Australian Weather News -- 20 MAR 2001

Australian Weather News

Tuesday, 20 MAR 2001

Monsoon gives Christmas Island near record rain, and further falls in WA Kimberley

The monsoon trough continues to hug the WA and NT coastline, with a low off the coast near Broome. From the low, the trough arcs NW into the Indian Ocean, and overnight lay directly over Christmas Island. The result was a near-record 24 hour total for the distant Australian territory, with 179.4mm in the gauge to 9 this morning. The all-time record in 30 years of 182.0 was just missed, but the March record of 158.8 was well beaten. In the Kimberley, Derby Airport recorded 65mm in 3 hours to 3am, and another dump of 77.4mm in 2 hours to 11pm.

National weather extremes for today Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology Last updated at 17:22 EDST on 21/03/01
Quality control note: Data is complete, and has been visually checked by AWN for gross errors. Less obvious errors may remain. See Explanation of Extremes Pages for more information
Records set this day (none known)
Todays highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am. It includes the top 5 totals received, and/or all reported falls of 50mm or more. 179.4 CHRISTMAS ISLAND AERO Islands 104.6 MAKOWATA Wide Bay/Burnett QLD 87.0 LORD HOWE ISLAND AERO Islands 74.0 MOUNT ELIZABETH N Kimberley WA 69.0 DERBY AERO W Kimberley WA *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *N Kimberley* 74.0 MOUNT ELIZABETH 56.8 KURI BAY 50.0 KIMBERLEY COASTAL CAMP *W Kimberley* 69.0 DERBY AERO 54.0 SHELAMAR *QUEENSLAND* Wide Bay/Burnett 104.6 MAKOWATA 58.0 WOONGARRA TM 55.0 GLENWOOD 51.8 BUNGADOO TM Brisbane/SE Coast 66.3 YANDINA POST OFFICE 55.0 TEWANTIN RSL PARK 54.4 BIGGENDEN POST OFFICE *ISLANDS* Islands 179.4 CHRISTMAS ISLAND AERO 87.0 LORD HOWE ISLAND AERO	High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *N Kimberley* MOUNT ELIZABETH 37.0mm in 3 hr to 09:00 12.3mm/h *W Kimberley* DERBY AERO 41.0mm in 1 hr to 01:00 41.0mm/h 21.2mm in 1 hr to 02:00 21.2mm/h 65.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 21.7mm/h 67.0mm in 6 hr to 03:00 11.2mm/h 50.2mm in 1 hr to 22:00 50.2mm/h 27.2mm in 1 hr to 23:00 27.2mm/h CURTIN AERO 24.8mm in 1 hr to 21:00 24.8mm/h 43.0mm in 3 hr to 21:00 14.3mm/h 27.0mm in 1 hr to 23:00 27.0mm/h *NORTHERN TERRITORY* *Darwin-Daly* PORT KEATS AERO 12.8mm in 30 min to 10:30 25.6mm/h *QUEENSLAND* *Brisbane/SE Coast* TEWANTIN RSL PARK 33.0mm in 2 hr to 15:00 16.5mm/h 33.0mm in 3 hr to 15:00 11.0mm/h *ISLANDS* *Islands* LORD HOWE ISLAND AERO 42.0mm in 3 hr to 00:00 14.0mm/h 33.4mm in 2 hr to 05:00 16.7mm/h
Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum	Minimum
40.0 LEARMONTH AIRPORT W Pilbara WA 40.0 ONSLOW AIRPORT W Pilbara WA 39.7 NYANG STATION W Gascoyne WA 39.0 MARDIE W Pilbara WA 39.0 LONGREACH AERO Central West QLD 39.0 PANNAWONICA W Pilbara WA	28.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR Islands 27.2 ONSLOW W Pilbara WA 27.2 NORMANTON POST OFFICE Gulf Country QLD 27.1 NYANG STATION W Gascoyne WA 27.1 CENTRE ISLAND Roper-McArthur NT
9.5 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC 11.1 FALLS CREEK Upper NE VIC 11.3 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW 12.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW 12.6 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS	4.0 PERISHER VALLEY SKI CENTRE Snowy Mtns NSW 4.4 THREDBO VILLAGE Snowy Mtns NSW 4.7 ARMIDALE (UNI NEW ENGLAND) N Tablelands W NSW 4.9 GLEN INNES AIRPORT AWS N Tablelands W NSW 4.9 MT HOTHAM AIRPORT Upper NE VIC
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum	Minimum
+12.1 36.0 BUNDOORA (LATROBE UNIVERSITY) E Central VIC +5.5 29.0 LAVERTON RAAF W Central VIC +5.2 38.3 BARCALDINE POST OFFICE Central West QLD +4.9 35.6 MILES POST OFFICE Darling Downs W QLD +4.9 23.0 WEEAPROINAH W Coast VIC	+11.4 26.9 WHYALLA AERO W Agricultural SA +9.8 22.0 BUNDOORA (LATROBE UNIVERSITY) E Central VIC +7.4 15.2 FINGAL (FORESTRY LEGGE STREET) E Coast TAS +6.5 17.0 ST HELENS POST OFFICE E Coast TAS +6.5 15.0 BUSHY PARK (BUSHY PARK ESTATES) Derwent Valley TAS
-13.9 20.0 GILES METEOROLOGICAL OFFICE Interior WA -13.8 20.0 CURTIN SPRINGS Alice Springs NT -13.2 21.0 WARBURTON AIRFIELD Interior WA -12.2 20.0 KULGERA Alice Springs NT -11.2 26.4 TELFER AERO Interior WA	-8.9 7.0 CUNDERDIN Cent Wheatbelt WA -7.9 8.7 LANCELIN Lower West WA -7.8 8.2 MERREDIN Cent Wheatbelt WA -7.6 7.3 PINDARI DAM NW Slopes N NSW -7.5 8.2 MEDINA RESEARCH CENTRE Lower West WA
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. OUTER DOLPHIN PYLON Lower West WA : 106 (150/ 13 ) at 20:00 NEPTUNE ISLAND W Agricultural SA : 98 (240/ 83 ) at 19:42	Other extremes ..