reports from the 19th century tell of lying snow at sealevel every second winter or so ). Last such event was in 1986 here, in Australia's southern most city. In June a sleet event occured, close to midnight, looking up into the sky, there was a yellowy blizzard like scene 50 metres up, lit up by the street lights, with the occasional flake making it to the ground mixed with the rain. An exciting observation for any weather enthusiast. A half degree colder then it would have been game on

At 42 degrees south, with only the cold southern ocean seperating Tasmania from Antarctica, this time of year is often associated with tempermental conditions, passing showers is one common scenario assicated with cool SW flow behind cold fronts. These fronts don't usually reach mainland Australia at this time of year, dissipating as they move north. This Christmas was good with no showers, with a close to average December maximum of 20 in the capital! Snow settling on the mountain behind Hobart on Christmas day happens from time to time. Elevation 1200m ( 3600 feet ). For all your interests Lowest maximum on Christmas day 12.6 degrees ( 1984 ) Highest maximum on Christmas day 34.1 degrees ( 1945 )

It is interesting, as it was the 10th warmest year globally. That is quite far down the list of all time highs, and a bit of a surprise, to me.

yea same here happy new year youse all

Main averages Average maximum: 20.7 (+2.2) Average minimum: 10.9 (+1.3) Rainfall: 54mm (Long term average 55mm) Warmest November since 1982 here. Extremes Highest maximum: 31 ( November record is 37 ) Lowest maximum: 16 ( November record is 9 ) Highest minimum: 15 ( November record is 19 ) Lowest minimum: 5 ( November record is 2 ) Highest daily rainfall: 13mm Highest wind speed: 46m/ph

6.0 thanks. ( I use the 61-90 average, as I assume this is the standard WMO reference point )

I winessed a black panther like creature at Llansamlet near Swansea in the spring of 2003. I estimated it would have been the size of a fully grown labrador, and most defiently feline in structure and movement. Specifically, the rip of the body and the shine of the coat stood out. I was making my way to work along a track in a revegated area. Llansamlet is a light industrial/residential area but my daily walking track was thru quite an expanse of reserved land - taking in long grass, plantations and shrubbery, either side of a disused railway line. Sighting was very brief. Perhaps a second or two. It may have been about 70 metres ahead of me as I turned a corner, and it was drinking at a puddle, It then 'sleeked' off into the undergrowth behind it. Sleeked is an apt word to describe that movement. I made an online report to a research team working at the Swansea Uni, but didn't hear back from them. Due to the relative high human population density in the UK it does go to show how brilliantly pervasive these creatures are ( whatever they may be ). Can hope under a similar scenario that Tasmania's very own thylacine is just as cunning.

Surprisingly, these events are not especially rare during La nina summers, its the frequency of the intensity of these events which I think is being noted as significant. We also have the same media obsession about weather extremeties as the UK press appears to have, so such events are usually overblown a little or a lot. Still it was a noticable storm. Models don't indicate such a severe southern 'wet season' this year as last, but indications point to it being wetter than the norm, so I reckon more events like these are a sure thing.

^ This is great

I'll be making my move over there in January, so I don't want December to be too extreme from a selfish point of view, unless it kicks off in December and persists into the new year. And this going to make me sound very juvenille but.. I'd love to witness some cars spin out in a black ice situation. Some youtube video I saw sometime ago, two women abandoned their car when it couldn't get a grip and they slid down the road with it..(they were OK ). You guys really know how to do black ice

Main averages Maximum average: 17.1 ( -0.1 below 1961-90 average ) Minimum average: 8.2 ( equal to 1961-90 average ) Rainfall: 62.2mm ( 0.5mm below 1882-2010 average ) Doesn't get much closer to the average than that. Extremes Highest maximum 29C ( Record 35 for October ) Lowest maximum 11C ( Record 6 for October ) Highest minimum 17C ( Record 20 for October ) Lowest mimum 3C ( Record 0 for October ) Wettest day 11mm Highest wind gust 85km/hr ( 63m/ph )