Annual Weather Review
Armidale NSW - 2008
© Compiled and written by Peter Burr, using data recorded at the Bureau of Meteorology weather station at East Armidale. No part of this review may be reproduced for commercial purposes without prior permission from the author.
2008
was a cloudy year of cooler than normal temperatures and reasonably good
rainfall. Fine sunny conditions prevailed on 154 days which was well below the
long term average (LTA).
RAINFALL: After a wet start to the year the autumn
and winter months were drier than normal, but were followed by a wet spring and
close to average rain in December. The wettest months were February with 173.8
mm and November with 124.2 mm. The driest month was March recording only 4.8 mm
which was the lowest for that month for 43 years. The most noteworthy rain event of the year was on February 12th when 50
mm of rain fell throughout the day causing major flooding in Dumaresq Creek. The total for the year of 766.8 mm was
20 mm lower than the annual average.
TEMPERATURES: The year started off with an unusually cool
summer, autumn’s temperatures were closer to normal, and June was unusually
mild. The coldest winter weather started in early July and lasted almost eight
weeks until the last week of August. As spring arrived temperatures became
warmer than normal during September and October, but cooled down a little in
November. December’s temperatures were close to normal. Overnight temperatures
were notably cooler than normal in March, May and August, but were close to
normal in all other months. The hottest day of the year was January 13th at
29.5 degrees. It was highly unusual that the temperature did not reach 30
degrees during the year. The lowest overnight temperature was -9.0 degrees on
July 12th. The coldest day was July 9th with a maximum of just 5.0 degrees
along with light snow falls.
WINDS:
Winds were light in March, May and October, and light to moderate in
all other months. The year totaled 12 windy days* (annual average 19 days).
Winds at
EVAPORATION: Total for the year was 1,012.8 millimetres
which was 204 mm less than the LTA. This was the lowest yearly total on record
for the 26 years since recordings began. The previous lowest was 1,054.2 mm in
1999. This is a significant departure from the normal. Factors contributing to
this low amount include the unusually cool summer months at the beginning of
the year, and the higher than normal number of cloudy days throughout the year.
Average daily evaporation for the year was 2.8 mm.
FROSTS: Total frosts for the year was 100 which was
just 2 more than the LTA. July and August were the frostiest months recording
21 frosts each. There
were 22 light frosts, 45 moderate frosts and 33 severe frosts. The first frost
was on March 30th which produced a frost-free period 160 days over the summer
of 2007-08, and the last frost was on October 26th.
FOGS: There were fogs on 22 days which is 10 days
less than the annual average. The foggiest month was May with fogs on 5 days.
All fogs were in the early mornings with none in the evenings.
SNOW: Snow fell on two days. In the evening of May
17th it snowed from 10.30 to 11.10pm settling on the ground to give a patchy
white cover, but melted in the early hours of the following morning. On July
9th there were light snow showers throughout the day with the best fall from
2.25 to 2.50pm when large flakes settled on the ground to give a thin white
cover which melted soon after. The annual average is 2.3 days of snow.
THUNDERSTORMS: Thunderstorm activity was very close to
normal with storms on 38 days. October was the month with the most storms (9
days), and July was the only month to be completely thunderstorm-free.
HAIL: Hail fell on 3 days. Small
hailstones on April 21st, October 21st (2 separate falls), and December 29th (2
separate falls). The annual average is 3.3 hail days.
FLOODS: Major flooding occurred in Dumaresq Creek
on February 12th. Minor flooding occurred on February 3rd, October 14th and
November 18th.
LTA - Long Term Average * Windy day - average wind speed higher than 20 kms per hour: 9am to 6pm
Weather Statistics 2008 - Armidale NSW
|
|
JAN |
FEB |
MAR |
APR |
MAY |
JUN |
JUL |
AUG |
SEP |
OCT |
NOV |
DEC |
YEAR |
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
RAINFALL mm |
58.6 |
173.8 |
4.8 |
54.6 |
14.4 |
63.8 |
29.8 |
27.8 |
52.0 |
76.4 |
124.2 |
86.6 |
766.8 |
|
Long Term
Average mm |
102.5 |
87.9 |
66.1 |
45.3 |
43.2 |
55.2 |
48.3 |
48.1 |
51.3 |
68.3 |
82.3 |
88.4 |
786.9 |
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
RAIN DAYS |
13 |
12 |
4 |
11 |
8 |
12 |
11 |
10 |
8 |
12 |
18 |
13 |
132 |
|
Long Term
Average days |
10 |
10 |
10 |
8 |
8 |
10 |
9 |
9 |
8 |
9 |
9 |
10 |
110 |
