Maleny Weather

Maleny missed out on the showers and thunderstorms generated from  an upper level system  over most of  Queensland, and the small amount of rain we did have came from some isolated maritime showers brought in over the coast on the trade winds.  With record breaking November temperatures and a heatwave in SA we are fortunate in so far keeping to our month’s mean temperatures and well below our past peak of 34.7ºC on Nov 29^th 2006. On Friday smoke from a bush fire was trapped overnight by a temperature inversion.

People in Norfolk (UK) with respiratory problems are to be sent reports on weather conditions which may affect their health. The Healthy Outlook service telephones weather-related warnings to patients in Norwich with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). National Health Service (NHS) Norfolk said the pilot is aimed at reducing hospital admissions. COPD patients find that humidity, air pollution and changes in temperature can affect their condition.The service works by making an automated telephone phone call to registered patients in advance of changing weather patterns, NHS Norfolk said.

Adelaide’s extreme hot weather is now officially in the record books as the city’s first heatwave for November.There have been five days in a row above 35 degrees Celsius.Simon Timcke from the weather bureau says history was made before lunchtime today Nov 12″Shortly before 11 this morning we clicked over 35 degrees which makes it the first official heatwave in November in Adelaide,” he said.The previous hottest run was four consecutive days above 35 degrees in 1894.On Wednesday 26^th November 1997 heatwave conditions prevailed in Victoria and South Australia when hot desert winds moved south to blow away all previous November records. The hottest place at that time was Ceduna in SA with 46ºC, a November record. Likewise, Canberra was another record breaker with 38.9ºC. This heatwave was caused by a high pressure system in the Tasman Sea and a low pressure system to the west. Winds from both systems combined to bring a vortex of hot air drawn down from the north.

Highest Daily Maximum Temp. 46.3ºC at Birdsville on 4^th Dec.

…………………………………………………. (Maleny: 36.3ºC on 23^rd Feb)

Lowest Daily Minimum Temp. – 5.8ºC at Stanthorpe on 10^th Aug.

………………………………………………… (Maleny: 3.5ºC on 29^th July)

Highest Daily Rainfall ……………… 625 mm at Mackay on 15^th Feb.

………………………………………………. (Maleny: 123 mm on 2^nd June)

Highest Yearly Rainfall …………. 8489 mm at Bellenden Ker rain in 24 hours. (This location has been known to record 1140mm (3.74 feet) of rain in 24 hours)

……………………………………………….. (Maleny: 2312 mm)

Across the Ranges we came under the influence of an extensive high moving into the Tasman Sea. This brought south-easterly trade winds and maritime showers over the coast. However, the short sharp showers on the Ranges were few and far between and total precipitation was minimal. Much needed rain fell in dry areas out west following instability in the atmosphere. This was due to an upper level trough system developing over the southern interior of the state. We missed out on the NW belt of rain and thunderstorms that brought floods to northern NSW.

Please go to “Current Weather” &“This Month” pages for more data

It was on the 12^th November 1878 when the Lands Department received an application from an Englishman, Isaac Burgess, when he became the first selector to acquire land in Maleny. His property extended over 790 acres. His main interest was logging, although he did have a gang of men to grow sugar cane for his bullock teams, and maize and oats for his horse teams.

At that time Red Cedar trees grew in abundance at Maleny and after felling it was often the heavy rain and mud that prevented removal from site. A huge log from one tree was shipped to England where it won a prize at the Colonial and Indian Exhibition that was being held in London from May to October 1886.  A team of sixty bullocks was needed to haul the log off the Range. The centre of the log measured 247 inches (over 6 metres) in circumference. After the exhibition the log was cut in half. One half was polished and exhibited at the British Museum and the other half, after attempts were made to sell it entire, it was sold at a ridiculously low price and reduced into billets with explosives.

Two other logs from the same tree were shipped to Melbourne.

The story goes that another huge Red Cedar was felled on a boundary line with Crown Land and during an argument about its size Isaac Burgess made a bet of five pounds with a Mr Graves that he could turn a horse and dray on the stump without falling off. Cedar flitches were used to get the horse and dray on and off the stump. Isaac Burgess won the bet.

In November 1896 over 445 mm of rain was recorded at Maleny. Flash floods and mud slides made logging difficult and dangerous. Due to the steep terrain stretcher cases of anyone injured often had to be manhandled to Landsborough or Peachester.

The timber era of Maleny began to expand, gradually merging from timber to pasture. Sadly, Isaac Burgess was denied another first in the Maleny settlement. In 1905 Isaac had just secured the first contract for the cartage of butter from Maleny to Landsborough railway station when on 1^st January 1905 the family home caught fire.   Mrs Burgess died in the blaze and although Isaac escaped he died from his terrible burns later in the day.

Remember the time we could go and buy a penny banger from the corner store or try to light a damp squib – or watched in awe as our dad lit a Roman Candle, spun the Catherine Reel on the garden fence before using a milk bottle to launch a Snowflake rocket aloft to much oo’s and ahhh’s’

The occasion is celebrated (or rather remembered) on the 5th November. On this date, in 1605, a group of Roman Catholics tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament, with the government, King James I, his Queen and their son.

On the 18th November 1998 we spent a night expecting a ‘free’ firework display of a meteor shower in the wake of comet Tempel-Tuttle. This event happens only once in every 33 years. To many the event turned out to be very much a ‘damp squib’, especially after all the publicity and sky watching.

It was a dry start to the month until we had a thunderstorm on Wednesday afternoon 7^th that brought 20 knot gusts and a torrential downpour at a rate of 182 mm per hour. However total precipitation was no more than 8 mm. The middle of the month brought a change in the weather pattern when a surface trough, inter-acting with a ridge of high pressure, moved through the Ranges bringing atmospheric instability. Strong winds, gusting up to28 knots (52 kmh) brought widespread dust to the region, culminating on Tuesday 13^th with two thunderstorms. Rainfall was minimal but it did help to lay the dust. This was the day water restrictions came into force to conserve town water supply. The remnants of a rain belt on a northwest cloudband came through the Ranges on 26^th and 27^th. Some areas were lucky with 30 – 40 mm of rain, whereas those only a short distance away received hardly any. Total rainfall for October was 71.4 mm, representing 31 mm below the 117 year average. The lowest month’s rainfall on record is 2.3 mm in 1948, and the maximum was in the following year with 329 mm. The annual rainfall so far this year is 1608 mm, about 50 mm below the 117 year average for the month. Total bright sunshine hours were 247, 13 hours up on last year. Mean temperature for the month was 18.7ºC; maximum was 31ºC on the 3^rd and minimum on the 8^th with 9.4ºC. Total evapotranspiration was 123 mm. Soil moisture was in the very high range of 200 on 17 days and the mean soil temperature for the month was 18ºC