Year tipped to end on a cool trend

Bunbury may have had a taste of summer over the weekend, including the warmest day in nearly eight months, but October was a stark contrast.

The second month of spring was more like a continuation of winter as October’s maximum temperatures were 2C below the long-term average.

October was also a wetter month than usual, featuring 51.2mm of rain including 21mm on October 8, meaning Bunbury has already exceeded its average annual rainfall.

There has already been 790.8mm of rain this year, higher than the 724.6mm average.

If Bunbury eventually recorded more than 800mm of rain for the year, it would be just the second time since 2005 this has happened.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Neil Bennett told theSouth Western Times the consistent rainfall throughout the year had provided a meteorological explanation for Bunbury’s cold temperatures.

“That would lend itself to cloudy conditions and cold fronts bringing in cooler air behind that,” Mr Bennett said.

“We have also had cooler ocean temperatures in the Indian Ocean.”

During October, Bunbury’s average high was just 19.3C, well below the long-term average of 21.2C.

Only four of the 31 days last month were warmer than 21.2C.

The temperature rose to 31.3C on November 5, last Saturday, which was Bunbury’s hottest day since March 20.

Despite this, BoM is pessimistic about a warm end to 2016.

The seasonal outlook has predicted only a 36 per cent chance of November’s maximums being above the 24.4C median and a 37 per cent chance of exceeding 27.2C during December.

If the forecasts are correct, it would make 11 straight months where Bunbury’s days have been colder than average, with only January having defied that trend this year.

BoM has also tipped only a 32 per cent chance of rainfall being above the 35mm median in November and as of yesterday, no rain had been recorded so far this month.