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
HIGHEST DAILY RAINFALL
mm |
13.0 |
38.2 |
3.4 |
20.0 |
6.4 |
22.4 |
9.4 |
9.2 |
15.0 |
20.0 |
29.6 |
17.8 |
38.2 |
|
Day |
17 |
4 |
22 |
22 |
18 |
4 |
15 |
2 |
6 |
15 |
19 |
14 |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
AVERAGE DAILY MAX TEMP deg C |
24.1 |
22.5 |
22.9 |
18.3 |
16.9 |
14.8 |
12.4 |
12.9 |
18.4 |
21.8 |
21.5 |
24.9 |
19.3 |
|
Long Term
Average deg C |
26.4 |
25.5 |
23.4 |
20.0 |
16.3 |
13.0 |
12.4 |
14.1 |
17.4 |
20.5 |
22.5 |
25.0 |
19.7 |
|
|
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|
AVERAGE DAILY MIN TEMP
deg C |
13.1 |
11.6 |
7.0 |
5.4 |
0.2 |
2.6 |
-0.7 |
-1.9 |
3.9 |
6.0 |
10.1 |
10.3 |
5.6 |
|
Long Term
Average deg C |
12.6 |
12.6 |
10.2 |
6.3 |
3.4 |
0.5 |
-0.4 |
-0.1 |
2.5 |
5.5 |
8.6 |
11.0 |
6.1 |
|
|
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|
AVERAGE GRASS MIN TEMP
deg C |
10.9 |
9.8 |
3.0 |
2.1 |
-3.0 |
-1.8 |
-4.6 |
-6.1 |
-0.2 |
2.1 |
7.0 |
7.3 |
2.2 |
|
Long Term
Average deg C |
9.4 |
10.0 |
7.7 |
3.1 |
-1.2 |
-3.3 |
-4.2 |
-4.0 |
-1.0 |
2.1 |
5.9 |
8.0 |
2.7 |
|
|
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|
HIGHEST MAXIMUM TEMP
deg C |
29.5 |
28.4 |
27.9 |
23.8 |
20.4 |
20.0 |
18.5 |
18.0 |
26.6 |
28.1 |
27.1 |
28.8 |
29.5 |
|
Day |
13 |
22 |
13 |
2 |
10 |
10 |
14 |
27 |
22 |
31 |
7 |
26 |
|
|
|
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|
LOWEST MAXIMUM TEMP
deg C |
19.0 |
16.0 |
19.0 |
11.9 |
8.4 |
10.6 |
5.0 |
6.5 |
10.5 |
13.4 |
13.1 |
19.3 |
5.0 |
|
Day |
17 |
12 |
2 |
28 |
18 |
14 |
9 |
11 |
5,6 |
23 |
17 |
20 |
|
|
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|
HIGHEST MINIMUM TEMP
deg C |
17.5 |
16.6 |
14.1 |
10.4 |
8.1 |
10.8 |
5.6 |
6.6 |
11.1 |
12.5 |
16.4 |
17.1 |
17.5 |
|
Day |
16 |
3 |
22 |
25 |
30 |
13 |
21 |
30,31 |
23 |
5,6 |
29 |
6 |
|
|
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|
LOWEST MINIMUM TEMP
deg C |
8.8 |
4.1 |
-1.7 |
-5.8 |
-4.6 |
-6.8 |
-9.0 |
-7.4 |
-4.9 |
-1.6 |
3.3 |
3.0 |
-9.0 |
|
Day |
29 |
10 |
30 |
30 |
4,5 |
28 |
12 |
20 |
10,11 |
23 |
23 |
16 |
|
|
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|
LOWEST GRASS MIN TEMP
deg C |
4.9 |
1.9 |
-5.6 |
-9.1 |
-8.1 |
-11.1 |
-13.8 |
-11.8 |
-9.2 |
-5.6 |
-1.0 |
-0.8 |
-13.8 |
|
Day |
30 |
24 |
30 |
30 |
5 |
27 |
12 |
20 |
10 |
23 |
23 |
16 |
|
|
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|
FROSTS |
0 |
0 |
2 |
7 |
20 |
12 |
21 |
21 |
10 |
7 |
0 |
0 |
100 |
|
Long Term
Average days |
0 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
13 |
17 |
19 |
20 |
15 |
7 |
2 |
0 |
98 |
|
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|
FOGS days |
2 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
22 |
|
Long Term
Average days |
1 |
1 |
3 |
5 |
5 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
32 |
|
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|
THUNDERSTORMS days |
2 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
9 |
3 |
7 |
38 |
|
Long Term
Average days |
7 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
4 |
6 |
8 |
37 |
|
|
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|
EVAPORATION (Class A
Pan) mm |
113.0 |
99.8 |
109.2 |
71.4 |
46.6 |
34.0 |
39.4 |
55.8 |
81.6 |
113.2 |
110.0 |
138.8 |
1012.8 |
|
Long Term
Average mm |
165.8 |
130.1 |
117.5 |
78.1 |
51.6 |
37.8 |
42.8 |
65.8 |
97.7 |
129.8 |
136.3 |
163.8 |
1217.0 |
|
|
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|
AVGE. DAILY EVAPORATION
mm |
3.6 |
3.4 |
3.5 |
2.4 |
1.5 |
1.1 |
1.3 |
1.8 |
2.7 |
3.7 |
3.7 |
4.5 |
2.8 |
|
|
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|
AVERAGE DAILY WIND RUN
km |
158.2 |
130.1 |
96.6 |
130.9 |
84.3 |
109.8 |
127.6 |
138.7 |
137.5 |
102.5 |
147.9 |
138.8 |
125.2 |
|
Long Term
Average km |
160.2 |
154.5 |
150.5 |
132.8 |
133.1 |
153.9 |
161.0 |
174.0 |
181.8 |
167.4 |
162.2 |
162.6 |
157.8 |
|
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PREVAILING 3PM WIND DIRECTION |
E |
E |
E |
E |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
W |
- |
|
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|
FINE DAYS ^ |
9 |
4 |
19 |
15 |
16 |
9 |
11 |
14 |
18 |
17 |
10 |
12 |
154 |
|
Long Term
Average days |
16 |
13 |
17 |
17 |
15 |
14 |
16 |
19 |
20 |
19 |
14 |
16 |
195 |
|
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|
MAXIMUM TEMP > 29.9 deg. days |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
MAXIMUM TEMP < 10.0 deg. days |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
|
MINIMUM TEMP < 5.0 deg.
days |
0 |
0 |
6 |
12 |
28 |
20 |
29 |
29 |
16 |
12 |
2 |
3 |
157 |
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^ A fine day is a dry sunny day generally
free from excessive cloud |
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