MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW - ARMIDALE NSW

NOVEMBER 2012

November 2012 was a warm, dry and cloudy month with high thunderstorm activity.
Although there were numerous troughs generating showers and storms throughout the month, most of the heavy falls missed Armidale with a total of 50.4 millimetres on 14 days.
Days were much warmer than normal with temperatures reaching 25 degrees or higher on 17 days. Overnight minimums were a little higher than normal and there were no frosts.
Winds were mostly light to moderate westerlies, and thunderstorm activity was much higher than normal with storms on 12 days. There was no hail with any of these storms.

Noteworthy events:
18th - After four months of very dry conditions, heavy showers and thunderstorms overnight on the 17th/18th brought much needed moderate falls of rain to Armidale with 20.2 mm recorded over the 24 hours to 9am on the 18th. These were the best falls since mid July this year. The trough over eastern New South Wales which brought the wet weather also caused heavy rain along the north coast with flash flooding in Coffs Harbour.
24th - From around 11am thunderstorms built up to the east of Armidale and remained through to the late evening. Thunder was heard throughout the afternoon and evening till midnight in. Several smaller storms developed in the west and moved across Armidale delivering 4.8 mm of rain total. The storms in the east were very lightning intensive, but falls of rain in this region were mostly light. An exception was a severe storm which affected a localized area about 16 kms north-east of Armidale. One property was deluged with hail and torrential rain totaling 160 mm in just 90 minutes from 1.30 to 3pm. The area suffered severe flash flooding and erosion.

NOVEMBER 2012 STATISTICS (long term averages in brackets)

Rainfall: 50.4 mm (83.8 mm)

Rain days: 14 (9)
2012 rainfall total Jan to Nov: 504.2 mm (700.0 mm)

Average maximum temp: 25.0 deg (22.7 deg)

Average minimum temp: 9.6 deg (8.9 deg)

Highest maximum temp: 32.2 deg on the 30th

Lowest maximum temp: 17.6 deg on the 9th

Highest minimum temp: 15.6 deg on the 27th

Lowest minimum temp: 3.1 deg on the 12th, 20th

Fine sunny days: 7 (14)

Ideal weather days: 0 (1.1)

Days with thunderstorms: 12 (6)

Days with frosts: 0 (1.5)

Days with fogs: 0 (1)

Wind direction at 3pm & number of days: W: 11, SW: 6, E: 6, NE: 3, SE: 2, NW: 1, S: 1

Average daily pan evaporation: 4.2 mm (4.5 mm)

Thunderstorm details:

2nd: 1.20-2.00am approx. - slight storm from west - 0.4 mm rain
4th: 1.05pm thunder heard
9th: 5.25-6.00pm approx. - slight storm from west
13th: 11.20-1.45pm - slight storm from SW - 0.6 mm rain
16th: 7.30-7.45pm - thunder heard
17th: 3.00-5.00pm - thunder, 5.00-6.00pm - moderate & slight storms
9.30pm-12.00 midnight - thunder, 10.20-10.40pm - moderate storm
18th: 7.15-7.45am - slight storm from west
24th: 11.30am-11.45pm - thunder heard, 12.45-1.00pm - slight storm from east - 0.6 mm rain
8.30-9.30pm - slight storms, 11.00-11.30pm - slight storm from SW - 4.2 mm 8.30-11.30pm
25th: 2.50-5.00pm approx. - thunder heard
26th: 3.00-4.00pm - thunder heard in south, east, north
28th: 3.15-5.00pm - thunder heard, 3.45-4.15pm -slight storm from east - 2.0 mm rain
29th: 4.30pm - slight storm from south - 0.2 mm