Extract from ABC News
More than 100 weather records fell during a summer of extremes in Queensland, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The average maximum temperature in the state was 1.18 degrees Celsius above the 1961-1990 average, making it the hottest summer since 2020.
BOM senior climatologist Hugh McDowell summer was the nation's most extreme season, but conditions tended to be particularly acute in Queensland.
"We see cyclones, we see heat waves, we see severe thunderstorms, we see bushfires as well," he said.
"That is generally something we see most seasons pretty much every year."
Unsurprisingly, the hottest places this summer were in Western Queensland.
Mercury nears 50C
Birdsville, one of the top four warmest places in Australia, sweltered through a record-breaking 49.4 degrees Celsius on January 25, which was the state's hottest January day.
The remote outback town also held the title for the warmest average day of 40.2C and the warmest average night of 36.4C.
Birdsville resident Francis Murray said locals were used to the heat out west, but the hot nights were tough.
"You usually get a reprieve at night but during the summer in Birdsville, that's not always the case," he said.
"When it doesn't cool off at night, it makes for a long day."
On the second-last day of 2023, the central west town of Winton recorded a blistering temperature of 47.2C, which was the highest in over a decade.
The difference in heat from the outback to the coastline is stark.
The coastal locations of Coolangatta, Rainbow Beach, Tewantin and Gladstone all recorded their highest mean daily maximum temperatures, which were in the high 20s and low 30s.
Mr McDowell said minimum temperatures were also "particularly warm".
"It was the third-warmest summer by mean minimum temperatures," he said.
Rainfall records
This summer's rainfall average of 421.9 millimetres was 30 per cent above the 1961-1990 average for the state.
Mossman, north of Cairns, recorded the highest single-day total when 714mm fell on December 18, after Tropical Cyclone Jasper swept across the coast.
Flood-ravaged communities in the Far North were cut off for weeks as a result.
Whyanbeel Valley in North Queensland recorded the most rain in nearly 50 years with 3,323mm.
The cyclones and subsequent rainfall then moved west, drenching parts of the outback, including Burketown, where flooding forced residents to evacuate the gulf community.
Flooding caused destruction in some areas, but the increased rainfall was welcomed in parts of Western Queensland.
In the south-west, Charleville recorded its highest total summer rainfall since 1975 with 434mm.
'Fat and happy'
Rebecca Tickell, from Lesdale, a property outside Charleville, said the summer rainfall was "magnificent".
"We've been seeing beautiful rain, it's been real storm rain," she said.
"It's enough to keep the ground wet and the grass growing, great grass-growing season … everything is looking fat and happy.
"It's still magnificent and far better than a drought."
The south east also had more rain than normal — Marnhull, near Dalby, recorded its highest daily rainfall since 1921 with 158.6mm, which Mr McDowell said was highly unusual.
"That's a very long-term record," he said.
"We can say it's more significant than something that's been recorded for say 20 years."
No comments:
Post a Comment