Australian Weather News -- 10 DEC 2001

Australian Weather News

Monday, 10 DEC 2001

Continuing cold in the Centre as rain clears
Coldest start to December for 32 years in Adelaide
Blustery in the southeast

While rain cleared from much of Central Australia today, continuing cloud cover kept daytime temperatures remarkably low for mid December. Maximum temperatures were in the low 20s, with much of southern NT, northern SA and central eastern WA maxima between 10 and 17° below average, in most cases for the second or third day in a row. Thunderstorms that developed on the northern edge of the cold airmass gave Tennant Creek Airport a wind gust of 102km/h this afternoon.

Adelaide has had its coldest start to December (and summer) since 1969, the Bureau of Meteorology reported today. The average temperature for the first 10 days of December this year was 21.9 degrees Celsius, 4.2 degrees below the normal temperature of 26.1 degrees for this period in Adelaide. The previous record was set in 1969 when the average temperature for the first 10 days of December was 21.8 degrees. In addition, Adelaide has just experienced four consecutive December days with a maximum temperature below 20 degrees, an event which last occurred in December 1970.

Strong gusty winds accompanied a series of troughs ahead of a much colder southwesterly change as they swept around the Tasmanian and Victorian coasts. Wilsons Promontory recorded a top gust of 113km/h, while the Kingfish A oil rig of the Victorian coast near Sale, reported a gust of 100km/h over open water. Other strong gusts are listed below.

