02.01.11

World Wide Weather #28: Cairns, Australia

Posted in Non-US Weather, Tropical Weather, Weather News at 8:00 am by Rebekah

This week’s post in the global weather and climate series features Cairns, Queensland, Australia.

Cairns, from Mt. Whitfield, looking east. From Wikipedia

Cairns is situated on the northeastern coast of Queensland, on the eastern side of the Cape York Peninsula. The Great Dividing Range is to the west, and the Great Barrier Reef is just off the coast. Cairns is home to over 164,000 people.

Cairns was founded in 1876, and was later used by the Allied Forces during World War II as a base for Pacific operations. Today, the city is an important international tourism destination. Following Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane, Cairns is the fourth-most popular destination in Australia for foreign tourists.

A few more facts about Cairns (from Wikipedia):

• Time zone: Australian Eastern Standard Time (UTC+10)
• Average elevation: sea level
• Climate zone: Tropical monsoon
• Average high temperature: 84 °F (29 °C)
• Average low temperature: 69 °F (21 °C)
• Average annual high/low temperature range: 78 to 89 °F (26 to 31 °C) / 63 to 75 °F (17 to 24 °C)
• Average annual precipitation: 79 inches (2,011 mm)

Weather: February is climatologically the wettest month of the year for Cairns. The city’s monsoon climate means that there is a very pronounced wet season in the summer, with a dry season in the winter.

While not as affected by the Australian flooding as some points further south, Cairns has received copious precipitation recently. The rain is not going to stop any time soon, unfortunately; there is a chance of showers and thunderstorms every day and night for the next week or so, and Tropical Cyclone Yasi could bring as much as a foot or more of rain for some places around and just east of Cairns.

Models show Yasi could stall a bit in the mountains for about 12 hours or so after making landfall, bringing greater chances for large rain totals. Cairns will also get some strong winds (maximum winds could reach 100 mph, with higher gusts) from Yasi, as the cyclone is expected to make landfall as a Category 4.

See also yesterday’s post, Strengthening Tropical Cyclone Yasi.

Tropical Cyclone Yasi, at 00Z (10am on the 1st, Australian Eastern Standard Time), from MODIS (click to enlarge)

For the latest on Tropical Cyclone Yasi, see the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

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

For more information on Cairns, 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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