Weather Report January 2022

 In summary, almost a definition of La Nina.  Above average rain, very high humidity and above average temperatures.  The departure from this picture was low maximum temperatures.

Rainfall

Total rainfall was above average and a little above 2021.

The heaviest daily fall was on the 6th, but non-trivial (ie above 0.2 mm) amounts fell on 12 days.

Maximum rain rates were quite high on 4 days, with all 4 coming in the top 25 days (of 1085) I have recorded.  However the highest rate (93.6 mm/hr) is only the 11th heaviest recorded and well below the heaviest (274 mm/hr on 37 March 2021). 

The fall on 6January was a lot higher than expected for the date meaning the prorata estimate of the annual fall began with a bang (or splash).  It has dropped significantly through the month.

Temperatures

The anomaly began with very high values but gradually dropped ending with a value of +0.47C

Comparing BoM values with the long term averages by day through the month clearly shows the positive value of the anomaly to be caused by above average minima on the majority of days,  There were not many days in which the maximum was above average but only 4 on which both minimum and maximum were below average.

As usual a similar pattern is shown by my weather station, with slightly higher maxima due to reduced exposure to the sea breeze,

Minimum Temperatures

The average minimum temperature recorded at my WS was 18.06C, the highest recorded in 30 years. Not surprisingly  above last year, and well above average.  There is not a significant trend in the data.

Maximum temperatures

As explained in this document I have adjusted the historical (BoM) data (prior to January 2019) to compensate for the effect of an afternoon sea breeze cooling BoM data more than my WS data.  After the adjustment, the maximum for January 2022 is below average, but very slightly above the value for January 2021.  Again there is no positive trend in the data.

Humidity

The most notable feature of the chart of daily  standard-time readings is the closeness of the morning (0900 hrs) and afternoon (1500 hrs) reading.  The average difference is around 11 percentage points but on 15 days in this month the difference was less than 5 points higher or lower.

With a this/last/average comparison it is obvious that the average values for both periods were well above average and particularly above the values for 2021.

Looking at all values of humidity (rather than just the 2 standard times) January 2022 was the most humid month I have recorded in 3 years.  The next chart shows average humidity fort he last 36 months and a rolling 12 month average to dispel any seasonal factors.  The moving average shows a fairly significant upwards trend.

Wind

The daily runs show a very draughty start to the month followed by a relatively calm period for the final 3 weeks. The period 5 to 7 January had the 7th longest (of 1058 days) 3 day cumulative run (896 km) since I began recording.  The longest 3 day run has been 1108 km in September 2019.

The January run was above average and 2021.

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