An Internet Tour of Tasmania

Tasmania's Weather - The Myth Exposed

Confirmation for those in the know,
the myth exposed for those innocent of the facts.

Too cold.., too hot.., too wet.., too dry.., too windy.., too calm.., too this.., too that... and so on.

Few of these perceptions are based on fact, leaving many of the inhabitants
of this beautiful and attractive island scratching their collective heads.

Everyone talks about the weather, but
Nobody does anything about it.
well
Somebody is doing
Something about it right here.

These comparison tables show the naked truth on rainfall and mean summer and winter temperatures:
 
The data, extracted from the web pages of the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, is based on Hobart.
The Tasmanian East Coast is milder, the West Coast wetter and the NW Coast windier.

Yearly Mean Rainfall (mm)
Highest total first		 Mean Daily Minimum Temperature °C
Month of July
Coldest city first		 Mean Daily Maximum Temperature °C
Month of January
Warmest city first
Cairns 2,007 Canberra 0.0 Alice Springs 35.5
Darwin 1,666 Katoomba 2.5 Darwin 32.4
Southport 1,452 Ballarat 3.3 Cairns 31.5
Katoomba 1,411 Alice Springs 4.1 Perth 29.7
Sydney 1,220 Hobart 4.5 Brisbane 29.4
Brisbane 1,145 Melbourne 5.8 Southport 28.5
Perth 869 Adelaide 7.4 Adelaide 28.5
Ballarat 710 Sydney 8.0 Canberra 28.5
Melbourne 661 Perth 9.0 Sydney 25.8
Canberra 633 Southport 9.2 Melbourne 25.8
Hobart 624 Brisbane 9.5 Ballarat 24.0
Adelaide 555 Cairns 17.0 Katoomba 23.0
Alice Springs 275 Darwin 19.3 Hobart 21.5

A centigrade fahrenheit conversion table Centigrade

Fahrenheit

Facts

The cool, temperate climate of Australia's island state with its distinctive four seasons, (reminiscent of conditions in central Europe without the severe winters) makes this place ideal for year-round comfortable living and touring. The long summer evenings provide opportunity for extended sight-seeing with darkness coming slowly.

The occasional deep low in the Southern Ocean, usually in springtime, can produce a gale that "blows dogs off chains" (the island is located right in the Roaring Forties after all). During summer, autumn and winter successive days of calm, balmy weather compensate, while no-one has ever complained about the regular afternoon coastal seabreeezes from October through to May.

The green, lush climate helps produce high quality products including wines, cheeses, fish, oysters, berries, stone fruit, apples, hops, vegetables, poppies, barley, lavender, timber and flowers all of which contributed to a good life.

The climate also provides many benefits for those touring the island such as rainforest wilderness areas, bush walking, with unique wildlife such as Tasmanian Devils, Tasmanian Tigers and Cape Barren Geese.

Selection of Cities.

The state and territory capital cities of Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Darwin, Hobart, Melbourne and Perth were automatic selections as that is where the largest percentage of the Australian population reside.

Alice Springs , as well as being near to Ularu, it also provides a record near the geographic centre Australia.

Ballarat is a popular day trip from Melbourne and has the Sovereign Hill village complex.

Cairns has an international airport and is the popular city from which to commence Great Barrier Reef exploration.

Katoomba was selected as it has long been the holiday resort for the Sydney population because of its cool summer climate plus it usually appears in the Sydney weather reports.

Southport, Qld was selected as it is located at the northern end of Surfers Paradise which does not appear to have a page in the Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology web pages.

Selecting a link from the above will open the individual web page of
Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology that records full weather details for that city.

 

Selection of Climate Measurements.

Rainfall is an obvious choice as most people insist in stating that Tasmania is wet and yet Hobart has one of the lowest rainfalls of any of the 13 cities. Rainfall figures for the full year have been used in the chart

Minimum Temperature must also be included as many people claim Tasmania is cold. The records for the month of July which is the coldest month of the year in all cities show that Hobart ranks as 5th coldest out of the 13 cities.

Maximum temperature has been used for the month of January which is the hottest month of the year in all cities. The normal temperature for an air-conditioned building is about 21°C. In the Maximum temperature chart we see that Hobart has a January temperature similar to an airconditioned building. A very comfortable climate.
The above figures were extracted from the web pages of the
Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology, Australia

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