Summer 2011-2012 the coolest in Canberra for ten years

Summer in Australia’s capital city has been a mild one. Temperatures failed to reach 35 degrees Celsius during the whole summer season, and only 12 days reached or exceeded 30 degrees.

The Bureau of Meteorology said this was the coolest first summer since 2001-2002 with the hottest day reaching 34.7C on January 3. The average summer temperature was only 25.4C which was 1.7 degrees below the historical average.

The cool conditions were attributed to cloud cover and above average rainfall. Canberra had seven consecutive days of cloud cover from February 27 to March 4, 2012, a 62-year record. During that week, unprecedented rains fell on the capital – the biggest wet since July 31 to August 6, 1950, in which it received 193.6mm of rainfall (four times the average March monthly rainfall). During the whole summer, Canberra recorded 202.4mm of rain, above the average of 168.7mm.

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