LAST year was Australia’s coolest in nearly a decade, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s annual climate statement.
By the end of 2021 – and for the first time in five years – no large parts of the country were experiencing rainfall deficits and drought conditions.
The statement is the official summary and contextual information regarding temperatures, rainfall and significant weather for 2021.
Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Dr Simon Grainger said that after three years of drought from 2017 to 2019, above-average rainfall last year resulted in a welcome recharge of water storages but also significant flooding in eastern Australia.
In 2021, Australia’s mean temper-ature was 0.56 degrees above the 1961 to 1990 climate reference period.
It was the 19th warmest year since national records began in 1910, but also the coolest since 2012.
Temperatures were above or sub-stantially above average for most of northern Australia, Tasmania, and Western Australia’s west coast, but below average for parts of inland New South Wales, and around the southern border of the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
Rainfall was 9 per cent above the 1961 to 1990 average, making 2021 the wettest year since 2016, with November the wettest on record.
Above-average rainfall was observed for much of eastern Victoria, NSW, southern and central west Queensland, the western parts of Western Australia, and large parts of the far northern tropics.
As a result, significant flooding occurred across eastern Australia in March and again in November and December.
The major dams in the Murray-Darling Basin also had significant increases of water levels, replenishing storages affected by protracted drought.
Only a few small areas had below-average rainfall, including the South Australia-Victoria border region.
Temperature-wise, it will be a different story this week, with Swan Hill facing high temperatures until Wednesday, including overnight minimums above 20 degrees.
Swan Hill Aerodrome has had consecutive maximum temperatures above 30 degrees since December 27.
