Australia in December 2014
Temperatures Rainfall Extremes Important notes the top
In Brief
December was another warm month for Australia. Averaged nationally, maximum temperatures were 0.88 °C above average and minimum temperatures 0.93 °C above average. Minimum and mean temperatures were the sixth-warmest on record for December (mean temperature anomaly +0.90 °C). Maximum temperatures were warmer than average across most of the tropical north, but cooler than average in the central Northern Territory, and also warmer than average across most of Western Australia, South Australia, the west of the mainland eastern States, and Tasmania. Minimum temperatures were generally above average, but near average to below average for much of the Kimberley and central Northern Territory, western and southern Western Australia, and southern South Australia.
December rainfall was below average for the Cape York Peninsula, large parts of the west of Western Australia, southern South Australia and western to central Victoria. Rainfall was above average for the northeast of Western Australia, most of the Northern Territory, the southern half of Queensland and along the east coast. Rainfall was 24% above average nationally.
Temperatures
The national December maximum temperature anomaly was +0.88 °C and all regions except the Northern Territory anomalies of around one degree to one and a half degrees above average.
Maximum temperatures for December were above average across three main areas: the first covering much of the tropical northern coastal regions; the second over Tasmania; and the third extending through the Pilbara and northern Gascoyne districts in Western Australia, across central Australia and central South Australia, through to southwestern Queensland, western New South Wales and central Victoria. Maximum temperatures were also above average for small areas along the eastern coast of the mainland. Maxima were in the highest ten per cent of records (decile 10) for December for much of the Cape York Peninsula, the Top End, central Western Australia and central Australia.
The December minimum temperature anomaly was the sixth-highest on record for Australia nationally (+0.93 °C) with Queensland, New South Wales, Tasmania and the Northern Territory also placing within their ten warmest Decembers on record.
Minimum temperatures were above average for the majority of Australia and in the highest ten per cent of records for much of northern Queensland, the Top End, central Western Australia, the western Pilbara and central Australia, as well as in a strip along the east coast between southeastern Queensland and Victoria, and for nearly all of Tasmania. Minimum temperatures were near average for the central Northern Territory, the inland Kimberley, western and southern Western Australia, southern South Australia, and far western Victoria. Small areas in the central Northern Territory, Kimberley, South Coastal Western Australia and around the Spencer Gulf in South Australia recorded cooler than average December minima.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/aus/summary.shtml