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Annual The area of lowest rainfall is in the vicinity of Lake Eyre in South Australia, where the median annual rainfall is only about 100 mm. Another very low rainfall area is in Western Australia in the region of the Giles-Warburton Range, which has a median annual rainfall of about 150 mm. A vast region, extending from the west coast near Shark Bay across the interior of Western Australia and South Australia to south-west Queensland and north-west New South Wales, has a median annual rainfall of less than 200 mm. This region is not normally exposed to moist air masses for extended periods and rainfall is irregular, averaging only one or two days per month. However, in favourable synoptic situations, which occur infrequently over extensive parts of the region, up to 400 mm of rain may fall within a few days and cause widespread flooding. The region with the highest median annual rainfall is the east coast of Queensland between Cairns and Cardwell, where Happy Valley has a median of 4,436 mm (43 years from 1956 to 2000 inclusive) and Babinda a median of 4,092 mm (84 years from 1911 to 2000 inclusive). The mountainous region of western Tasmania also has a high annual rainfall, with Lake Margaret having a median of 3,565 mm (76 years to 1987 inclusive). The Snowy Mountains area in New South Wales also has a particularly high rainfall. While there are no gauges in the wettest area, on the western slopes above 1,800 metres elevation, runoff data suggest that the median annual rainfall in parts of this region exceeds 3,000 mm. Small pockets with median annual rainfall exceeding 2,500 mm also exist in the mountainous areas of north-east Victoria and some parts of the east coastal slopes. Map 1.5 shows average annual rainfall over the Australian continent. 1.5 AVERAGE ANNUAL RAINFALL Seasonal As outlined earlier, the rainfall pattern of Australia is strongly seasonal in character, with a winter rainfall regime in the south and a summer regime in the north. The dominance of rainfall over other climatic elements in determining the growth of specific plants in Australia has led to the development of a climatic classification based on two main parameters, median annual rainfall and the incidence of seasonal rainfall. Evaporation and the concept of rainfall effectiveness are taken into account to some extent in this classification, by assigning higher median annual rainfall limits to the summer zones than to the corresponding uniform and winter zones. The main features of the seasonal rainfall are:
Figure 1.6 comprises individual graphs showing the monthly rainfall for all capital cities, as well as for Alice Springs and Davis Base in Antarctica. Darwin shows the rainfall distribution pattern typical of the wet summer and dry winter seen in far northern Australia, and Brisbane the wet summer/relatively dry winter typical of southeastern Queensland. By contrast, Adelaide and Perth show the wet winter/dry summer pattern whereas Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart show a relatively uniform pattern of rainfall throughout the year. Alice Springs shows a low rainfall pattern throughout the year typical of arid inland areas. Precipitation at Davis Base is mainly as snow, but is measured as water after melting. The pattern reflects the very low precipitation levels on the Antarctic continent. A rainday occurs when more than 0.2 mm of rain falls in 24 hours, usually from 9 a.m. to 9 a.m. the next day. The frequency of raindays exceeds 150 per year in much of Tasmania (with a maximum of over 250 in western Tasmania), southern Victoria, parts of the north Queensland coast and in the extreme south-west of Western Australia. Over most of the continent the frequency is less than 50 raindays per year. The area of low rainfall with high variability, extending from the north-west coast of Western Australia through the interior of the continent, has less than 25 raindays per year. In the high rainfall areas of northern Australia, the number of raindays is about 80 per year, but heavier falls occur in this region than in southern regions. The values in table 1.7 represent intensities over only small areas around the recording points because turbulence and exposure characteristics of the measuring gauge may vary over a distance of a few metres. The highest 24 hour (9 a.m. to 9 a.m.) falls are listed in table 1.8. Most of the very high 24 hour falls (above 700 mm) have occurred in the coastal strip of Queensland, where a tropical cyclone moving close to mountainous terrain provides ideal conditions for spectacular falls.
The highest annual rainfalls are listed by State/Territory in table 1.9.
Thunderstorms and hail A thunderday at a given location is a calendar day on which thunder is heard at least once. The average annual number of thunderdays varies from 88 per year near Darwin to less than 10 per year over parts of the southern regions. Convectional processes during the summer wet season cause high thunderstorm incidence in northern Australia. The generally high incidence of thunderdays (40-60 annually) over the eastern upland areas is caused mainly by orographic uplift of moist air streams. Hail, mostly of small size (less than 10 mm diameter), occurs with winter-spring cold frontal activity in southern Australia. Summer thunderstorms, particularly over the uplands of eastern Australia, sometimes produce large hail (greater than 10 mm diameter). Large hail capable of piercing light-gauge galvanised iron occurs at irregular intervals and sometimes causes widespread damage. Snow
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