Each year, Narooma resident and amateur meteorologist Brian Gunter takes a look a back at the past year’s weather. Here is this year’s report:
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Rainfall observations have been made in Narooma for 105 years, since 1910.
Mostly these have been at the present Marine Rescue Base.
Over that period the mean annual rainfall was 918mm, with mean monthly values varying from 49mm in August to 102mm in March.
In 2014 the annual total rainfall was 1098mm, 20 per cent above the mean value.
As is normal, the monthly rainfalls varied considerably with March, August, October and December being well above the mean value.
Conversely the rainfall in January, February and July were well below the mean value. Our wettest month was October (219mm) while the driest month was July (2mm).
Recent annual rainfalls (since 1993) are typical of the period prior to 1950 when annual falls exceeding 1200mm were uncommon.
Daily observations of temperatures have been made in Narooma since 1965; however the records prior to 1999 were often incomplete.
A comparison was therefore made of the 2014 temperatures with those recorded over the 16 years since 1999.
As recorded elsewhere in Australia and worldwide the temperatures in Narooma have been essentially constant since 1999.
In February (our hottest month) the mean maximum/minimum temperatures in 2014 were 23.6/16.8 (means since 1999 were 23.6/17.3).
The corresponding numbers for July (our coolest month) was 17.8/7.6 (16.6/7.4).
Over the whole of 2014 the corresponding values were 20.6/12.9 (20.2/12.4).
So it is not getting any hotter or colder – it is just that some of us are getting older!
- Brian Gunter
