Have been thinking last few weeks how abnormal this summer has been.. Mean temperature has been about 1 degree above average since November. Also hardly any rain, other than a very brief downpours, which dry off quickly. If you look around, a lot of dead grass around the suburbs. Got up to 35 on Friday, and many days in the mid-30's. Over the last 15 years I can't remember mid 30 days being all that common here. We also haven't had the late afternoon showers that we usually get every few days, where the rainfall is fairly consistent. So I had a bit of a look at the stats just to confirm I am not imaging things. Monthly: Brisbane, Qld - March 2017 - Daily Weather Observations Long term averages: Climate statistics for Australian locations In brackets is the last 18 year average: Average daily maximum November: 30.2 (28.2) December: 30.1 (29.4) January: 31.4 (30.3) February: 32.5 (30.2) March: 31.9 (29.0) Rainfall totals (mm) November: 28 (100.1) December: 102 (131) January: 218.4, most of that in 2 days, hardly anything other than that (151.8) February: 30.6 (135.5) March: 48.4 so far (109.7) Usually drought here is followed by flood, so 2018-20? could be another big one.. I used to think climate change predictions of an average 1-2 degrees hotter being a little "so what".. However when you live through 5 months where it is 1-2degrees hotter, and you notice its physically a lot harder to cope with, everything seems a lot more real. If this does become the new normal, I'd hate to think what another 2-3 degrees from here could be like. It could be unlivable
Natural variation maybe. Though people around these parts are saying the extreme weather is pointing to an Autumn flood event. Hoping Bundaberg doesn't go through a 3rd flood in under 10 years, it'll financially crush folks living in the flood zones.
Sydney had a very hot summer with a number of days over 40°c in the suburbs. But pretty soon as the end of Summer came, we've had heaps of wet days. And perhaps Saturdays are worse than average! But at least it's not hot, aircons and fans are no longer needed, and temperatures are t-shirt pleasant.
Brisbane has had a hot summer, main influence seems to be the absence of the usual summer storms in the late afternoon which cool things down. Marg
Sorry, I reckon I can claim credit for the rain! A week ago I gave up and and finally put the sprinkler on the back garden..... Marg