WINTER WEATHER REVIEW - ARMIDALE NSW
2013

Winter 2013 was cool to mild and dry.
June was cold, cloudy and wet, July was cool and dry, and August was mild, sunny and very dry.
June received a number of moderate falls of rain totaling 79.8 mm, then conditions became very dry for the remainder of the winter with July recording 18.6 mm and August 10.8 mm. The total for the three months was 109.2 mm on 21 days.
The colder winter weather started in mid-May and lasted, with the occasional mild day, for 14 weeks until 25th August when warmer conditions arrived.
Overall day temperatures were much higher than normal bringing this winter into the top four warmest winters on record, based on 122 years of available reliable data for Armidale. (The warmest was 1940, second warmest 2002, and third warmest 2009 and 2013 equally.)
Maximum temperatures were lower than 10 degrees on 6 days and there were no snowfalls.
Winds were light in June and July, and dry gusty westerly winds developed in August.
There were 60 frosts, 4 more than the average, with August being both the frostiest and sunniest month.

Noteworthy events:
25th June - Low temperatures, showers and snow occurred along the Northern Tablelands during the morning. An upper level cold pool combined with showers being pushed northwards from a low pressure system near Sydney produced the very cold conditions. The maximum temperature in Armidale was 7.4 deg. Snow settled briefly on the ground in the Guyra/ Black Mountain/Ben Lomond areas, and further east around Ebor. There was no snow in Armidale.

18th July - The maximum temperature of 19.9 degrees at 2.30pm was the highest for July since 24th July 1990 (20.0 deg), and was also the second highest July temperature on record. The unusually mild conditions were caused by warm north-westerly winds being pushed ahead of a low pressure trough moving across New South Wales from the west.

8th August - A cold front passed through New South Wales bringing strong winds, low temperatures and very light snow in Walcha during the morning. The snow did not make it any further north. Armidale’s maximum temperature was 8.5 degrees with the strong winds generating wind chill temperatures close to zero degrees for most of the day.


WINTER 2013 STATISTICS (long term averages in brackets)
Rainfall: 109.2 mm (151.2 mm)
Rain days: 21 (28)
Average maximum temp: 14.6 deg (13.2 deg)
Average minimum temp: 0.3 deg (0.1 deg)
Highest maximum temp: 21.5 deg on 30th August
Lowest maximum temp: 7.4 deg on 25th June
Highest minimum: 9.1 deg on 2nd June
Lowest minimum temp: -7.0 deg on 16th August
Fine sunny days: 40 (47)
Days with thunderstorms: 1 (2)
Days with frosts: 60 (56)