As reader Ian George has pointed out the BoM in their monthly report for New South Wales say – New South Wales in October 2014: Warmest October on record
Following Ian’s lead I have averaged all the District mean monthly max’s and added them to this map of BoM rain districts – I have shaded orange districts that topped a 4 degree anomaly.
This next map shows the NSW maximum anomaly for October.
As Ian says there are serious differences between the maps – for example – here are many places within the RED +4 degree anomaly contour which did not register a 4 degree anomaly for October according to the district stations listed by the BoM.
Wanaaring, Bourke, Nyngan, Moree, Walgett, Lightning Ridge, Collarenebri, Narrabri, Gunnedah Resource Centre was 4.1 but Gunnedah Airport only 2.3 (UHI in Gunnedah??), Coonabarabran, Inverell, Forbes, Parkes, Deniliquin, Corowa, Tocumwal, Griffith, Lake Cargelligo,
On the other hand I noticed Katoomba had a 4 degree anomaly but is way outside the RED contour.
On balance it looks like Ian is realistic to wonder – “One wonders if the BoM has a flawed shading formula which does not really reflect the actual temperatures.”
This could be a work in progress.
Nice work. Ty.
Thankfully they kept the purple & black crayons in the box!
It appears as if the BoM has used Mungindi (4.3C) and Barraba (4.0C) to red-shade the NW area of NSW and override all the lower temps in the area. Both these sites are not ACORN listed.
There are no sites in the Upper Western area that had a +4.0C except Cobar MO (4.2C) but Cobar AWS had 3.9C.
Dubbo and Dunedoo had +4.0C but Coonabarabran was 2.5C. North of Dubbo is red-shaded so all must have been based on Gunnedah’s Resource Centre (4.1C) where Gunnedah’s AP AWS recorded only 2.3C.
So it seems that those northern parts of the state which have been red-shaded are due to a couple of outliers of which only one (Dubbo) is an ACORN listed site (i.e. so 4/5 sites have given nearly 25% of the state a +4.0C reading, overriding some 30/40 sites).
Only one in seven NSW sites had a reading of 4.0C or more. Hottest month?
Here is the BOM OCT summary ..DECILES
picasaweb.google.com/110600540172511797362/TEMPERATURE2014#6078897856164072098
and
ANOMALY
picasaweb.google.com/110600540172511797362/TEMPERATURE2014#6078895177048891922
www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/index.jsp?colour=colour&time=latest&step=0&map=maxdecile&period=daily&area=nat
Thanks, weather cycles.
Just checking BoM’s climate maps showing the areas with the highest Oct max temps on record. Be interesting to overlay a map of the towns.
Cobar and Moree did not have their hottest Oct on record. Bourke had its highest from 1910 (but 1885 had a 34.5C , almost 2.0C higher than this year).
Agreed, it was a hot October but the anomaly of +4.0C for NSW seems a little high.
Will need time to check the others. Seems it may be the way the BoM’s does its infilling.