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Canberra/ACT: Day to Day Weather Talk

Event discussion and analysis for New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, including day to day weather.
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Blackee
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Canberra/ACT: Day to Day Weather Talk

Post by Blackee »

Wettest autumn in 20 years for Canberra
Press Release, Monday May 31, 2010 - 14:38 EST

Canberra has just experienced its wettest autumn in 20 years, and the coldest in seven years.

Over the last three months the Australian capital has been splashed with 175 millimetres of rain. More than a third of this occurred in May. The rain gauge recorded 71 millimetres in the last month, making it the wettest May in 15 years.

Samuel Terry, meteorologist for weatherzone.com.au, explained why Canberra was so wet.

“We’ve seen a lot of humid tropical air being forced in over New South Wales and the ACT in the last few months. This type of system often reaches the Great Dividing Range, causing widespread rain.”

“In May, we’ve also seen intense rainfall systems develop just off the New South Wales coast. The South Coast was hardest hit but some of this rain did make it into the Southern Tablelands and Canberra.”

Maximum temperatures in Canberra have also been cool over the last few months. In fact, Canberra had their coldest autumn in seven years by averaging a maximum of 21 degrees.

May in particular was a notable month for temperatures. Overall, it was the capital’s coldest May in four years.

“Rainfall and cloud cover stopped any prolonged periods of heat in Canberra during autumn this year,” Terry explained. “This is why we’ve seen cooler maximum temperatures.”

“Winter temperatures are expected to stay near-average or slightly above average. Rainfall chances are expected to remain high going into winter as well.”
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by crikey »

Canberra had a minimum temp of -6.5 deg C at 5.00am on the 16th May 2011. according to BOM observations
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDN60801 ... 4926.shtml" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

According to weather zone the lowest min was 5.7degC this month of May 2011 in Canberra.
.
According to weatherzone the record low was -6.1°C on the 16th 1999 ..... scroll down to view almanac for Canberra
http://www.weatherzone.com.au/act/act/canberra" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That means that was a record low for Canberra for the month of May.
I Haven't seen this reported in the weather news??
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by Lily »

Now that's mighty cold, isn't it? I have a few friends up there, one was saying yesterday she finally felt like she was thawing out a little with the sunshine they had. Brrrr!

I did know they got down well into minus territory, but can't remember where I heard it, I think online, can't recall seeing any news reports thought I'm sure it would have been mentioned locally.
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by apocalypse »

Good question, crikey. :)

The record that Weatherzone shows of -6.1C comes from the Tuggeranong site.

The observations from your first link come from the Canberra Airport, which is a relatively new site that opened in 2008. I think they use the Canberra Airport Comparison (1939-2010) to relate the new observations to the older records, as they are in almost the same area.

That gives the record for May as a freezing -7.5C in 1976.

They also got to -6.9C the day before, so they were getting very close nevertheless. This was also an early season record (the previous being -7.2C on the 16th of May)
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by crikey »

Well the end of the August weather reporting period for 2011 is arriving and one day before the end of august the weather news in Melbourne is reporting that Canberra will have its highest mean maximum temp on record. They talk so quickly you often miss the details
Thought l would go and investigate these claims on BOM weather and climate data site
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weat ... num=070014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The first thing l noticed was that Canberra has been recording data from a number of locations many of which are now closed.
I make an assumption that the max mean temps can be obtained from any of these stations with 7kmm of each other.
The latest station to be opened is Canberra airport which opened in 2008 .

