Sunshine Coast Hinterland Times

Sunshine Coast Hinterland April Climate Summary 2009-2013

TRADITIONALLY the ‘wet’ season in northern Australia begins to peter out towards the end of March. April is a transitional month and by May the ‘dry’ southwesterlies are well established. During this period the monsoonal trough line moves into the northern hemisphere. April’s weather in the hinterland began with an upper level trough bringing rain [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland – March Climate Summary 2009-2013

THE MONSOONAL TROUGH LINE was late this year and it was not until the end of last month it finally arrived over northern Australia. March came in like a lion. In the first week of the month local residents were awakened in the middle of the night by a cacophony of sound on their roofs. [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland – February Climate Summary 2009-2013

ACROSS THE HINTERLAND February is normally the wettest month of the year, with an average rainfall of 335mm. This is the month when the monsoonal trough line drifts south into Australia. The month of February 2013 started with a week of sunshine and showers. By the middle of the month the weather deteriorated when a [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland January Climate Summary 2009-2013

MANY BEACHES were closed during the first week of the month as ex-cyclone Oswald in the Coral Sea brought big swells along the coastline. The monsoonal trough line remained in the Torres Straits and showed no sign of drifting down toward Australia. The heatwave in Western Australia reached us in the second week of the [...]

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November Climate Summary 2008-2012

THIS YEAR’S final month of spring weather was unusual in many respects. Our month’s total rainfall was well below average and the fourth ‘dry’ month in succession. On three separate occasions a three day rain potential from troughs in a northwest cloudband missed the Ranges. Northwest cloudbands are a feature of the synoptic scale weather [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland Climate Summary 2008-2012

A SHOWER OR TWO arrived in the first couple of days of October from a surface trough. This brought a welcome relief to some of the shallow rooted plants showing signs of stress; especially after a dry September. Thick fog covered the Ranges on the first day of the month; with smoke over the following [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland Climate Summary 2008-2012

ON SEPTEMBER 8 the 50-day ‘dry’ spell ended when a few local showers precipitated 2.2mm into the rain gauges. The synoptic weather pattern for this month is very similar to September 2011. Total rainfall only shows a difference of 0.8mm,  representing 38mm below all year’s average of 64mm. Likewise, temperatures were only marginally higher this [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland Climate Summary July 2012

Weather on the ranges for the most of the month has been influenced by an extensive high pressure system over the whole of Australia. This stable system brought in some strong southwesterly winds, gusting at times to 40km/hr. However, there was a change in the second week when synoptic charts showed complex systems on both surface [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland Climate Summary JUNE 2012

The month started with forecast warnings of moderate falls of rain and flash flooding as a deepening east coast low developed off the NSW coast. The low was moving in a northerly direction towards SE Queensland. The rains did not eventuate as there was a change of course when the system moved out to sea. An [...]

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Sunshine Coast Hinterland Climate Summary MAY 2012

IN THE FIRST WEEK of the month a slowly moving high across Queensland brought dry and sunny conditions to the hinterland. Most days clouds were few and far between and 42 hours of Bright Sunshine was recorded. Clear blue skies on Mother’s Day brought perfect conditions for outdoor family reunions with temperatures in the mid- [...]

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