Back to 30C+ in Sydney, still mild and wet in Central Finland

Today in Sydney was the third consecutive day above 30C. The mercury hit 31.8C at 11:15am before a southerly change saw temperatures slowly drop during the afternoon. This was after Thursday's top of 30.3C and Friday's 34.0C.

Overnight temperatures have also been warm. Yesterday's minimum of 19.1C is the warmest of the month so far. Temperatures held steady above 21C last night, although the southerly change has dropped it below 20C this evening and it is likely to drop further before midnight.

Today's 31.8C was easily above the forecasted 27C. The forecast had also predicted showers and the chance of thunderstorms. By looking at rain radars around NSW, however, it appears that rain activity has stayed clear of Sydney, and instead it has been mainly affecting coastal areas from the Central Coast to the Mid-North Coast of NSW.

Sydney shouldn't escape the rain for too much longer though as a low pressure system is forecast to settle right off the coast of NSW in the next couple of days. Tomorrow's forecast is for showers increasing to rain, with rain also predicted on Monday and Tuesday.

A bit of morning sun and blue sky in Jyväskylä on November 9

Despite a few glimpses of sun, Jyväskylä has remained mostly wet for the past few days. Not as much rain has fallen as earlier in the week, but persistent showers, drizzle and grey cloud has started to feel a little tiresome.

With the increased cloud cover and continuing winds from the south, conditions have remained humid and temperatures mild. The days of November 6-8 didn't see the temperature rise above 5C but minimums haven't gone below 0C either.

If the temperature today does not fall below zero (which I wouldn't bet any sum of money on happening) then that will make 9 days of November gone with only one day dropping into the negative. 2008* saw 7 of the first 9 November days drop below 0C, all 9 days went below in 2009, 6 in 2010, 2 in 2011 and 5 in 2012. The forecast at the moment doesn't show any sharp drops to freezing temperatures, although -1C and -2C are predicted for Monday and Tuesday mornings.

* I actually started recording weather in November 2008 for Jyväskylä only, so I have data for November and December 2008 in addition to 2009-2013 for both locations.

Wet weather for Jyväskylä, cool in Sydney

The last few days in Jyväskylä have seen quite a bit of rain. Almost 30mm fell over Monday and Tuesday. While this might seem quite low in comparison to rainfall in Sydney, if you look at averages for Jyväskylä it is quite high. In 2011 only 26mm fell during the whole month of November, and 36mm fell in 2012. The 1981-2010 monthly average stands at 54mm so we're on target at the moment to match or beat that mark.

The rain late yesterday was part of an intense low pressure system that moved north across the western part of the country. Along with the rain, strong winds were felt in many locations. I noticed a highest gust of 13m/s (about 47km/h) for Jyväskylä while monitoring observations on the FMI website. I may have missed a stronger gust though as FMI doesn't give daily recordings in the same way as BoM. Despite that, 13m/s is pretty strong for inland parts of Finland and a strong wind warning was in place yesterday. The strongest wind gust in Finland was at Kokemäki in the country's south west where a 23.3m/s (84km/h) gust was recorded.

November 6  in Jyväskylä was a showery day with hints of sunshine. Clouds cleared by late afternoon allowing the sun to briefly show itself again before setting.

Meanwhile in Sydney, it was the third coldest November morning since 2009. Around 6am this morning it was only 11.9C. Only November 2010 has seen lower minimums with two successive days at the start of the month dropping to 11.5C.

The start of the week was rather cool as strong southerly winds kept daily maximums below 20C with 18.4C and 19.6C recorded on Monday and Tuesday respectively. This was after the equal 6th warmest day of the year on Sunday. Temperatures peaked at 34.9C before a southerly change in the afternoon. Rain has stayed away for the time being although the current forecast shows the chance of a storm on Friday followed by showers and rain from Saturday to Monday.

October 2013 Review - Jyväskylä

October 2013 started in typical fashion with some of the last days of the year above 10C and a few nights below zero. The second half of the month was started with a hint of November when temperatures didn't climb above 3.5C for a week. However, warmer temperatures did return towards the end of the month with 11.7C and 10.4C being recorded on October 24 and 28 respectively.

