Australian Weather News -- 04 JAN 2002

Australian Weather News

Friday, 04 JAN 2002

NSW bushfires continue
Tropical Cyclone Bernie comes to a quiet but unusual end
Cold night in NSW

See special report on the NSW bushfires.

TC Bernie was upgraded to a category 2 cyclone as it moved slowly towards the southern shores of the Gulf of Carpentaria Qld with a central pressure of about 985hPa early this morning. The cyclone moved south at about 12km/h during the day and was centred, at the surface, about 40km NW of Mornington Island at 7pm. Bernie developed a pronounced shear with height towards the southwest during the day, disorganising its structure and leading to lower wind strengths and lighter rainfall than might have been expected. The highest gust reported at Mornington Island was only 76km/h at 2pm. The cyclone crossed the coast SW of Mornington Island late today or early Saturday and weakened over virtually unpopulated country. Rain which fell yesterday isolated Doomadgee and Burketown by flooded roads, but to the disappointment of pastoralists little rain was reported in Gulf cattle country.

One unusual feature of the cyclone was the cold temperature experienced in the SW winds on its western side. Centre Island and Borroloola, both about 300km WNW of Mornington Island, reported temperatures within a degree or two of 20° for about 24 hours from early this morning. Centre Island's normal January daily temperature range is 26.8 to 33.7 and Borroloola's is 24.4 to 35.5, reflecting Borroloola's location about 40km inland. The unusual result was for Centre Island to record its lowest January minimum temperature on record today, with a minimum of 20.1, then repeat the performance with a minimum of 19.0 for Saturday 5 January. The previous January low in 25 years of record was 21.0.

An unusually dry atmosphere coupled with the arrival of a cooler southern airmass allowed overnight temperatures to drop to record levels for January in parts of NSW. Barraba, Murrurundi and Coonabarabran all registered their lowest January minima in over 30 years of computerised record, with Coonabarabran shaving a remarkable 2.0° off their previous record in 44 years when the temperature dropped to 3.6°. A broad band extending from central northern NSW through the Riverina and northwestern Victoria to the west coast of SA recorded minima between 6 and 11 below average with Goulburn Airport reporting a frosty 1.4.

