The extreme weather experienced by much of Australia during the Christmas holiday break really did bring the tropics to Melbourne, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
In a report released yesterday, the bureau said that last month’s weather event was largely unprecedented, breaking numerous records and bringing conditions to Melbourne which were “more characteristic of Darwin at the peak of the wet season than of southern Australia.”
The bureau said the precipitable water levels — the amount of water in the atmosphere — broke multiple records in all states and territories except New South Wales.
Dewpoints, which are an indication of humidity, were similarly extraordinary, with Marree (27.6°C) in South Australia State and Geelong (26°C) in Victoria State seeing levels which the bureau said would be “very high values even for tropical locations.”
Blair Trewin, senior climatologist with the bureau said a dewpoint over 20° was “pretty humid by Melbourne standards.”
“To put it into context, 20° is a fairly typical dewpoint for Brisbane in mid-summer,” he told Guardian Australia.
Levels of 26°C to 27°C were more typical for Darwin, he said.
The wild weather began a few days before Christmas Day as a tropical low formed off the coast of the Northern Territory, causing a monsoon event before moving towards the Kimberley region.
On Christmas Day it combined with the remnants of tropical cyclone Yvette and made its way slowly through the center of Australia, causing floods in the Kimberley region and central Australia, including at Uluru, which was closed by Parks Australia.
A tourist was found alive after his car was swept away by flood waters in Alice Springs, and a group of people were rescued after they went missing while attempting to travel between two outback communities.
Heavy thunderstorms also caused flash flooding in South Australia and Victoria, with Melbourne among the areas most affected.
There were few recorded precedents for the tropical weather event to reach so far southeast, the bureau said.
“Probably the most directly comparable event was one we had in January 2011, the same time as the floods in Brisbane which got all the attention,” Trewin said. “That 2011 event also saw major flooding in northern Victoria.”
The highest December rainfalls remained in the north, with totals of more than 400mm in some places, but southeastern areas also received extensive rains and South Australia saw its wettest December on record.
Adelaide also had its hottest Christmas Day in 71 years, reaching 40.7°C — hotter than any capital city in the country that day.
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