Climate
Townsville is characterised as a tropical savanna climate (Köppen climate classification Aw). Owing to a quirk of its geographical location, Townsville's winter rainfall in particular is not as high as elsewhere in the tropics such as Cairns. The winter months are dominated by southeast trade winds and mostly fine weather. Further north the coastline runs north/south and the trade winds are lifted to produce rainfall right through the year. Townsville however lies on a section of coastline that turns east/west, so the lifting effect is not present. As a result, winter months are dominated by blue skies, warm days and cool nights, although at times significant rainfall may occur.
Kenneth Wade Robinson summarised the climate as follows:
The sunshine attracts many tourists; but the high temperatures, bright sunshine, lack of moisture in the winter, and the prospect of flooding in the summer have a profound effect on all aspects of life and landscape. Special techniques are required for successful farming, sub-tropical crops are important items of production, pastures grow only in summer, and transport may be dislocated when it is needed most. Since the onset of white settlement, pastoralists and farmers of the North-East Coastlands Region have faced problems for which there are no answers in the agriculture practices of temperate lands.The average annual rainfall is 1,143 millimetres (45.0 in) on an average 91 rain days, most of which falls during the six month "wet season" from November through April. Because of the "hit or miss" nature of tropical lows and thunderstorms, there is considerable variation from year to year. This millennium has seen the wettest year on record, with 2,400 millimetres (94 in) precipitation in 2000, and the second driest year on record, when Townsville received only 467 millimetres (18.4 in) in 2001 (driest year was 1969 — 464 millimetres (18.3 in)). Rainfall also varies considerably within the metropolitan area; it typically ranges from 1,136 millimetres (44.7 in) at central Townsville City to 853 millimetres (33.6 in) at Woodstock, a southwestern suburb.
| Climate data for Townsville Airport, Australia | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 44.3 (111.7) |
42.7 (108.9) |
37.6 (99.7) |
35.8 (96.4) |
32.2 (90.0) |
32.2 (90.0) |
31.6 (88.9) |
33.3 (91.9) |
36.5 (97.7) |
37.1 (98.8) |
41.0 (105.8) |
42.1 (107.8) |
44.3 (111.7) |
| Average high °C (°F) | 31.3 (88.3) |
31.1 (88.0) |
30.7 (87.3) |
29.6 (85.3) |
27.6 (81.7) |
25.6 (78.1) |
25.1 (77.2) |
26.0 (78.8) |
27.7 (81.9) |
29.4 (84.9) |
30.7 (87.3) |
31.5 (88.7) |
28.9 (84.0) |
| Average low °C (°F) | 24.3 (75.7) |
24.1 (75.4) |
22.9 (73.2) |
20.6 (69.1) |
17.6 (63.7) |
14.6 (58.3) |
13.6 (56.5) |
14.7 (58.5) |
17.4 (63.3) |
20.7 (69.3) |
22.9 (73.2) |
24.1 (75.4) |
19.8 (67.6) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 18.7 (65.7) |
17.9 (64.2) |
16.7 (62.1) |
10.9 (51.6) |
6.2 (43.2) |
4.4 (39.9) |
3.5 (38.3) |
1.1 (34.0) |
7.7 (45.9) |
8.2 (46.8) |
14.1 (57.4) |
17.9 (64.2) |
1.1 (34.0) |
| Precipitation mm (inches) | 276.4 (10.882) |
307.1 (12.091) |
191.1 (7.524) |
66.6 (2.622) |
32.4 (1.276) |
20.5 (0.807) |
13.6 (0.535) |
16.1 (0.634) |
10.8 (0.425) |
24.8 (0.976) |
59.6 (2.346) |
132.4 (5.213) |
1,158.1 (45.594) |
| Avg. precipitation days | 14.7 | 15.7 | 12.7 | 7.9 | 5.9 | 4.1 | 3.0 | 2.7 | 2.5 | 4.9 | 7.3 | 9.9 | 91.3 |
| Mean monthly sunshine hours | 244.9 | 204.4 | 235.6 | 234.0 | 232.5 | 234.0 | 263.5 | 279.0 | 288.0 | 303.8 | 282.0 | 279.0 | 3,080.7 |
| Source: Bureau of Meteorology | |||||||||||||
December is the warmest month of the year with daily mean maximum and minimum temperatures being 31.4 °C (88.5 °F) and 24 °C (75 °F) respectively. July is the coolest month with daily mean maximum and minimum temperatures being 25 °C (77 °F) and 13.5 °C (56.3 °F). Townsville experiences an annual mean of 8.4 hours of sunshine per day, averaging 121.7 clear days per year.
Read more about this topic: Townsville
Famous quotes containing the word climate:
“Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull,
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
Killing their fruit with frowns?”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“Certainly parents play a crucial role in the lives of individuals who are intellectually gifted or creatively talented. But this role is not one of active instruction, of teaching children skills,... rather, it is support and encouragement parents give children and the intellectual climate that they create in the home which seem to be the critical factors.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“The climate of Ohio is perfect, considered as the home of an ideal republican people. Climate has much to do with national character.... A climate which permits labor out-of-doors every month in the year and which requires industry to secure comfort—to provide food, shelter, clothing, fuel, etc.—is the very climate which secures the highest civilization.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)