Widespread frosts as records fall in the southeast
Minimum temperature departures from
normal (above)
and the actual minimum temperatures
(below). The grey area corresponds to temperatures
below 3° and shows the huge extent, for November, of the
area where frosts are likely to have occurred. BoM
Farmers
woke to white paddocks across much of VIC and eastern NSW this
morning as more low temperature records fell. High
pressure, light winds, lower humidites and clear skies allowed
temperatures
to
plummet
in the
cold airmass
following yesterday's front. The lower map at right shows an exceptionally
large area of likely frost-level temperatures for November, and
coming on the heels of other recent frost events has caused further
damage
to
crops.
In the NSW Central West, grapes, citrus, wheat and triticale, a
wheat/rye hybrid, have been badly affected. On the NSW Northern
Tablelands, overnight temperatures were up to 11 or 12 below average,
the Bureau observer at Woolbrook, 45km ENE of Tamworth, summing
up the situation with the comment "Heavy frost. Vegies all
dead!"
November low minimum temperature records fell as far afield as Murray
Bridge in SA and Oakey in southern QLD, while at least 14 new records
were set in NSW (see records below
for details.) Some of
the records broken are for significant periods, such as the 62 years
at Wagga,
while
several
stations broke
their
record
more
than
once:
Coonabarabran recorded 0.0, -0.8 and 0.7 on the
2nd, 3rd and 4th respectively, all below the previous record of 1.1
Barraba recorded 0.6 and -0.6 on the 2nd and 3rd, both below
the previous record of 2.2
Mt Seaview recorded 4.8 on the 2nd and 4.2 on
the 4th, both below the previous record of 5.5.
These stations have 46, 33 and 34 years of record respectively,
making this a noteworthy November cold
outbreak.
Records set
this day (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Lowest daily minimum temperature for November: South Australia: 024521 MURRAY BRIDGE
2.1 (2.6, 37) Queensland: 041359 OAKEY AERO 3.7 (4.0, 30) New South Wales: 049002 BALRANALD RSL 3.5 (3.8, 37)
054003 BARRABA POST OFFICE -0.6 (0.6, 33) Previous record set yesterday
055024 GUNNEDAH SCS 5.0 (5.4, 35)
055049 QUIRINDI POST OFFICE 2.0 (2.5, 36)
061051 MURRURUNDI POST OFFICE 0.0 (1.2, 37)
061351 PEATS RIDGE (WARATAH ROAD) 4.9 (5.2, 22)
063005 BATHURST AGRICULTURAL STATION -1.0 (-0.8, 37)
064008 COONABARABRAN (NAMOI STREET) -0.8 (0.0, 46) Previous record set yesterday
065026 PARKES (MACARTHUR STREET) 3.0 (3.3, 46)
065034 WELLINGTON (AGROWPLOW) 1.6 (2.1, 34)
067019 PROSPECT DAM 6.8 (6.9, 37)
072150 WAGGA WAGGA AMO -0.2 (0.3, 62)
074034 COROWA AIRPORT 0.4 (1.1, 29)
074221 NARRANDERA GOLF CLUB 2.3 (2.5, 33)
Quality
control note: Data is final. It includes late-received rainfall data and has been subject to BoM quality control checks.
Data is as received at 13:38EST, 03/03/2004.
43.5 CURTIN AERO W Kimberley WA 43.5 FITZROY CROSSING AERO W Kimberley WA 42.3 DERBY AERO W Kimberley WA 41.2 NORMANTON AIRPORT Gulf Country QLD 41.0 MARBLE BAR COMPARISON E Pilbara WA 41.0 MARBLE BAR E Pilbara WA 41.0 JABIRU AIRPORT N Rivers NT 41.0 BRADSHAW N Rivers NT
+7.5
32.2 RAVENSTHORPE Cent Wheatbelt WA +7.5
31.6 EYRE Eucla WA +7.4
30.4 ESPERANCE Lower West WA +6.7
35.0 NORTHAM Cent Wheatbelt WA +6.7
35.0 GOOMALLING Cent Wheatbelt WA
29.4 WYNDHAM N Kimberley WA 29.0 BRADSHAW N Rivers NT 29.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR Islands ISL 28.9 ARGYLE AERODROME E Kimberley WA 28.2 MORNINGTON ISLAND Gulf Country QLD 28.2 SWEERS ISLAND Gulf Country QLD
+3.7
26.8 TELFER AERO Interior WA +3.7
27.5 WAVE HILL N Rivers NT +3.4
22.0 MEEKATHARRA AIRPORT E Gascoyne WA +3.2
28.1 WARMUN E Kimberley WA +3.2
21.2 GASCOYNE JUNCTION W Gascoyne WA
Coldest
Lowest maximum temperature
Greatest variation below normal maximum
Lowest minimum temperature
Greatest variation below normal minimum
4.0 MT BAW BAW W Gippsland VIC 5.0 THREDBO AWS Snowy Mtns NSW 6.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC 6.0 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC 7.5 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW
-8.6
18.0 COROWA AIRPORT Riverina E NSW -8.3
11.9 NOOJEE (SLIVAR) W Gippsland VIC -8.2
13.0 STRATHBOGIE Lower NE VIC -8.2
15.3 MARYBOROUGH N Central VIC -8.2
11.2 BALLARAT AERODROME Western Plains VIC
-5.0 THREDBO VILLAGE Snowy Mtns NSW -5.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC -4.3 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC -4.0 THREDBO AWS Snowy Mtns NSW -4.0 PERISHER VALLEY SKI CENTRE Snowy Mtns NSW
-12.9
-0.9 EYRE Eucla WA -12.3
3.5 WALGETT AIRPORT AWS NW Plains W NSW -12.3
-0.6 BARRABA POST OFFICE NW Slopes N NSW -11.4
-3.5 WOOLBROOK (DANGLEMAH ROAD) NW Slopes S NSW -11.3
-0.8 COONABARABRAN (NAMOI STREET) CW Slopes N NSW
Wettest
Major City Extremes
Todays highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am.
