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The recent cold and wet weather affecting southern parts of the Northern Territory has brought some record breaking cold.
Alice Springs Airport reached a balmy 21 degrees on Friday, just under average for this time of year. By sunrise on Saturday the mercury had dipped to 8.4 degrees, about average. Residents would have realised something was afoot by midday when the temperature had risen a miserly 0.2 degrees to 8.6.
In the early afternoon Alice Springs recorded its maximum at 9.6 degrees, its coldest May day since records began in 1942. Not only cold for May as Saturday, as it was also the 18th coldest day ever recorded.
The cause was a combination of a few environmental factors as well as impeccable timing. Thick cloud had moved through overnight, ready to deflect the suns warming rays. Then just before sunrise, rain began to fall, which had a huge cooling effect. At 3am it was 14 degrees. By 9am and after some persistent rain for over four hours, it had fallen below 9.
This cooling effect is a direct result of the initial rain vigorously evaporating in the very dry interior air. The cloud then did its job, allowing for one of the coldest recorded days in Alice Springs.
The maximum on Sunday also reached only 11ºC.
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Stunning. Even Melbourne has trouble recording temps that low in july, let alone a desert location at 23º latitude in May
Alice Springs is at a relatively high in altitude though isn't it?
(several hundred meters, which could have a 2-3 C cooling effect?)
I've seen on BOM stats that they've had -11 C (13 degrees F) recorded as a record low.
Considering this, their high doesn't surprise me...
(though I do have a lot of sympathy for those there... especially tourists expecting mild/warm/hot sunny weather)
*If evaporation caused a lot of the cold,
that explains why Toronto does cool much from rain;
our evaporation rate is often "slow."
It's at about 600m altitude, but in May, this sort of weather is an extreme rarity. I've seen Tenant Creek and Mt Isa record a high of 8C in june a couple of years ago, this could only be attritubed to prolonged rain and cloudiness, with a constant southerly wind.
On the same day, Kununurra and Wyndham recorded a high of 15C, which was 17C below their June averages. That was a spectacular cold snap encompassing most of central and northern Aus.
Alice Springs in an average year hits an absolute low of perhaps -3; that -11C is a truly spectacular record and the only way I imagine it could be recorded is on a clear night with NO wind, after a prolonged period of cloud induced cold with a southerly airstream. Infact, such a low temp would probably require an absoulte perfect alingment of weather patterns..which I wouldnt be familiar with!
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15C for Wyndham? That is hard to believe, I guess not impossible. I'm often surprised how unusually cool much of Outback Oz can get; most of the continent gets frost in winter, and like a supposed 0.8C or so in Kalumburu, at like 15N, sounds absurd when you think that's lower than Albany, right at the bottom of WA!
Yeah I am aware Alice Springs can get the odd chilly 10C day. It's pretty high altitude, and snow has fallen on Uluru and the ranges in that area.
At Kununurra, the lowest high was 16.7C on June 19th, 2007, while Halls Creek recorded 13.3C on the same day and Argyle 15.7C. Wyndham's actual high that day was 17.7C. The average is about 31-32C.
Tennant Creek had a high of 8.0C on the 20th June 2007, followed by 9.9C the next day, on the same day Mt Isa had 9.4C and Normanton 13.8C
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Originally Posted by §AB
At Kununurra, the lowest high was 16.7C on June 19th, 2007, while Halls Creek recorded 13.3C on the same day and Argyle 15.7C. Wyndham's actual high that day was 17.7C. The average is about 31-32C.
Tennant Creek had a high of 8.0C on the 20th June 2007, followed by 9.9C the next day, on the same day Mt Isa had 9.4C and Normanton 13.8C
The Mt Isa figure seems particularly amazing, being around the Tropic of Cancer. Perth's record is 8.8C.
The Mt Isa figure seems particularly amazing, being around the Tropic of Cancer. Perth's record is 8.8C.
Tennant Creek is at a similar latitude...their 8.0C is an incredible figure. I've nevere actually seen a high temp that low in Melbourne.....and to achieve this in a tropical desert latitude is simply unreal and unparalleled.
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Originally Posted by §AB
Tennant Creek is at a similar latitude...their 8.0C is an incredible figure. I've nevere actually seen a high temp that low in Melbourne.....and to achieve this in a tropical desert latitude is simply unreal and unparalleled.
Yes, Melbourne's record is about 4.4C actually, from memory, but it hasn't seen such a figure in many years.
Yeah it is pretty absurd; I think the extreme lows are particularly notable: i think the sub-zero record lows in many northern stations don't really make much sense. Some of these stations are near sea level near the ocean. It's like Bangkok seeing a frost! Even Hong Kong, cold for it's latitude, has a record of 0C.
I guess it proves that almost anything is possible!!! Hong Kong would experience incursions of cold air from China's interior, resulting in cold winters, but being heavily urbanised and on a relatively warm body of water would prevent exceptional cold. Similar story for Brisbane.... at a similar latitude as Hong Kong....their record low is -0.4C...it also is a higly built up area by the ocean.
As for Bangkok, it's inland, has a massive, very cold landmass to the north, so it's somewhat surprising they dont get any particularly cold weather. Sub-zero Record lows in tropical Australia would be comparitively easier to achieve, as many such locations that do actually drop below 0C are at a high elevation and a fair bit inland with a desert or Savannah climate as opposed to the humid tropics found in SE Asia.... where clear skies and lack of humidity promote heat dissipation.
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Originally Posted by §AB
I guess it proves that almost anything is possible!!! Hong Kong would experience incursions of cold air from China's interior, resulting in cold winters, but being heavily urbanised and on a relatively warm body of water would prevent exceptional cold. Similar story for Brisbane.... at a similar latitude as Hong Kong....their record low is -0.4C...it also is a higly built up area by the ocean.
As for Bangkok, it's inland, has a massive, very cold landmass to the north, so it's somewhat surprising they dont get any particularly cold weather. Sub-zero Record lows in tropical Australia would be comparitively easier to achieve, as many such locations that do actually drop below 0C are at a high elevation and a fair bit inland with a desert or Savannah climate as opposed to the humid tropics found in SE Asia.... where clear skies and lack of humidity promote heat dissipation.
Kalumburu's figure of 0.3 is still inexplicable; it's at 14.30'S and virtually on the coast. How on earth does it get colder than say Fremantle?
Yes Bangkok's extreme is like 9C. I know some parts of Brazil at a similar latitude see frosts now and then, so it's interesting how it happens in some places but not others.
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