Australian Weather News -- 25 August 2000

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Friday 25 August 2000

Useful rain in Tasmania's southeast
Cold in tropical Queensland
Heat continues in the north

Rainfall for the week ended 9am Saturday 26 August (above), and rainfall deciles for the year ended July 2000 (below). Click to enlarge.

Some of the heaviest rain in years fell in Tasmania's drought-stricken southeast today as the low pressure system that brought torrential rain to Bass Straight Islands yesterday moved down the state's east coast. Virtually the whole eastern and southeastern coasts recorded between 50 and 100mm over the 72 hours to 9am Saturday. Twilight Valley, between Copping and Nugent, recorded 85.8mm for the 48 hours to 9 this morning, while the summit of Mt Wellington registered 103mm in the 24 hours to 9am Saturday in the moist easterly winds, most of it falling today.

The area has suffered record or near record rainfall deficiencies over the past 3 years, and, although winter rainfall has been average, rain for the past year has been 20 to 40% below average, or in the bottom 10% of annual rainfall.

Mt Isa Queensland had its coldest August morning on record, when the mercury dropped to -1 at the airport. The reading followed a minimum of zero yesterday morning. Georgetown, to the east, recorded a minimum of 2°. Both are between 11 and 12 below average for August. Meanwhile, Bidyadanga, near Broome in Western Australia recorded its hottest August day on record with a maximum of 38.0.

Today's highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am 103.0 Mt Wellington Tas 101.0 Norfolk Is AP 73.0 Rosemount Flat Tas 67.8 Twilight Valley Nugent Tas Other high falls in Tasmania: 62.0 Lewis Hill 60.1 St Marys 60.0 Pioneer 58.4 Cullenswood 48.8 Gray 45.2 Beauty Road South Esk River 43.0 Lake Leake 42.4 Tooms Lake 42.4 Levendale 42.2 Birralee Creek High falls for other periods: Western Australia: Busselton: 18mm in 3h to 9pm South Australia: Wilpena Pound: 87.6mm in 72h to 9am Tasmania: Scamander: 24mm in 6h to 3pm Mt Wellington: 84.4mm in 10.5h to 7.30pm	Today's highest & lowest temps		Other extremes . Records set this day Lowest minimum temperature for August (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Mt Isa AP Qld: -1.0 (-0.4, 35) Highest maximum temperature for August (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Bidyadanga Broome WA: 38.0 (37.5, 42)
	Maximum	Minimum
	38.0 Bidyadanga Broome WA	25.0 McCluer Is NT
	-2.0 Crackenback NSW	-9.0 Charlotte Pass NSW
	Greatest variations from normal
	Maximum	Minimum
	+7.3 38.0 Bidyadanga Broome WA	+5.7 10.0 Swansea Tas
	-5.1 9.0 Glen Innes PO NSW	-11.7 -1.0 Mt Isa AP Qld -11.0 2.0 Georgetown Qld -7.4 1.0 Longreach AP Qld

Times stated are the clock time in force in the relevant state or territory
Stories, including those in the archives, are as new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined
Australian Weather News gratefully acknowledges the Bureau of Meteorology as the collector and main source of meteorological data in Australia, along with the thousands of observers who record the weather and rainfall daily. I also thank Don White, Blair Trewin and the many contributors to the Aussie Weather mailing list who routinely provide much appreciated information.