April Weather Report

 Sorry about the delay but April hadn't finished when we left for Melbourne and Canberra, and we have just got back.  In summary April in Mallacoota was close to average rain and quite cool.

Rainfall

The total for the month ended at 71.2 mm or 90% of the median for April.  This is quite an advance on the preceding 2 months.

A time series of April falls shows this year as well below the past two years of La Nina pattern, but also above quite a few previous Aprils.  We are at 96% of Median To End of Month for April.

Taking a forward view, my pro-rata estimate for the year has been fairly stable, but with a slight downward tendency over April.  

Temperatures

The anomaly for the monthly has ended up in negative territory at -0.39C.  After a very hot 2 opening days for the month the anomaly dropped steadily.

The time series is interesting, with the original series seeming very erratic; the 12 period moving average showing a La Nina inspired climb with a recent flattening; and the trend in the moving average continuing to climb!

My chart of temperature extremes show minimum temperatures fluctuating around the long term averages for the date, while maxima are more consistently low.

This month I have given some attention to the range of temperatures experienced each day, and particularly the comparison of this years range and the range between the average daily maximum and minimum,  The current range with an average of 8.0C was less than the average range (9.51C) of the long term values.  As might be expected the long term average had a much lower level of variation with a standard deviation of the daily ranges being only 0.41C in contrast with the current month showing a standard deviation across daily values of 2.48C.  I suspect that is slightly less clear than the average buffalo wallow!

Minimum Temperatures

The average minimum temperature of 11.85C was practically equal to the long term (since 1993) average minimum of 11.85C.  Restricting this to the period of data availability from my Weather Station (WS) shows the April result in the lower part of the range.

Maximum Temperatures

Not surprisingly, in view of the data shown in the extremes chart above, the average maximum temperature for the month (20.32C) was well below the long term average of 21.34C.  In the Financial Year chart below this shows the curve for the current year shifting from the top of the 5 value pack to the bottom.

Humidity

The relative humidities for the two standard times suggest the month was quite muggy, with few values for the afternoon reading below 65%.

For both series the April 2024 value was in the higher end of the 6 values I have recorded.

Wind 

For 29 of the 30 days of the month the wind run was moderate or calmer.  Over the month as a whole, including the one breezy day, the average run was 73.6 km compared to the average of 92.5km for other Aprils.

Looking at the 411 km run on the 6th is rather like "Apart from that how did you enjoy the play, Mrs Lincoln?".  That is the longest run (by 80km) of any April day since I started my WS in 2019.  It is also the 8th longest run of any month over that period.