Archives of January weather patterns covering the Blackall Range often show a large high pressure system hovering to SE of Tasmania that interacts with low pressure systems in the monsoonal belt. Such was the case in the first week of the New Year, when we had 115 mm of rain in the gauges to indicate a start to the wet season.
However, in the following week the unexpected happened with the Tasman high moving quickly east leaving behind stable atmospheric conditions over our region. As a result we had 19 consecutive rain-free days in January for the first time in 117 years, breaking the previous record held in January 1939 with 16 consecutive dry days.
Rain returned to the Blackall Ranges with a thunderstorm on Friday 29th, bringing the total for the month to 154.6 mm. This represents 132.2 mm below average.
The maximum temperature for the month was 34°C on the 18th at 1.30pm, with a sweltering outdoor heat stress ‘feel’ temperature of 44°C.
Weather report was supplied by Patrick Stacey, Maleny Weather Station. Log on to www.malenyweather.com for daily data and weather.
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