01.04.11

World Wide Weather #24: Rockhampton, Australia

Posted in Non-US Weather, Weather News at 8:01 am by Rebekah

This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Rockhampton, Australia. Rockhampton is currently undergoing one of Australia’s worst flood events on record.

Rockhampton is located in a hilly part of northeastern Australia, in the state of Queensland. Situated on the Fitzroy River, about 25 miles from the Coral Sea, Rockhampton lies just north of the Tropic of Capricorn.

Rockhampton was founded in the mid-1800s, as grazing lands and eventually gold attracted European settlers. Cattle continue to serve as a large part of the city’s economy, and Rockhampton promotes itself as the Beef Capital of Australia. The current population of the city is 76,729.

A few more facts about Rockhampton (from Wikipedia):

• Time zone: Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)
• Average elevation: 37 feet (11.3 meters)
• Climate zone: Humid subtropical
• Average high temperature: 83 °F (28 °C)
• Average low temperature: 62 °F (17 °C)
• Average annual high/low temperature range: 74 to 90 °F (23 to 32 °C) / 49 to 72 °F (10 to 22 °C)
• Record high temperature: 114 °F (45 °C)
• Record low temperature: 30 °F (-1 °C)
• Average annual precipitation: 31 inches (799 mm)

Weather: Rockhampton is currently inundated, following copious amounts of rainfall during a tropical cyclone and various summer thunderstorms. The airport has been shut down (due to flooding) and only one escape route remains for the city. The water level in the Fitzroy River has reached 30 feet and is expected to go even higher by tomorrow, at which point the city should become completely isolated.

The area of Queensland that has been subject to the floods is greater than the size of Texas and greater than the size of France and Germany combined, with over 200,000 people being affected. Many people have had to leave their homes because the waters are too high. For more on the floods, see Sky News, BBC News, and MSNBC. Latest flood warning for the Fitzroy River.

Rockhampton experiences, on average, some 300 sunny days per year; however, there has been a trough of low-pressure situated over the Queensland coast for quite some time now, providing very rainy conditions. This setup is fairly common during La Niña years.

Unfortunately, as we are in a fairly strong La Niña, it does not look like Queensland will receive much relief from the rain any time soon. It may even take as long as a month before Queensland sees much relief from the rain and floodwaters.

For weather maps and information on current and forecast Rockhampton weather, see the Australian Bureau of Meteorology, Weatherzone, Weather Underground, and Weather Online UK.

For more information on Rockhampton, here’s a link to Wikipedia.

Next Tuesday I plan to take a look at the climate and weather in another part of the globe.  As always, if you have any suggestions for future cities, please leave a comment!

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