It includes the top 5 totals nationally followed by all reported falls of 50mm or more.
38.8 BEACONSFIELD UPPER E Central VIC 33.2 TROPICAL FARM - ORD RIVER E Kimberley WA 30.0 SPRINGVALE NECROPOLIS E Central VIC 26.4 RUSHY LAGOON (CAPE PORTLAND ROAD) E Coast TAS 26.0 PARRY CREEK FARM N Kimberley WA
Max
+/- norm
Min
+/- norm
Rain to 9am
BROOME AIRPORT
31.0
-2.5
24.2
-0.8
0.0
PERTH AIRPORT
30.9
+5.3
10.4
-2.2
0.0
ALBANY AIRPORT
21.6
+0.8
10.1
-0.5
0.0
KALGOORLIE-BOULDER AIRPORT
31.1
+2.2
14.9
+0.9
0.0
DARWIN AIRPORT
35.0
+1.8
26.1
+0.8
0.0
ALICE SPRINGS AIRPORT
30.0
-3.6
11.6
-6.2
0.0
ADELAIDE (KENT TOWN)
21.8
-2.8
6.2
-7.6
0.0
MOUNT GAMBIER AERO
14.5
-5.6
8.7
+0.5
0.0
CAIRNS AERO
33.3
+2.7
21.4
-0.9
0.0
TOWNSVILLE AERO
35.8
+5.1
24.4
+1.6
0.0
ROCKHAMPTON AERO
30.1
-1.1
14.5
-4.9
0.0
AMBERLEY AMO
26.0
-3.5
9.5
-6.8
0.2 /3
BRISBANE AERO
23.2
15.1
0.0
ARMIDALE AIRPORT AWS
17.4
-1.6
0.0
COFFS HARBOUR MO
21.5
-3.4
12.2
-3.8
0.6
NEWCASTLE NOBBYS SIGNAL STATION AWS
18.3
-5.3
9.5
-6.6
2.4
SYDNEY (OBSERVATORY HILL)
20.1
-3.5
10.8
-4.7
2.0
PROSPECT DAM
22.8
-2.3
6.8
-7.3
0.0
WOLLONGONG UNIVERSITY
17.7
-5.1
7.5
-6.9
7.3
CANBERRA AIRPORT
18.8
-3.7
0.6
-8.0
5.4
WAGGA WAGGA AMO
21.0
-4.4
-0.2
-10.7
0.0
MILDURA AIRPORT
22.3
-4.9
5.3
-7.0
0.0
EAST SALE AIRPORT
17.2
-3.8
6.5
-2.9
0.8
MELBOURNE REGIONAL OFFICE
15.1
-6.7
10.7
-0.4
2.0
LAVERTON RAAF
14.9
-6.4
8.5
-1.4
1.8
BALLARAT AERODROME
11.2
-8.2
5.9
-1.8
0.0
LAUNCESTON AIRPORT
18.8
+0.1
4.0
-3.1
0.0
HOBART (ELLERSLIE ROAD)
17.6
-1.0
8.8
-0.4
0.0
Downpours
Gales &
Gusts
High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less.
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h (storm force) or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets.
No reports
WESTERN AUSTRALIA N Kimberley WYNDHAM AERO : 95(100/ 59 ) at 13:48 QUEENSLAND Brisbane/SE Coast CAPE MORETON LIGHTHOUSE : 74(140/ 63 ) at 03:00 TASMANIA Southeast MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE : 93(300/ 82 ) at 03:00 MOUNT WELLINGTON : 108(250/ 89 ) at 00:00
