January weather conditions for New South Wales
For the month of January, the following has occurred.
Rainfall
Rainfall has varied significantly to what was suggested by POAMA models. As mentioned in the previous post, it was a relatively dry month at Blacktown / Seven Hills with just 38 mm of rain falling. In particular:-
- The south west and north east of the state were wet as well as a small area around Lithgow / Oberon / Bathurst (Central Tablelands west of Sydney). Rainfall was as much as 100 to 200 mm above average in these areas.
- Below average rainfall occurred in a belt stretching from northern New South Wales to the coast including Sydney. Rainfall was as much as 50 to 100 mm below average for the month.
Maximum temperature anomaly:
For New South Wales, the north east and south west of the state experienced daytime temperatures that were 1C below the long term average. Elsewhere, the daytime temperatures were generally average or 1C above the long term average. It is noted that the January result has varied to some degree of what was suggested by the POAMA plot.
Minimum temperature anomaly
The whole state of New South Wales experienced minimum night time temperatures that were above average. In particular, the south east of the state had minimum night time temperatures that were 2C to 3C above the long term average with the rest of the state being at least average to 1C above the long term average.
The relevant plots are provided below produced on the Water and the Land site dated 6/2/11.
Further to this, during the period 30/1/11 to 6/2/11, a hot spell occurred right across Sydney which saw average daytime and night time temperatures being well above average. Maximum daytime temperatures for this period for Blacktown were 30/1 - 36C, 31/1 - 40.2C, 1/2 - 41.3C, 2/2 - 36.4C, 3/2 - 37C, 4/2 - 37C, 5/2 - 41.2C and 6/2 - 32.6C - Cooler change arrived after 2 pm Sunday bringing relief but no rain. This is 7 successive days where the maximum temperature for the day soared to more than 35C. Nights were also warm with a minimum of 26.5C on the morning of 6/2/11. This was a very uncomfortable period to be in Sydney.
Harley Pearman