National weather extremes for today Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology Last updated at 23:24 EDST on 12/12/01
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. 114.0 SPRING CREEK E Kimberley WA 71.0 AMMAROO Alice Springs NT 56.0 VAUGHAN SPRINGS Alice Springs NT 53.8 KUNUNURRA CHECKPOINT E Kimberley WA 48.8 WYNDHAM POST OFFICE N Kimberley WA *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *N Kimberley* 48.8 WYNDHAM POST OFFICE *E Kimberley* 114.0 SPRING CREEK 53.8 KUNUNURRA CHECKPOINT *NORTHERN TERRITORY* Alice Springs 71.0 AMMAROO 56.0 VAUGHAN SPRINGS	High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. *NORTHERN TERRITORY* *Arnhem* NARAWILLI 17.0mm in 3 hr to 05:30 5.7mm/h *Victoria* VICTORIA RIVER DOWNS 10.8mm in 1 hr to 14:30 10.8mm/h LAJAMANU 18.0mm in 3 hr to 23:30 6.0mm/h *Darwin-Daly* DARWIN AIRPORT 14.4mm in 30 min to 00:00 28.8mm/h 14.4mm in 1 hr to 00:30 14.4mm/h 14.0mm in 30 min to 23:30 28.0mm/h 14.0mm in 1 hr to 23:30 14.0mm/h DELAMERE WEAPONS RANGE 12.6mm in 1 hr to 20:30 12.6mm/h 23.0mm in 3 hr to 20:30 7.7mm/h *Barkly* TENNANT CREEK AIRPORT 16.6mm in 1 hr to 16:00 16.6mm/h 17.0mm in 3 hr to 17:30 5.7mm/h *Alice Springs* YULARA AERO 10.0mm in 1 hr to 00:00 10.0mm/h KINTORE (WULUNGURRU) 9.6mm in 26 min to 00:52 22.2mm/h *QUEENSLAND* *Central Coast E* ST LAWRENCE POST OFFICE 17.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 5.7mm/h YEPPOON THE ESPLANADE 12.2mm in 21 min to 17:30 34.9mm/h 12.4mm in 1 hr to 17:30 12.4mm/h *Northwest* PHOSPHATE HILL AIRPORT 13.2mm in 21 min to 02:58 37.7mm/h 15.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 5.0mm/h 11.2mm in 1 hr 2 min to 04:00 10.8mm/h *Wide Bay/Burnett* HERON ISLAND RES STN 29.2mm in 37 min to 18:44 47.4mm/h 32.0mm in 3 hr to 21:00 10.7mm/h GLADSTONE RADAR 13.2mm in 30 min to 02:00 26.4mm/h 21.0mm in 1 hr to 02:00 21.0mm/h 13.2mm in 1 hr to 02:30 13.2mm/h 23.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 7.7mm/h TOWN OF 1770 17.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 5.7mm/h *TASMANIA* *W Coast* MOUNT READ 20.0mm in 3 hr to 15:00 6.7mm/h *ISLANDS* *Islands* CAPE FOURCROY 5.4mm in 13 min to 08:30 24.9mm/h LORD HOWE ISLAND AERO 17.6mm in 1 hr to 09:00 17.6mm/h
Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum	Minimum
40.2 WOLLOGORANG Roper-McArthur NT 40.0 JULIA CREEK AIRPORT Gulf Country QLD 40.0 CAMOOWEAL TOWNSHIP Northwest QLD 39.6 BRUNETTE DOWNS Barkly NT 39.5 COLLINSVILLE POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD	29.5 CENTRE ISLAND Roper-McArthur NT 28.5 ALYANGULA POLICE Arnhem NT 28.5 GREEN ISLAND N Coast--Barron QLD 28.4 SWEERS ISLAND Gulf Country QLD 28.0 GROOTE EYLANDT AIRPORT AWS Arnhem NT 28.0 LOW ISLES LIGHTHOUSE N Coast--Barron QLD 28.0 ALVA BEACH Central Coast E QLD
3.9 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 5.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC 5.1 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS 6.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW 6.2 FALLS CREEK Upper NE VIC	-1.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC -0.1 PERISHER VALLEY SKI CENTRE Snowy Mtns NSW 0.0 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS 0.5 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 0.6 LIAWENEE AWS Central Plateau TAS
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum	Minimum
+8.1 37.0 DENHAM W Gascoyne WA +7.8 37.0 CARNARVON AIRPORT W Gascoyne WA +6.0 39.5 COLLINSVILLE POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD +6.0 39.4 MORANBAH WATER TREATMENT PLANT Central Coast W QLD +5.7 37.7 ROCKHAMPTON AERO Wide Bay/Burnett QLD	+5.5 26.6 COLLINSVILLE POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD +5.3 27.0 ST LAWRENCE POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD +5.2 27.0 AYR DPI RESEARCH STN Central Coast E QLD +5.1 25.9 CLERMONT POST OFFICE Central Highlands QLD +5.1 24.8 SPRINGSURE DAME ST Central Highlands QLD
-16.8 21.0 JERVOIS Alice Springs NT -15.3 14.7 MILDURA AIRPORT Mallee N VIC -15.0 20.0 MARLA POLICE STATION NW Pastoral SA -14.5 22.0 WARBURTON AIRFIELD Interior WA -14.0 21.4 ALICE SPRINGS AIRPORT Alice Springs NT	-7.8 4.0 MANGALORE AIRPORT N Central VIC -7.1 7.6 MILDURA AIRPORT Mallee N VIC -7.0 4.5 YONGALA Upper North SA -7.0 8.2 RENMARK Upper Murray SA -6.7 6.7 WALPEUP RESEARCH Mallee N VIC
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. TENNANT CREEK AIRPORT Barkly NT : 102 (360/ 67 ) at 15:25 LUCINDA POINT N Coast--Herbert QLD: 96 (270/ 26 ) at 03:56 GREEN CAPE AWS South Coast NSW: 74 (230/ 63 ) at 12:47 WILSONS PROMONTORY LIGHTHOUSE W Gippsland VIC: 113 (250/ 91 ) at 23:38 KINGFISH A SHIP LOG 206 W Gippsland VIC: 100 (271/ 80 ) at 18:40 LAVERTON RAAF W Central VIC: 85 (260/ 63 ) at 18:25 CAPE OTWAY LIGHTHOUSE W Coast VIC: 76 (270/ 63 ) at 16:22 COLAC (MT GELLIBRAND) W Coast VIC: 87 (260/ 74 ) at 16:10 CAPE NELSON LIGHTHOUSE W Coast VIC: 78 (260/ 63 ) at 16:22 CAPE GRIM B.A.P.S. N Coast TAS: 102 (260/ 85 ) at 16:00 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS: 98 (300/ 80 ) at 14:08 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS: 98 (230/ 76 ) at 17:44 FLINDERS ISLAND AIRPORT Flinders Is/Bass St TAS: 91 (270/ 76 ) at 17:16	Other extremes ..