After the “one day wonder” heatwave – the Victorian Alps get a dusting of snow 5-6 Dec 2012
December 6th, 2012 by Warwick HughesAfter more than a week of scaremongering media about the rapidly decaying “heatwave” – the Victorian Alps get a dusting of snow last night. And Canberra wakes to learn the night touched an all-time record low temperature for December – plus there were snowfalls on the Brindabella Range. Goulburn and Braidwood also had record cold nights. Gotta love weather.
Posted in BoM Australia | 9 Comments »
December 6th, 2012 at 6:21 pm
Cold anomalies from one side of Australia to the other, below the tropics. Not often you see this, But unusual cold isn’t news.
www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/index.jsp?colour=colour&time=latest&step=0&map=maxanom&period=daily&area=nat
December 7th, 2012 at 6:24 am
A little OT but…. Oodnadatta has the highest temp ever recorded in Australia (50.7C in Jan 1960). I notice that Mildura also had a 50.7C on 7th Jan, 1906. Has that been recognised as I haven’t seen any reference to Mildura equalling this record.
www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/cdio/weatherData/av?p_nccObsCode=122&p_display_type=dailyDataFile&p_startYear=1906&p_c=-1157744689&p_stn_num=076077
December 7th, 2012 at 8:47 am
Seems that the Himalayas are getting a good coating of snow as well!!
So much for all the dry-as-a-bone predictions for life downstream.
articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-12-03/india/35569707_1_bara-shigri-glaciers-snowfall
December 7th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Nice find Ian – I expect the BoM would say that was not or might not have been recorded in a standard Stevenson Screen.
I had a quick check around and there sure is much pre-~1950 daily data still to be digitized. Wentworth, Euston, Broken Hill, Swan Hill, Nhill, Balranald, Hay, Kerang, etc and on. Suppose it can not be a priority building boring old history – particularly for what was a warm period.
December 7th, 2012 at 10:03 am
If you spend a few minutes reading my paper and at least the abstract of the paper published by the American Institute of Physics (cited in reference (8) in my reference [13]) you might understand what happens in the atmospheric physics of both Earth and Venus.
I’m still waiting for a satisfactory alternative explanation from anyone in the world regarding the Venus surface temperature.
Pressure does not maintain high temperatures all by itself, anywhere, not even on Venus. So forget that “explanation.”
My paper is up for PROM (Peer Review in Open Media) for a month, so feel free to publish a rebuttal or debate it with some of these members of PSI. Such a review system far outstrips the “peer-review” system used for typical pro-AGW publications.
Doug Cotton
Sydney
December 7th, 2012 at 10:40 am
Warwick
Just discovered this article re Midura’s temp in 1906. It appears that they adjusted the 50.7C downwards due to the use of the Glaisher shield and comparisons with Deniliquin. The adjustments differ over time periods which seems to raise more questions than it answers.
www.amos.org.au/documents/item/383
December 7th, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Thanks Ian – interesting little paper which I had not seen – looks like a one page poster for a conference.
I would be very surprised if there was a Glaisher stand in use at Mildura as late as 1906 because Mildura was a “high order” station from Colonial times – and IMHO they all should have had Stevenson screens. Will dig out more refs later.
Here are 4 references to help understand this issue re introduction of Stevenson screen in Australia. The BoM have had a long established view that the Stevenson screen was little used in Australia before the formation of the BoM in 1908. Since the following sequence of papers was written many photos have emerged from Govt archives to show the BoM position never was correct.
First D.E. Parker’s 1994 paper surveying the issue worldwide.
My 1995 Comment adding to what Parker said about Australia – I based much of what I said on proceedings of the Intercolonial Met Conferences.
The 1996 BoM reply to me.
My reply to the BoM 1997 showing that the data from the BoM Adelaide experiment running a Stevenson screen and a Glaisher stand side by side for years – looks as if the equipment got out of good repair – or at least something happened to cause discontinuities in their data.
Here are a few more ancient photos that a keen reader found for me three years ago.
[1] Perth – Title View from the Observatory showing Kings Park gates and main drive [picture] Imprint 1899.
[2] Melbourne – Stevenson thermometer screen erected at Melbourne Observatory 1876. This photograph was possibly taken in 1879, when a new thermometer shed was erected.
[3] Hobart – St George’s Terrace, Battery Point – Leventhorpe Hall beside his meteorological box (photo slightly damaged) dated 1900
[4] The meteorologist Clement Lindley Wragge established an observatory on the summit of Mount Kosciuszko in 1897
[5] Wragges Observatory Hut Mount Kosciuszko (N.S.W.) 1906
[6] Nauru (Ocean Island) 1903
Thats it for now – really needs a new post bring all these old photos together in one place.
December 9th, 2012 at 7:05 am
Warwick
Thanks for your comments and links. I agree with you from the evidence that Mildura would have had a SS by 1906 and seemingly properly located between building and a fence. The Deniliquin SS was close to buildings and probably affected by shady periods and higher UHI.
One paper, though highly criticised, says the difference between the Glaisher Stand was 0.2C (rather than the 2.5C to reduce Mildura’s temperature).
www.hashemifamily.com/Kevan/Climate/Heat_Island.pdf
December 12th, 2012 at 6:40 am
Further to my comments above, I found this interesting article that seems to indicate that a SS was installed in Mildura prior to Jan 17th, 1907. So maybe Mildura may have just missed their ‘record temperature’, dependent on what the writer meant by ‘recent installation’.
trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/56972408