WINTER WEATHER REVIEW - ARMIDALE NSW
2015
Winter 2015 was cool to cold and dry.
June was cool and dry, July was cold and dry, and August was cool and sunny.
June and July recorded only light falls of rain, June 32.8 mm, July 33.2 mm,
and August was a little wetter with 51.6 mm. The total for the three months was
117.6 mm on 25 days.
The colder winter weather started on 7th May and lasted, with the occasional mild
day, for around 18 weeks until 11th September when warmer conditions arrived.
Overall temperatures were a little higher than normal.
Maximum temperatures were lower than 10 degrees on 11 days, and there were
light snowfalls on the 12th, 13th, 16th and 17th July with patchy snow settling
on the ground on the 13th and 17th.
There was a shower of ice pellets/soft hail in the evening of 12th August.
The coldest temperatures were during the seven day period from 12th to 18th
July with two severe cold changes keeping day temperatures below ten degrees along
with cloud and showers.
Winds were light in June and light to moderate in July and August.
There were 62 frosts, with August being both the frostiest and sunniest month.
Noteworthy events:
12th July - A severe cold front combined with a large upper level cold pool passed
through in the early hours bringing light snow showers to Armidale. The maximum
temperature for the day was 5.7C, but strong westerly winds created wind chill
temperatures of well below zero. Snow showers were very light during the day
with no snow settling on the ground. The Guyra/Black
Mountain/Ben Lomond area had heavier falls with snow settling. The Walcha area also received settling falls.
13th July - Snow showers in the early morning partly settled on the
ground in Armidale, but it was a very patchy cover in the centre
of the city. Falls were a little heavier in South Armidale. The maximum
temperature was 5.8C.
16th-17th July - An upper
level trough and cold pool moved through eastern New South Wales on the 16th
bringing very low temperatures and widespread snowfalls to the Central Tablelands,
Northern Tablelands and southern Queensland including Stanthorpe
and Cunningham’s Gap. The snow started in the evening of the 16th at around 9pm
and continued intermittently through the night until around 11am on the 17th. In
Armidale there was a light patchy cover of snow on the ground about a centimetre deep in the morning in the centre
of the city, however there was a better cover in other
parts of the city. The snow melted during the morning. The maximum temperature
on the 17th was just 6.0C, but the icy cold westerly winds made it feel much
colder.
12th August -
As a cold front combined with upper level cold air passed through the region, temperatures
plummeted in the late evening with light snow showers in some higher areas of
the Northern Tablelands including Topdale and Black
Mountain. There was no snow in Armidale, apart from a brief shower of sago snow
(ice pellets) at about 10pm.
23rd-24th August - A trough over New South Wales delivered Armidale’s best falls of rain for four months.
Thunderstorms and moderate to heavy showers started at around 9pm on the
evening of the 23rd and continued through most of the night and the following
day, the 24th to give a 48 hour total of 46.2 mm up to 9am on the 25th. Minor
flooding occurred in Dumaresq Creek on the 24th.
WINTER
2015 STATISTICS (long term
averages in brackets)
Rainfall: 117.6 mm (150.8 mm)
Rain days: 25 (28)
Average maximum temp: 13.7 deg (13.3 deg)
Average minimum temp: 0.0 deg (0.1 deg)
Highest maximum temp: 20.4 deg on 23rd August
Lowest maximum temp: 5.7 deg on 12th July
Highest minimum: 10.6 deg on 24th August
Lowest minimum temp: -7.1 deg on 28th July
Fine sunny days: 45 (46)
Days with thunderstorms: 2 (1.4)
Days with frosts: 62 (56)