Weather News

Darwin's coolest August morning in 72 years

Guy Dixon, Saturday August 23, 2014 - 12:49 AEST

Clear skies have allowed the mercury to drop almost eight degrees below average about parts of the Northern Territory.

An unshakable high pressure system has been sitting over the Northern Territory in recent times leading to crystal clear skies both overnight and during the day.

It is not uncommon for temperatures to rise well over thirty degrees during the day about parts of the Northern Territory at this time of the year, especially when no protection is offered by cloud cover. During the overnight hours however, this lack of cloud cover allows vast amounts of long-wave radiation to escape into the atmosphere.

As a result, minimum temperatures can plummet after the sun goes down.

Darwin Airport shivered through their coolest August morning in 72 years, beating the previous low by just 0.1 of degree (set in 2012) with a minimum of 13 degrees. This also made it the coolest morning for any month since June 2011.

Inland parts of the Territory also felt the chill last night, cooling almost eight degrees below average.

The temperature at Tindall RAAF Base dropped to 7.2 degrees, just short of eight degrees below the August average. Further west, Timber Creek chilled to just 7.5 degrees overnight, the coolest August morning since 2007.

Clear skies and cool minimum temperatures are set to continue with no imminent threat of this ridge shifting. The ridge will steer dry southeasterly winds each day keeping conditions stable.

- Weatherzone

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