The station with the most consecutive records is called canberra airport comparison
Records start at 1939 and end in 2010

Other canberra records are scattered over a number of stations, some closed some still open
.
Tuggerong ( isabella plains) from 1996 to 2011 is cited and used by weatherzone

The earlier records are found in closed stations like
Queanbeyan bowling club. 1909-1956 (closed)
Canberra Duntroon ( closed) 1912-1930
Canberra Acton 1914-1939 (closed)
Canberra city 1975-1988( closed)
Canberra forestry 1927-1980( closed)
Canberra airport comparison(closed) 1939-2010
Canberra aero comparison(closed) 1996-1997

All stations opened or closed provide a mean monthly maximum for August
They will be different because they use a different data set based on the years they were operational.
For example Canberra airport comparison yields a mean max temp for august of 13deg C with 70years of records
whereas
Tuggerong that weatherzone utilisies has 15 years of records and yields 14.2 deg C as the mean max temp

I managed to find that generally the 95th percentile for mean max temp in Canberra is around say 15 deg c. The extreme range of mean temps in August.

From all of the above stations here are the years that produced a mean max temp of 15 deg C for august or above in Canberra

Acton..1928..15 deg c
Acton..1937..15 degC
Canberra city..1980..17.4 deg C
Forestry..1928..15.3 deg c
Duntroon..1914..15 deg c
Airport comparison..
1982..17.2deg C
1995..16.1 deg c
2006..15.3 deg c
2007 15 deg C
Queenbeyan..
1928..16.3 deg c
1937..16.4 deg C
1944.15.7 deg c

Since 1909 of record keeping in Canberra ( 102 years of records)
there have been 9 Augusts in the 95++ percentile range , generally inferring that the incidence of an extrem mean August temp ratio is 102 years: 9 records = one in every 11.3 years

The highest mean max temp l could find is 17.4 deg c in 1980 at Canberra city station

Weatherzone almanac reports that the August max mean temp for Canberra is 14.2 deg c
They report a +1.6deg c anomaly from the August mean for 2011.

Keep in mind the Tuggerong records have only a sample of 15 years. As l understand ,In America at least 30 years of records are required before the data can be used in a mean data set.

In the August of 1980 ( mean max of 17 .4 deg c) we would be reporting an anomaly of + 3.2 deg c if we used the tuggerong data set as the reference point..

So the August of 2011 in Canberra will not be a long term record.
The August of 1980 still will stand as the all time record out of 102 years of records since 1909

And as for the winter( june/july/august) record being broken.?. It took me 2 hrs to investigate one month of records.LOL or cry
Can we trust weather reporting media to not be sensational in its reporting?? :|
Image
I can't fit the long term graph from Canberra airport records since 1939 onto the screen you will have to go to the link to view the remainder of data to 2010
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weat ... p_month=08" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
and the tabulated form at
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weat ... num=070014" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by peterhau »

I noticed that there hasn't been any activity in here for a while. Canberra has had its coldest summer thus far on record, one of our maximum daytime temps didn't bother to crawl into double digits. With respect to the Tuggeranong weather station, the actual station is floating on a pond near isabella plains. Birdlife (feathered variety) frequent the station, which leads to inaccuracies with respect to precip and night time temps. A wet water bird has been known to top up the rainfall measure. A group of birds huddling against the station can increase the overnight temp.

I am looking out at a bright afternoon, but the temp is barely 20 degrees. forecast says we can expect storms tomorrow, I will try and capture the sunset tonight in the off chance that there is lightning moving through.
POW! ZAP! I don't chase storms, I patiently wait for them to come to me.... Usually the soaked guy with the dry camera, atop a mountain, out of running distance from the car...
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by Rivergirl »

Welcome to the AWF peterhau :) Good to have someone here from Canberra
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by peterhau »

thanks for the welcome. it seems that most of the people here have moved on, I see a few of them over at WZ, but the conversation seems to be far too technical for new weather nuts.

