1997 Melbourne Heatwave-Historical Comparisons

Highest minimum temperatures for January

28.8    21 January 1997
26.3	22 January 1875
26.1	13 January 1913
26.1	16 January 1960
26.0	28 January 1913

Highest minimum temperatures for all months

30.6*	1 February 1902
28.8    21 January 1997
27.8  	11 February 1905
27.6	19 Feburary 1968
26.9   	25 February 1968
26.6	11 February 1900
26.6 	7 December 1994
26.3	22 January 1875
26.3    3 March 1927
26.3	25 December 1927
26.3	20 February 1968
26.3	15 February 1982
The above minimum temperatures are for a 24-hour period. At present these are taken for the 24 hours from 0900 to 0900, but other observation times have been used in the past.

* This temperature has been quoted as 30.5 and 30.6 C in different parts of the Bureau's records. The discrepancy may be because of an index correction, or a bug in the computer program used to convert the measurements from Fahrenheit to Celsius.

Highest daily mean temperatures for all months

(Minimum/maximum temperatures given in brackets).

34.2    21 January 1997 (28.8/39.7)
34.2	15 December 1876 (24.7/43.7)
33.9	21 January 1875 (24.5/43.3)
33.9	25 February 1968 (26.9/40.9)
33.4	20 January 1875	(23.3/43.5)
33.3	27 January 1858 (25.2/41.5)
33.3	16 January 1960 (26.1/40.6)
33.2	3 February 1993 (25.2/41.3)
33.1	20 January 1908 (23.6/42.7)
33.1	24 December 1920 (25.3/40.9)

Greatest number of days with minima above 25 degrees in a month/summer

A total of 38 days since Melbourne records began in 1855 have had minima exceeding 25 degrees.

There were 4 days with minima above 25 degrees in February 1968, including three consecutively (18-20 February). There were hence 4 such days in the summer of 1967-68.

No other summer has had more than 2 days with minima above 25 degrees. 2 such days have occurred in a single month on three occasions (January 1913, December 1920, January 1997). 24-25 December 1920 is the only instance (apart from February 1968) of two consecutive days with minima above 25 degrees. (Note that this did not happen on 20-21 January 1997, as the minimum for 20 January was the 20 degrees recorded at 0900 on the 19th, not the 25.9 recorded overnight).

Summers in which 2 days with minima greater than 25 degrees have occurred, apart from 1967-68, are 1899-1900, 1912-13, 1920-21, 1926-27, 1927-28, 1978-79, 1980-81, 1981-82, and 1996-97.

Periods of prolonged high maximum temperatures

Temperatures exceeded 37.8 C/100 F on the three days 19 (38.0), 20 (41.2) and 21 (39.7) January 1997.

There are 22 instances of three or more consecutive days in excess of 37.8 C in the Melbourne record. There were six consecutive days between 15-20 January 1908, and three instances of four consecutive days (19-22 January 1875, 31 January-3 February 1912, 10-13 March 1940).

The 1-3 February 1993 episode was the previous episode of three or more consecutive days exceeding 37.8 C. Other episodes since 1960 have been 28-30 December 1979, 16-18 February 1968, 6-8 March 1966, and 15-17 January 1960.

Return to extreme temperatures page.