April Weather Report

 Possibly reports of La Nina's demise were premature?  We have had a wet month with temperatures a little on the cool side.  Perhaps this is just another example of East Gippsland marching to its own beat for weather (as well as possibly other things)?

This report may be brief as I have a lot of things to do in early May!

Rain

We ended the month with 135.6mm.  This is 180% of the median for the month, and pushes the total for the year to date up to 118% of the median for the period.  The chart shows it be below the dramatic total for 2022 but well above the median.

My prorata estimate of the annual total has received a couple of nice boosts. (Note that this starts on January 18 as a fall earlier in the month makes a series starting on January 1 look daft.)

Temperatures

The anomaly for April ended at -0.36C so somewhat cool.  As usual the anomaly started off quite extreme varied widely but settled down, slowly rising to the end of the month.

The daily temperature extremes varied considerably, in contrast to the gradual downward trend shown by the long term series.  

Minimum Temperatures

The average (ie mean) minimum temperature for the month was 11.6C compared to the long term (31 year) mean of 11.8C.  A chart of monthly mean minima for the 5 years we have been in Mallacoota shows that 2023 is shaping up as a cool year.

I define a cold day as one in which the minimum and maximum are significantly below the long term average for the month.  We had 2 such days (9th and 10th): the maximum on the 8th was also sub-par but the minimum was warm, thus preventing three consecutive cold days which would meet my criteria for a Cold Snap.

Maximum Temperatures

The average (ie mean) maximum temperature for the month was 20.9C compared to the long term (31 year) mean of 21.4C.  A chart of monthly mean minima for the 5 years we have been in Mallacoota also shows that, after a warm February, 2023 is shaping up as a cool year.

A Hot Day is one in which both minimum and maximum are significantly above the long term average for the month.  In April there were 2 such days but widely separated: 4th and 27th.  We had no runs of consecutive Hot Days so no Heat Waves!

Humidity

For both standard times the relative humidity was above the 5 year average, but below the values for 2022 (see the comment about rainfall for 2022).  

As usual the daily readings are very variable.  Note that several days had an afternoon reading above that for the morning reading.

Wind

The average daily wind run at 86.77 km was below the average for April.  The 2 longest daily runs, both close to 190 km are 15th and 16th longest for April (out of 123 days with records).