National weather extremes for today Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology Last updated at 19:39 EDST on 05/01/02
Quality control note: Data is final. It includes late-received rainfall data and has been subject to BoM and AWN quality control checks. See Explanation of Extremes Pages for more information
Records set this day (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Lowest daily minimum temperature for January: Centre Island NT: 20.1 (21.0, 25) Barraba PO NSW: 6.5 (6.6, 31) Murrurundi PO NSW: 4.5 (6.0, 35) Coonabarabran Town NSW: 3.6 (5.6, 44)
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. 335.0 MORNINGTON ISLAND Gulf Country QLD 200.0 METEOR DOWNS Central Highlands QLD 145.0 REDBANK MINE Roper-McArthur NT 125.0 WYNTOON Central Highlands QLD 120.0 SWEERS ISLAND Gulf Country QLD *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *E Kimberley* 55.2 MOUNT AMHURST *NORTHERN TERRITORY* Arnhem 55.0 BICKERTON ISLAND Roper-McArthur 145.0 REDBANK MINE 101.0 CENTRE ISLAND 76.6 WOLLOGORANG 55.4 KING ASH BAY Darwin-Daly 76.6 HUMPTY DOO COLLARD ROAD *QUEENSLAND* N Peninsula 61.1 BAMAGA Gulf Country 335.0 MORNINGTON ISLAND 120.0 SWEERS ISLAND 67.0 WESTMORELAND STATION Upper Carpentaria 56.0 GILBERTON Central Coast W 76.0 LLANARTH 67.0 TAEMAS Central Highlands 200.0 METEOR DOWNS 125.0 WYNTOON 101.0 ALLAMBEE 54.0 GHINGHINDA Central West 68.2 MANNINGHAM Wide Bay/Burnett 75.0 FIG TREE 73.6 BENARABY 55.0 LONE PINE	High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. *WESTERN AUSTRALIA* *N Kimberley* WYNDHAM AERO 15.0mm in 32 min to 16:43 28.1mm/h 8.8mm in 17 min to 17:00 31.1mm/h 23.8mm in 1 hr to 17:00 23.8mm/h 26.0mm in 3 hr to 18:00 8.7mm/h KALUMBURU 13.6mm in 1 hr to 15:00 13.6mm/h 23.0mm in 3 hr to 15:00 7.7mm/h *NORTHERN TERRITORY* MIDDLE POINT AWS 10.2mm in 1 hr to 74:00 10.2mm/h 19.0mm in 3 hr to 74:00 6.3mm/h *Roper-McArthur* CENTRE ISLAND 19.0mm in 3 hr to 02:30 6.3mm/h 12.0mm in 1 hr to 03:00 12.0mm/h 13.0mm in 1 hr to 03:30 13.0mm/h 20.0mm in 3 hr to 05:30 6.7mm/h 17.0mm in 3 hr to 08:30 5.7mm/h WOLLOGORANG 17.0mm in 3 hr to 05:30 5.7mm/h 21.0mm in 3 hr to 08:30 7.0mm/h *Darwin-Daly* PIRLANGIMPI 15.0mm in 3 hr to 14:30 5.0mm/h DUM IN MIRRIE 16.0mm in 3 hr to 20:30 5.3mm/h PORT KEATS AERO 10.8mm in 7 min to 13:56 92.6mm/h 15.4mm in 17 min to 14:13 54.4mm/h 31.4mm in 1 hr to 14:30 31.4mm/h 31.0mm in 3 hr to 14:30 10.3mm/h *QUEENSLAND* *Gulf Country* MORNINGTON ISLAND 10.8mm in 1 hr to 00:00 10.8mm/h 9.0mm in 22 min to 02:30 24.5mm/h 12.8mm in 1 hr to 02:30 12.8mm/h 13.0mm in 1 hr to 03:00 13.0mm/h 26.0mm in 3 hr to 03:00 8.7mm/h 6.0mm in 18 min to 03:51 20.0mm/h 8.6mm in 39 min to 04:30 13.2mm/h 14.6mm in 1 hr to 04:30 14.6mm/h 35.0mm in 3 hr to 06:00 11.7mm/h 10.8mm in 33 min to 06:30 19.6mm/h 14.0mm in 1 hr to 06:30 14.0mm/h 12.4mm in 1 hr to 07:30 12.4mm/h 17.0mm in 3 hr to 09:00 5.7mm/h BURKETOWN AIRSTRIP 13.2mm in 1 hr to 13:00 13.2mm/h *Upper Carpentaria* HUGHENDEN AIRPORT 45.0mm in 3 hr to 00:00 15.0mm/h *N Coast--Barron* CAIRNS AERO 4.2mm in 12 min to 22:00 21.0mm/h 10.2mm in 1 hr to 22:00 10.2mm/h *Central Coast E* MACKAY AERO 15.4mm in 30 min to 20:30 30.8mm/h 15.4mm in 1 hr to 20:30 15.4mm/h 20.0mm in 1 hr to 21:00 20.0mm/h MACKAY MO 11.8mm in 1 hr to 20:00 11.8mm/h 16.0mm in 3 hr to 21:00 5.3mm/h *Wide Bay/Burnett* BUNDABERG AERO 10.6mm in 1 hr to 15:00 10.6mm/h 15.0mm in 3 hr to 15:00 5.0mm/h TOWN OF 1770 42.0mm in 3 hr to 15:00 14.0mm/h *ISLANDS* *Islands* CAPE WESSEL 19.0mm in 3 hr to 10:30 6.3mm/h 20.0mm in 3 hr to 11:30 6.7mm/h
Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum	Minimum
42.1 GASCOYNE JUNCTION W Gascoyne WA 42.0 PARABURDOO AERO E Gascoyne WA 41.1 MOUNT AUGUSTUS E Gascoyne WA 41.0 NYANG STATION W Gascoyne WA 40.2 TELFER AERO Interior WA 40.2 MARBLE BAR COMPARISON E Pilbara WA	29.0 COCONUT ISLAND N Peninsula QLD 29.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR Islands 28.4 TOWNSVILLE AERO N Coast--Herbert QLD 28.2 ST LAWRENCE POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD 28.1 MOUNT ISA AERO Gulf Country QLD
5.2 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 7.0 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS 9.0 CRADLE MOUNTAIN AIRSTRIP Central Plateau TAS 10.3 HARTZ MOUNTAIN(KEOGHS PIMPLE) Southeast TAS 10.7 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC	0.0 THREDBO (CRACKENBACK STATION) AWS Snowy Mtns NSW 1.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC 1.4 GOULBURN AIRPORT AWS Goulburn/Monaro NSW 1.5 THREDBO VILLAGE Snowy Mtns NSW 1.8 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum	Minimum
+8.5 34.8 ESPERANCE SW & S Coast WA +5.5 36.0 SALMON GUMS RES.STN. Goldfields WA +5.4 34.1 YARRAS (MOUNT SEAVIEW) MidNorth Coast S NSW +4.5 38.2 KALGOORLIE-BOULDER AIRPORT Goldfields WA +4.4 36.6 INGHAM COMPOSITE N Coast--Herbert QLD	+9.1 26.8 MOORA Central West WA +5.9 19.8 RAVENSTHORPE Gt Southern WA +5.8 28.2 ST LAWRENCE POST OFFICE Central Coast E QLD +5.1 20.6 PINGELLY Gt Southern WA +4.9 24.8 GAYNDAH POST OFFICE Wide Bay/Burnett QLD
-9.1 26.2 WOLLOGORANG Roper-McArthur NT -9.0 24.7 CENTRE ISLAND Roper-McArthur NT -7.9 11.5 LAKE ST CLAIR NATIONAL PARK Central Plateau TAS -7.8 20.1 ADELAIDE AIRPORT Adelaide Plains SA -7.5 11.9 STRATHGORDON VILLAGE W Coast TAS	-11.4 3.6 COONABARABRAN (NAMOI STREET) CW Slopes N NSW -10.7 4.5 MURRURUNDI POST OFFICE Hunter Valley NSW -10.7 3.7 WANGARATTA AERO Lower NE VIC -10.3 5.1 EYRE Eucla WA -10.2 4.1 KYANCUTTA W Agricultural SA
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. WYNDHAM AERO N Kimberley WA : 76 (320/ 63 ) at 16:11 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS: 87 (310/ 63 ) at 11:42 MOUNT WELLINGTON Southeast TAS: 91 (260/ 70 ) at 19:27	Other extremes ..