Climate of Tasmania

Tasmania has a cool temperate climate with four distinct seasons. The highest recorded maximum temperature in Tasmania is 42.2 °C (108.0 °F) at Scamander on 30 January 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave. Tasmania's lowest recorded minimum temperature is −13.0 °C (8.6 °F) on 30 June 1983, at Butlers Gorge, Shannon, and Tarraleah.

Rainfall in Tasmania is highly differentiated for a relatively compact island. It follows a complicated pattern rather analogous to that found on large continents at the same latitude in the northern hemisphere. Rainfall increases from around 506 millimetres (19.9 in) at Ouse in the centre to 2,690 millimetres (106 in) at Cradle Valley in the northwestern highlands.

Sunshine is also highly differentiated, with average quotients ranging from around 4 hours a day (under 1500 hours a year) in the South West of the island, up to around 7 hours daily (2550 hours annually) in the North East around the Launceston area.

In southern Australia (which includes Tasmania), most rain falls during the winter months and is normally associated with frontal systems. Elevation also has an important influence on rainfall, with the mountain areas of western Tasmania receiving higher rainfall totals.

The wettest part of the State is the west coast, where there is a strong winter maximum in rainfall: January and February typically averages only one-third the rainfall of July and August, though even in the driest months rain usually falls on every second day and the number of rainy days per year is much greater than on any part of the Australian mainland. Further east in the Lake Country, annual rainfall declines to around 900 millimetres (35 in), whilst in the Midlands (i.e. further east again), annual rainfall is as low as 450 millimetres (18 in) at Ross and generally below 600 millimetres (24 in). The eastern part of Tasmania has rainfall more evenly distributed throughout the year than in the west, and most months receive very similar averages.

The densely populated northern coast is much drier than the western side, with annual rainfall ranging from 666 millimetres (26.2 in) in Launceston to 955 millimetres (37.6 in) in Burnie in the north west and 993 millimetres (39.1 in) in Scottsdale located further to the east. Most rain falls in winter, and in summer the average can be as low as 31 millimetres (1.2 in) per month in Launceston. The east coast is wetter than the Midlands, with an average annual rainfall ranging from 775 millimetres (30.5 in) in St. Helens to around 640 millimetres (25 in) in Swansea. Here the rainfall is evenly distributed over the year but can be very erratic as heavy rainfalls from the warm Tasman Sea are quite frequent. Whereas a three-day fall of 125 millimetres (4.9 in) occurs only once every fifty years on the north coast, it occurs on average once every four or five years around Swansea and Bicheno. On 7–8 June 1954, there were many falls as large as 230 millimetres (9.1 in) in two days in that area. The east coast is sometimes called the "sun coast" because of its sunny climate.

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Wikipedia