Jyväskylä actually saw the highest number of October days over 10C for the last 5 years. A total of 10 days in the month were above 10C compared to 0 days for 2009, 5 for 2010, 7 for 2011 and 6 for 2012. This year also saw the highest October temperature of the last 5 years, 14.4C recorded on October 7. Despite that, the average maximum for the month was still below 2011's mark.

The table below compares averages from the last 5 years for the month of October in Jyväskylä.

Jyväskylä	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Average Min.	-3.0	0.2	2.0	1.0	0.5
Average Max.	4.1	5.7	8.3	6.0	7.7

Monthly averages for October in Jyväskylä for the period 2009-2013

The average minimum was in the middle for the 5 year period as shown in the table above. A monthly low of -7.4C on October 20 was also in the middle, with the 5 year low of -10.1C recorded last year. The highest minimum for the month was 9.9C, second only to last year's 10.3C.

While the average minimum was in the middle, the timing of the higher temperatures was quite different. As shown in the graph below the minimum of 8.4C recorded on October 28 was the latest time in the year for such a high during the last 5 years. If not for the cooler period in the middle of the month the average minimum probably would have been the highest.

October minimums in Jyväskylä for the period 2009-2013

In terms of rain, according to the Finnish Meteorological Institute the monthly rainfall of 60mm was well below last year's total of 103mm and also below the 1981-2010 average of 66mm. The cooler period mentioned above also brought the first real snowfall. Places around Jyväskylä received up to 10cm of snow on October 18. It slowly disappeared during the week that followed but disappeared completely afterwards.

October 2013 Review - Sydney

Sydney saw very warm maximums for most of the month of October. There were 7 days above 30C, with a monthly maximum of 37.8C recorded on October 10. This was the 4th warmest October day since 1939. The highest monthly minimum of 20.2C recorded on October 23 was the warmest in the last 5 years and within the top 90th percentile for records since 1939. Bushfires affected areas around Sydney for more than a week in the middle of the month on the back of these warm temperatures.

The table below compares averages from the last 5 years for the month of October at Sydney Airport.

Sydney	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013
Average Min.	14.0	14.7	14.2	13.5	14.4
Average Max.	21.9	22.5	22.1	23.8	26.2

Monthly averages for October at Sydney Airport for the period 2009-2013

Of the last 5 years this October was easily the warmest in terms of daily maximums. In fact, looking at Bureau of Meteorology records, this October was actually the second warmest since 1939. Only 1988 was warmer with an average maximum of 27.0C. It's also worth pointing out that only 2007 besides 1988 and 2013 had an average maximum above 25C. 

Another interesting observation is that the average maximum was actually 27.2C with 8 days remaining in the month. If not for the cooler final 8 days of October, which had an average maximum of 23.3C, the record would have been broken. 

Minimums, on the other hand, were fairly normal compared to the previous 5 years. A steady increase of average minimums since 1939 means 2013's average was above the overall average of 13.2C. The lowest overall temperature of the month, 9.7C on October 17, was similar to previous years, while the lowest maximum of 17.7C on October 16 was the warmest in the last 5 years.

As I mentioned in a recent post, the highest wind gust in more than a year was also experienced, 95km/h on October 29. In terms of rain, the monthly total of 16.2mm was well below the long term average of 70.1mm. 

Stormy weather for Sydney and southern Finland

The strongest wind gust in over a year was recorded today at Sydney Airport. A gust of 95km/h from the south was measured at 2:08pm this afternoon, the strongest since a 106km/h gust in August 2012. The initial southerly change hit around 10:30am and temperatures stayed below 20C for most of the afternoon after reaching 24.3C in the morning.

A severe storm warning was also issued by the Bureau of Meteorology this afternoon for the Sydney Metropolitan area. Most of the southern half of the city escaped unscathed but northern suburbs were affected. The Central Coast north of Sydney bore the brunt of the rain with just over 27mm recorded at Gosford.

The past week has been much cooler than previous weeks. Between September 24 and October 23 there was a maximum gap of only 4 days between two 30C+ days. That's pretty remarkable for this time of year. To put it into perspective, there was a run of 16 days earlier this year in the summer month of February that didn't see a day above 30C. The current run including today is 6 days, with the forecast not showing another 30C+ day until this Sunday.

