Bureau of Meteorology forecast temp rise after ‘polar blast’ sends chilly overnight breeze to Northern Territory
If you thought it was pretty cold this morning your were damn right. Read the details.
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If you thought it was pretty cold this morning your were damn right.
While Darwin had a brisk 16C start to the day Humpty Doo woke up to 11.4C.
And the further down the track it went the cold it was with Katherine (Tindal) and Tennant Creek around 9C and Alice Springs 2.7C on Friday.
The good news is overnight temperatures in the Top End region are forecast to rise by Tuesday, while the minimum temperatures in Alice Springs are likely to stay the same for at least another week, the Bureau of Meteorology projects.
It comes as the Northern Territory endures the impact of a cold “polar blast” that pushed a large mass of cold air over much of Australia’s interior – including in Alice Springs.
“South-easterly winds in the low levels of the atmosphere, associated with high pressure in interior parts of the Territory, have helped push some of that cooler and drier northwards into Tennant Creek and ultimately into the Top End,” said Ruby Cuthbertson, a meteorologist at the Bureau.
“The effect is more evident in Central Australia, being further south and thus closer to the cold air that pushed into the continent.”
Across the last three mornings since Friday, Darwin has seen an average low of 17.7C; Humpty Doo, 12.6C; Katherine, 10.5C; Tennant Creek, 10.1C; and Alice Springs, 4.5C.
Ms Cuthbertson says temperatures in the Top End will rise by a few degrees from Tuesday as winds turn more easterly, but Alice Springs residents may have to wait a little while longer for the warmth.
“For example, Darwin minimum temperature forecast increasing from 18C Monday to 20C Tuesday,” she said.
“In Alice Springs, minimum temperatures are expected to remain 5C and below through the week, the coldest night expected on Wednesday night at below 3 degrees.
“Maximum temperatures are expected to rise by a couple degrees midway through the week. For example, Alice’s maximum on Thursday is 23, 24 on Friday and 26 on Saturday.”
The proximity to the ocean, Ms Cuthbertson said, was one of the main reasons why locations such as Alice Springs and Tennant Creek often had more “pronounced extremes, with higher maximums and lower minimum temperatures” than in the Darwin area.
“This is because solar heating during the day can heat land and increase its temperature more efficiently than ocean during the day, and conversely land cools down and loses heat faster than the ocean at night time,” she said.
“Darwin on the other hand is close by the ocean and has more humid air.
“Water, and hence humid air, resists changes to its temperature for a given amount of heat loss or gain, and so locations by the ocean tend to have higher minimum temps and lower maximum temps than inland locations at similar latitudes, all else equal.”
“This is why Darwin’s morning temperatures are warmer than more inland locations … [and it] is also why the group of inland towns have higher day time temperatures than Darwin during the summer.
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