Climate observations
You are viewing an archived copy of the 2017 report.
Key messages
Key findings
State
- Annual rainfall
Rainfall was extremely low across large parts of Queensland in 3 of the last 5 years with many areas experiencing drought.
- Evaporation rate
Annual evaporation is typically much higher in inland parts of Queensland than in coastal and sub-coastal areas.
- Mean annual temperature
2017 was Queensland’s warmest year on record. The years 2013 through to 2016 were also amongst the warmest on record.
- Extreme weather events (‘hot’ days)
Hot days were more frequent than average at several inland locations over the 2013 to 2017 period.
- Extreme weather events (days with ‘very heavy rainfall’)
While days with ‘very heavy rainfall’ are rare in parts of south-western Queensland, they are common along Queensland’s north-eastern seaboard.
Programs
| Rainfall monitoring | The Bureau of Meteorology provides high quality Australian rainfall data sets from 1900 to the most recent calendar year. The data is available for daily or monthly time scales. Information is available for rainfall totals, percentages, deciles, drought, anomalies, and one year, two year, three year differences. |
| Weather station data | Weather stations monitor and record information on rainfall, evaporation and air temperature. |
| Annual climate statement | The annual climate statement discusses the long-term trends in Australia’s climate. The statement focuses primarily on climate observations and monitoring carried out by the Bureau of Meteorology and Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in the Australian region. |