Stormy weather affected Finland overnight also. Leftovers from St Jude, the storm that hit the UK, The Netherlands and Denmark yesterday, hit the southern half of Finland late last night. Jyväskylä had just under 10mm of rain and escaped the strong winds that were felt in the south. The southern port town of Hanko had consistent winds just under 20m/s (72km/h), and while I don't have actual recordings for the strongest gusts, I'm sure they were well above that mark, possibly 23-25m/s. This was still well below wind gusts recorded in Denmark, including a new national record of 194km/h. Weather warnings are still in place for coastal areas in the south with strong waves also being experienced.

Temperatures in Jyväskylä in the meantime have been quite warm. The mercury went above 10C again yesterday. Only 2011 since 2009 has had temperatures above 10C this late into the year. Minimums are the highest for this time of year since 2009. A mild 8.4C was the minimum for yesterday, much warmer than -10.1C from the same date last year. A typical level of cloud, i.e. full cover, for this time of year has also been experienced with only a hint a sunshine.

A few interesting weather stations around Australia (Part 2)

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 more in addition to Mount Wellington and Marble Bar from a previous post.


Darwin, Northern Territory

Darwin, the capital of Australia's Northern Territory, is located in the central north of the country. It is a tropical location with distinct wet and dry seasons. The dry season usually lasts from May to September with the wet season mostly in the summer months.

Darwin is quite unlike any other capital city in Australia in terms of weather. Due to its tropical location, temperatures are very similar throughout the whole year. The average monthly maximums range from 30.5C in July to 33.3C in November. Just looking at 2013 so far daily maximums have ranged between 27.4C, recorded once each in May and July, to 36.6C from October 10. That's not even a 10C difference. Jyväskylä on the other hand can almost have a 60C difference. The yearly minimum stands at 15.8C from August 8, but has been as high as 29.1C.

In terms of rainfall, the wet season during the summer months can present remarkable levels of precipitation. In the 24hrs to 9am on February 16 2011 a record 367.6mm fell. February 2011 also holds the record for the most rain in a month, 1110.2mm, which is more than the average annual rainfall for Sydney.

Darwin is also susceptible to cyclones. Cyclone Tracy, which hit on Christmas Eve in 1974, remains as one of the most significant storms to affect Australia. A maximum wind gust from Tracy of 217km/h is still the holder of the strongest gust in 52 years of records.


Macquarie Island, Tasmania

Although Macquarie Island is politically a part of Tasmania it is quite a long way from it. Macquarie Island is a small island in the Southern Ocean approximately halfway between New Zealand and Antarctica. It has no permanent population but weather measurements have been taken since 1948.

As you can probably imagine, Macquarie Island is not the warmest place on the planet. Although, it's actually quite similar to Darwin in a way. Temperatures on the island do not vary too much throughout the year. July is typically the coldest month with an average maximum of 4.9C and January is the warmest with 8.8C. The record high is only 14.4C from December 10 1984, while the record minimum stands at -9.4C from July 3 2003.

Macquarie Island is also very wet. It has an average of 315 days of rain each year! Rainfall levels are usually quite low though. Even with 315 days of rain per year the average annual rainfall is lower than Sydney (971.7mm compared to 1085.4mm). So far this year there has only been 22 days without rain.

Being a small island in the middle of wide open ocean, it's not surprising that wind gusts can be extremely strong as well. 185km/h is the overall record, measured on September 24 1980, but strong winds can be experienced year round.


So there's a few weather stations around Australia that are quite different from each other. I'm sure there are plenty of others that are quite interesting to follow as well so this is just a quick look at what's out there. Have a look around the Bureau of Meteorology site for yourself and see what you can find.

Warm front pushes temperatures above 10C in Jyväskylä

Warm air from south western Europe has been pushed all the way to Finland raising temperatures above 10C across the lower half of the country. In Jyväskylä yesterday the temperature rose to 11.7C around 3pm. It had actually been steadily increasing from 0C over the previous 36hrs.

Of the 5 years since 2009 this was the latest time in the year for such temperatures to be measured. October 19 2012 is the previous time above that mark when 11.9C was recorded. The warm autumn temperatures were quite a change seeing as the week between October 16 and 22 had an average maximum of only 1.6C. The only remnants of snow in Jyväskylä can be seen in a few small piles from what was cleared last week.

Wet and mild weather should continue for at least the next few days.