Weather

September 2014
Dry season is coming to a close.  We are still having the same-as-usual, year-round temps of 22 to 25C min overnight and 29 to 31C max during the day.  We always have fans on in the rooms we are using during the day and we are starting to use fans again in the bedrooms overnight, but don't need any aircon's yet. 
Here's some screen shots from the weather website we always use - willyweather.com.au - with some September statistics... 

 

July 2014
In general, we find:
January/February/March = very hot, very humid, lots of showers.  We use bedroom aircon's during day if kids are having an after-lunch nap & often put it on in the lounge room in the  afternoon when everyone gets home from school/work to make 3-5pm a bit more bearable.  We also put the aircons on in bedrooms when going to bed for an hour or 2 to help everyone get off to sleep.  The breezes come from the North West at this time of year - so they're warm & sticky.  A dryer is pretty much essential at this time of year - it can be very difficult getting laundry dry.

April/May/June = still hot, less humid, becoming milder.  We use the aircon after lunch in the bedrooms for anyone who's napping, sometimes in the afternoons & still for an hour or 2 some nights when it's sticky...but by June this is not very often.  We are getting some windy days in May and lots of windy days in June which helps blow away the humidity.  The winds come from the South East at this time of year.  Weekend boating becomes difficult because of high winds.

July/August/September = warm & windy.  Daytime temp's are still 29-31C & overnight 24-26C inside the house.  We have the ceiling fans on low or medium all day & leave most windows open to catch the breezes - but the wind is often so strong that we need to close at least some doors & windows to stop it from becoming like a cyclone inside the house!  South East winds are warmish most days & can be cool in the evenings, especially if we're sitting down at the waterfront for dinner.  Some nights we turn the fans off altogether if it's cool enough.  We wear summer PJs all year & just sleep under a sheet.  We brought cotton blankets with us when we moved here, but I ended up sending them back to my family in Brisbane because we only used them twice in the first 12months & they were taking up too much closet space!  Not a lot of boating happens through July & August...too windy, but weather is good again for boating by September.

October/November/December =  The worst of the winds are gone, mild calm weather passes through, then the humidity & North West winds return for a sticky wet season.  We start using aircon's again in October & are relying on them heavily again by the end of the year.

14 Feb 2013
Hot! Hot! HOT!
According to the weather statistics provided on the information signs at Green Hill Fort here on Thursday Island, the hottest recorded day in February here is 34.6C.  

Well, we must have been breaking some records here on Valentines Day 14th Feb...cause it was a stinker!  I only thought to read the thermometer on my bedside clock at 4.30 in the afternoon ... it was 32C in my bedroom, then when I moved it to a sunny spot on my front deck, it read 38.5C at 5pm!! 

 It was so hot when we went to collect Milly from school at 3pm - it must have been over 40C & the humidity was suffocating.  Unbelievably hot!  The kind of heat that clouds your thinking & makes you feel unwell...yuck!

According to those information signs...

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Highest recorded Temp deg C	34.1	34.6	33.6	33.4	33.3	33.0	31.3	31.4	32.0	35.6	35.4	35.7
Average Humidity at 3pm	78%	81%	79%	74%	72%	69%	67%	66%	65%	64%	65%	71%
Average Rainfall mm	418.6	377.7	357.4	214.4	46.3	21.0	9.4	7.8	3.5	11.5	37.5	240.7

28th February 2013
   Well...after an overcast, showery, rainy week - I can talk about the weather here much more calmly!
   It has apparently been an unusually dry wet season & the past few weeks were hot, even for the locals.  This rainy weather makes getting loads of washing done very difficult & does make the school drop-off zone busier in the mornings, but the drop in temperature really does just make everything seem more reasonable & much easier to cope with!  
   Temperatures during the day are more like 28C, just comfortably warm & wet.  Occasionally the sun does pop out & things warm up quickly, but it's generally overcast & varies between showers --> rain during the day & rain --> downpours during the night.  
   Parents at playgroup are even excited about the fact that they have been baking during the day & cooking oven-baked dinners at night time!  The joys of cooler weather!

28th July 2013
 We are now in dry season.  The days are warm with a maximum temperature of 28 or 29C, the humidity has dropped right back to 60-70% & it's very windy.  The wind makes weekend boating very difficult - it's been 20-30knots most days - too windy to venture out on the sea most days.  
  The nights are about 24-25C.  We haven't been using night time air-conditioning since May & haven't used it in the girls' rooms for their daytime rest since June.  The ceiling fan on low is all that's needed for the first few hours in bed at night, then the window open a crack to let fresh breeze circulate is perfect.  We are all still wearing summer PJs & none of us use blankets.
  It certainly makes getting the washing dry a breeze (hee hee!) & the temperature is great --- it's just that constant "sager" South-Easterly wind that drives us nuts now!