Weather News

Winter a mixed bag across Australia's capitals

Ben McBurney, Monday August 31, 2015 - 12:21 AEST

Winter 2015 varied significantly across Australia, with southeastern parts of Australia shivering through their coldest winter in years, whilst western and northern parts basked in much warmer than average conditions.

Frequent cold fronts across the nation's southeast meant winter felt noticeably cold after some mild winters in recent years, although it was also drier than average across many areas.

Adelaide experienced its coldest winter in five years, averaging 15.5 degrees during the day and 7.7 degrees at night. The City of Churches also had its driest winter since 2006, recording 137mm for the season, almost half its average.

Melbourne saw its coldest winter in 26 years averaging 13.9 degrees during the day and 7.5 degrees at night - although this is debatable due to a recent change in the site. Most neighbouring suburbs had their coldest winter since 2010. Melbourne was also a little drier than usual, receiving 124mm compared to the average of 147mm.

Hobart's winter was its chilliest since 2007, averaging 12.5 degrees during the day and 4.5 degrees at night, but only 131mm fell across the season, around 30mm less than average.

Canberra's winter was the coolest since 2000, despite temperatures only being close to average. It was a little bit damper than average though, with 159mm falling, the wettest since 2005.

In the east, it was a little milder due to frequent westerlies, although it was still noticeably colder than recent winters.

Sydney's winter was its coldest since 2010 but still almost a degree above average, averaging 18.5 degrees during the day and 9.2 degrees at night (the coldest nights since 2006). 229mm fell, below the long term average of 310mm.

In Brisbane temperatures were close to average, however it was very dry with only 71mm falling compared to the long term average of 125mm.

Meanwhile, the north and west were significantly warmer than average.

Perth had its warmest winter in more than 20 years, averaging one degree above the mean, while it was also dry with only 316mm falling for the season.

In Darwin, temperatures were also warm, particularly during the day which were almost one degree above the average.

With El Nino taking hold, a warmer and drier spring is likely, particularly across northern and eastern Australia. However its effects are likely to be dampened by warmer than usual seas hugging the east coast and across much of the Indian Ocean (to Australia's west).

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2015

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