A few interesting weather stations around Australia (Part 1)

While I follow weather more closely for Sydney, there are also a few other locations around Australia that I find interesting to look at. Here are a couple.


Mount Wellington, Tasmania

Mount Wellington in Tasmania overlooks the capital of Hobart. Not only can it get quite cold, but it is also an extremely windy location. When I went there myself several years ago I remember almost being blown away by the wind gusts. In the first 21 days of October there have been 12 days with wind gusts exceeding 100km/h, with a top of 137km/h. The record wind gust stands at 200km/h recorded on March 20 1998, although there is currently only 10 years of data.

Temperatures on Mount Wellington can also change dramatically. January 4 was responsible for the yearly maximum of 29.5C this year, while only a few days later on January 9 the temperature only rose to 5.3C. Overnight minimums during winter are often below zero with -7.3C the 2013 yearly low recorded on August 21. February is typically the warmest month with averages of 5.3C to 13.7C, while July and August hold the lowest averages with -1.6C to 2.3C and -1.7C to 2.7C respectively.


Marble Bar, Western Australia

In almost a complete opposite to Mount Wellington, Marble Bar in Western Australia's Pilbara region is one of the hottest locations in Australia. Marble Bar is a small community with only a few hundred residents but dates back to the 1890s. It currently holds the world record for the longest period where the temperature rose above 100F (37.8C). There were 160 days straight from October 31 1923 to April 7 1924 above the 100F mark. More information about the record can be found here.

During last summer (December 2012 to February 2013) there were only 6 days where the temperature did not exceed 35C. There were 53 days out of 90 above 40C with a top of 45.3C recorded on December 2. It's quite remarkable to think temperatures can be that high for such an extended period of time.

Marble Bar can also be affected by cyclones that strike the Pilbara coast and head inland. As a result strong wind gusts can be recorded as well as high levels of rainfall. February 27 2013 saw a wind gust of 115km/h and 69.2mm of rain fell in the 24hrs prior to 9am on February 28.