FYI: Monthly Climate Summary for Canberra - June 2009 [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

The following is provided for the information
of subscribers (and as an addition to the annual summary provided in the
Annual Bird Report): http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/act/summary.shtml

ACT Monthly Summary in June 2009
Mild and cloudy conditions for the ACT

Summary

·        Close to average rainfall
·        4th warmest June on record for territory wide minimum temperatures
·        Above average maximum temperatures
·        Below average sunshine hours and above average cloud cover

Rainfall

The ACT received close to average rainfall during June, with some spatial variation across the territory. Canberra airport recorded a total of 36.8mm, which is slightly below the average of 40.8mm. Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve, to the south west of Canberra recorded 49mm of rain, only equating to 74% of its average June rainfall of 66.2mm. Canberra Airport reported 17 raindays in June, well above the average of 9 days.

The majority of the month's rainfall fell in two main events. The first occured between the 3rd and 8th of June, when a trough in the Tasman combined with a cold front, triggering further rainfall. The second event occured around the 21st of June and was largely caused by a high pressure system in the Tasman as well as an offshore trough.

Temperature

Maximum temperatures were slightly above average during June in the ACT. Canberra Airport recorded an average maximum temperature of 12.7°C, which was 0.5°C above the average maximum of 12.2°C.

Minimum temperatures were well above average across the ACT. The average minimum temperature at Canberra Airport was 3.3°C which is 2.3°C above the historic June average, making it the 4th warmest June for minimum temperatures out of 69 years of record. Canberra Airport reported frost on 12 days during June, less than the average of 18 days.

Temperature extremes in the ACT ranged from a high of 16.8°C at Canberra Airport on the 30th, to an overnight low of -8.5°C at Mount Ginini on the 11th. This minimum temperature occured due to a low pressure system in the Tasman Sea, which brought cool southerly wind into the ACT.

Wind

NW winds prevailed over the ACT during June for 37% of the time during the afternoons, which is only 2% more than average. The wind speed was moderate during most of the month, with the strongest gust of 107 km/h recorded at Mount Ginini AWS (elev 1760 metres) and at Canberra Airport (72km/h) on the 30th. This was caused by the leading edge of a strong cold front moving into western NSW.

Other phenomena

Conditions were cloudy during June, with an average morning cloud cover of 6.2 oktas reported, well above the long-term average of 4.6 oktas. Cloud cover was also above average for the afternoon, reporting an average of 5.3 oktas compared to the long-term average of 4.5 oktas. Average daily sunshine hours were below average, reporting a June daily average of 4.2 hours of sunshine, compared to the long-term average of 5.2 hours. One weak thunderstorm was recorded over the ACT on the 5th. At Canberra Airport, fog was observed on 10 days during June, slightly above the average of 7.7 days.********************************************************************** IMPORTANT: This e-mail is intended for the use of the addressee and may contain information that is confidential, commercially valuable or subject to legal or parliamentary privilege. If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that any review, re-transmission, disclosure, use or dissemination of this communication is strictly prohibited by several Commonwealth Acts of Parliament. If you have received this communication in error please notify the sender immediately and delete all copies of this transmission together with any attachments. **********************************************************************