Darwin has experienced its highest September temperature in 81 years at the airport when the temperature reached 38.0 degrees on September 21.
The previous hottest September day at the airport was 37.7 on September 17, 1983. Other high September temperatures were in 1952, 2014, 2020 and a reading of 37.0 on August 30, 1971.
The post office records for Darwin show the actual highest September temperature on record occurred on September 23, 1892, with a reading of 38.3 degrees. The post office is located about six kilometres south of the airport, further away from the sea and at a slightly lower elevation than the airport site. The annual mean maximum temperature at the post office from 1882 to 1946 is about half a degree higher than that taken at the airport site from 1941 to 2021.
Other high September temperatures at the old post office were in 1888 and 1893. These high September temperatures in Darwin are certainly a strong indication for excessive rains in Victoria and NSW and into outback Queensland in the coming months up to next February.
A severe cold outbreak invaded the Albury-Wodonga region last weekend, with widespread snowfalls from Tasmania all the way to the Northern Tablelands at Guyra and Glen Innes.
Tamworth recorded minus 2.6, which is the coldest for late September in 64 years of records - the previous coldest being in 1994 and 1969. Gunnedah's minus 1.9 was the coldest for late September since 1905.
Another cold outbreak is approaching from the south-west. Severe cold outbreaks during September do not occur that often. The most notable ones in the past 65 years were in 1953, 1957,1969,1977, 1983, 1992 and 1995 and we did not get warmer days until well into October from these episodes.
Gunnedah's lowest temperature for late September since 1905 does indicate the coldest September-October in Victoria on record, but this will not happen this year.