Forecast for tonight is storms - I am hoping that the low cloud goes away so that it is a clear shot across canberra, still trying to work out whether Mt Ainslie or Red hill lookouts will be the best spots, probably will end up visiting red hill first. (red hill gives a different perspective of canberra, there is the tuggeranong valley on one side and canberra from the back of parliament house on the other) Set for some interesting events tonight. will post any decent images I get.
POW! ZAP! I don't chase storms, I patiently wait for them to come to me.... Usually the soaked guy with the dry camera, atop a mountain, out of running distance from the car...
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by apocalypse »

Hi and welcome to the forum peterhau. It's great to see another soul from our region here. :-P :wave:

Already some storms headed in your general direction. I think anywhere with a good view to the N would be the best spot. Good luck!
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by peterhau »

storm appears to have arrived early, so i will be at my desk instead of taking photos in the storm. Hoping that we have another front coming in later this afternoon / evening.
POW! ZAP! I don't chase storms, I patiently wait for them to come to me.... Usually the soaked guy with the dry camera, atop a mountain, out of running distance from the car...
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by crikey »

Hi Peterhau :P
Great to have a live correspondent from Canberra.
Look forward to reading your updates
Here is an article on Canberra summer temps from Weather channel


Canberra residents are living through potentially their coldest summer since 1996.

It’s been cold in Canberra this summer,( 2012) so far the coldest in 16 years. Canberra’s maximum temperatures have averaged only 25˚C this summer, two degrees below normal and the lowest since 1996.

The first eight days of February have proved especially chill, the average temperature so far is only 22.8˚C.

The unseasonably cool temperatures are the result of our second consecutive La Niña summer. La Niña refers to a cooling of the equatorial Pacific Ocean which typically brings above average rain and below average temperatures to northern and eastern Australia.

Over the next week it will stay cool and cloudy across the Australian Capital Territory with widespread rain from Thursday to Sunday.

This summer Canberra has already recorded 146mm of rain, but after the expected rain over the coming days the total should climb above the average of 169mm.


Tom Saunders
Senior Meteorologist
The Weather Channel
http://www.weatherchannel.com.au/main-m ... 90212.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by peterhau »

hey crikey.

that is about right. the temp tonight on my temp gauge is showing 12 degrees.

I have had to resort to winter clothing...

I stood on top of mt ainslie tonight and watched the majority of the storm track straight past Canberra in a line over belconnen. The only decent lightning was as I was setting up the camera, the next was right overhead and I had to bail. I may like taking photos of storms, but I am not crazy. the light rain came in to Canberra, but as far as I could see, the heavy stuff missed completely. any further lightning was obscured by the rain shadow.
POW! ZAP! I don't chase storms, I patiently wait for them to come to me.... Usually the soaked guy with the dry camera, atop a mountain, out of running distance from the car...
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by peterhau »

here is the storm slipping past canberra quietly

Image
POW! ZAP! I don't chase storms, I patiently wait for them to come to me.... Usually the soaked guy with the dry camera, atop a mountain, out of running distance from the car...
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by johnno »

ACT heading for its coldest February on record

http://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/act- ... cord/20651" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by Karl Lijnders »

A run of very cold nights continues in Canberra and the city is set to shiver right through until the end of the weekend. Presently -6C this morning. And should continue to hold that temp over the coming few hours.

Not to be compared with Glen Inness which is sitting on -9 this morning.
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by dopplerstu »

Huge cell near Canberra :o
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDR404.loop.shtml#skip" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Canberra/ACT General Weather

Post by dopplerstu »

Wow
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Re: Canberra/ACT: Day to Day Weather Talk

Post by Nick Sykes »

Hi All

With the closure of weatherzone forums I plan to start posting about ACT weather in AWF.

Has been a mild start to July with maximums in the mid teens in Canberra, minimums on the other hand have been cold, mostly negatives.

Looking towards Sun/Mon for some instability and later next week for a possible cold outbreak.

Happy weather watching.

Nick
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Re: Canberra/ACT: Day to Day Weather Talk

Post by Jake Smethurst »

Hey Nick, looking forward to your input here! I've never visited Canberra but it's on the list before the end of the year. Not sure how you handle those minimums! :snowflake:
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Re: Canberra/ACT: Day to Day Weather Talk

Post by Nick Sykes »

Only about a mm in the end, disappointing, looking towards Weds onwards for the start of a series of fronts and a cold outbreak. Models thinking about 10mm, will be cold and breezy, a change from the mild mid teens of late.

Nick
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