30/06/2010: While Melbourne just had its wettest June in nine years, the city of Brisbane experienced the opposite: the driest June in at least ten years.

The Queensland capital picked up grand total of 6.2 millimetres,just ten percent of the long-term average for June. This also happened to be the driest month in almost three years, with July of 2007 receiving even less rain.

Other suburbs were not unaffected. Archerfield, the old weather site for Brisbane, recorded a similar amount of rain to Brisbane, a total of 6.4 millimetres. This made it Archerfield's driest June in six years, and also in the top ten driest Junes in 86 years of records.

“A fairly broad ridge of high pressure has been dominating the weather of eastern Australia,” explained Samuel Terry, meteorologist for weatherzone.com.au. “High pressure tends to keep cloud and rain away.”

“On top of this, the recent El Nino is still winding down. El Nino conditions historically mean less rain for Queensland.”

Temperatures in Brisbane over June were not particularly unusual.

Maximum temperatures were only slightly below the long-term average at 21.6 degrees. However, Tuesday the 29th had Brisbane's lowest maximum in two years, peaking at just 16.

Minimum temperatures averaged 7.1 degrees, bang on the long-term average. Despite this, the last three days were a stand-out, with morning minimum temperatures dropping below 9 degrees.

“Cold Antarctic air has filtered up into southeastern Queensland,” Terry said. “This has obviously affected Brisbane, especially overnight.”

“The next few days will see the colder temperatures continue, especially this coming Saturday as gusty southerly winds develop.”

Media Inquiries:

Samuel Terry
media@weatherzone.com.au
02 9965 9236

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