Australian Weather News -- 15 AUG 2001

Australian Weather News

Wednesday, 15 AUG 2001

Good follow-up rainfall in southern WA
Winter warm-wave moves east

A broad northwest cloudband gave 24 hours of steady rain to dry southern and central wheat belt areas of WA yesterday and overnight. A fortnight ago, the area received its first good rainfall after one of the longest dry periods in recent WA history. Much of the Great Southern recorded falls between 25 and 50mm. A number of unsealed roads in the Lake Grace and Hyden areas were closed as the rain turned the fine dust that has settled on the surface after many dry months into bogs.

Ahead of the cloudband, temperatures rose to between 8 and 14° above normal in southeastern WA and along the western coastline of SA. The warm airmass, which originated in northern WA a few days ago, gave Nullarbor Roadhouse, 150km east of the SA/WA border, its warmest August day in 14 years of record. The tongue of warm air extended southeast to give NSW, Victoria and Tasmania balmy weather for August. Swan Island Lighthouse, off the northeastern tip of Tasmania, recorded its warmest August day in 18 years of computer records when the mercury soared to 17.1°.

National weather extremes for today Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology Last updated at 20:32 EDST on 16/08/01
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 (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Highest daily maximum temperature for August: Nullarbor Roadhouse SA: 33.0 (32.4, 14) Swan Island LH Tas: 17.1 (16.7, 18)
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. 45.0 DESERT FRINGE Gt Southern WA 44.6 ESPERIA Gt Southern WA 42.8 AMRISTA PARK Gt Southern WA 42.4 TRURO Gt Southern WA 38.2 CASCADES CREEK STATION Goldfields WA *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *Gt Southern* 45.0 DESERT FRINGE 44.6 ESPERIA 42.8 AMRISTA PARK 42.4 TRURO *Goldfields* 38.2 CASCADES CREEK STATION	High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *W Gascoyne* DENHAM 17.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 5.7mm/h SHARK BAY AIRPORT 16.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 5.3mm/h *TASMANIA* *Central Plateau* LIAWENEE AWS 10.8mm in 1 hr to 23:00 10.8mm/h *W Coast* MOUNT READ 15.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 5.0mm/h
Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum	Minimum
34.3 WYNDHAM POST OFFICE N Kimberley WA 34.0 CURTIN AERO W Kimberley WA 34.0 ROEBOURNE AERO E Pilbara WA 33.3 MARBLE BAR COMPARISON E Pilbara WA 33.0 WYNDHAM AERO N Kimberley WA 33.0 KALUMBURU N Kimberley WA 33.0 FITZROY CROSSING AERO W Kimberley WA 33.0 MANDORA E Pilbara WA 33.0 MARBLE BAR E Pilbara WA 33.0 JABIRU AIRPORT Darwin-Daly NT 33.0 PORT KEATS AERO Darwin-Daly NT 33.0 NULLARBOR ROADHOUSE W Agricultural SA 33.0 MIDDLE POINT AWS	26.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR 25.0 COCONUT ISLAND N Peninsula QLD 23.0 MCCLUER ISLAND Darwin-Daly NT 22.6 HORN ISLAND N Peninsula QLD 22.4 BLACK POINT Darwin-Daly NT
3.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW 3.0 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC 4.7 FALLS CREEK Upper NE VIC 5.0 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW 5.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC	-6.0 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW -2.4 ORANGE AIRPORT AWS C Tablelands S NSW -1.4 COONABARABRAN (NAMOI STREET) CW Slopes N NSW -1.0 ARLTUNGA Alice Springs NT
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum	Minimum
+13.7 33.0 NULLARBOR ROADHOUSE W Agricultural SA +13.5 32.5 EUCLA Eucla WA +12.5 31.0 CEDUNA AMO W Agricultural SA +8.5 25.4 ELLISTON W Agricultural SA +8.4 30.0 WILUNA Interior WA	+13.4 19.0 BALGAIR Eucla WA +10.8 17.5 WILUNA Interior WA +10.2 18.7 MEEKATHARRA AIRPORT Murchison WA +10.1 16.6 THREE RIVERS E Gascoyne WA +10.1 17.0 LEONORA Goldfields WA
-6.8 20.8 LOCKHART RIVER AIRPORT S Peninsula QLD -5.5 19.0 GASCOYNE JUNCTION W Gascoyne WA -4.0 18.0 MURCHISON W Gascoyne WA -3.8 15.2 CARNAMAH Central West WA -3.1 15.0 BADGINGARRA RESEARCH STN Lower West WA	-5.7 7.5 WAVE HILL Victoria NT -5.1 1.0 ALICE SPRINGS AIRPORT Alice Springs NT -4.9 9.0 VICTORIA RIVER DOWNS Victoria NT -4.9 5.7 MOUNT ISA AERO Gulf Country QLD -4.5 4.1 YUENDUMU Alice Springs NT
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. CAPE LEEUWIN SW & S Coast WA : 82 (230/ 65 ) at 20:47 CAPE WILLOUGHBY Kangaroo Is SA : 87 (340/ 65 ) at 23:22 MOUNT LOFTY Mt Lofty Ranges SA : 98 (340/ 69 ) at 22:30 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW: 83 (320/ 70 ) at 01:00 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC: 91 (350/ 61 ) at 04:00 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS: 91 (330/ 61 ) at 00:00 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS: 117 (300/ 91 ) at 00:00	Other extremes ..