January was a scorcher with a higher temperature average than the previous 36 years combined in Launceston.
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The average maximum temperature was about 26.8 degrees for the month, according to Weatherzone.
This was an increase of more than 2 degrees from the January 1981 to 2017 average of 24.5 degrees.
Bureau of Metereology climatologist Ian Barnes-Keoghan said it was an exceptionally warm month with limited rainfall until the final days.
“Tasmania had very little in the way of cool weather,” Mr Barnes-Keoghan said.
“It really was an exceptionally warm month.”
It was the warmest January on record across parts of the state, including Sheffield and Fingal, and the second warmest for areas such as Launceston, he said.
Australia has been gradually warming across recent decades, which combined with local weather systems and warm ocean temperatures contributed to the hot month, he said.
Even the lower night time temperatures were “warmer than normal”.
However, it did not break the highest temperature recorded in Launceston.
January 30, 2009 still claims that title with the temperature rocketing to 39 degrees.
While it was a hot month, the temperature didn’t reach beyond 34.2 degrees.
The warm weather looked set to stay for the next couple of months, according the bureau’s climate models, he said
The weather certainly kept the community on its toes as the temperature plummeted to 6.5 degrees in Launceston, the lowest of the month.
It was a “dramatic turnaround” from the heatwave experienced only days before.
But certainly not the lowest temperature in the past 36 years, which was a cold 2.5 degrees recorded on January 12 in 1983.
Even the month’s minimum average temperature saw an increase of 0.9 degrees to 13.2 degrees compared to the average of the previous 36 years.
The month’s total rainfall of 20 millimetres was recorded in four days.
“Almost all of [the rain] fell this week. Three-quarters fell in one event as the cold change moved through,” Mr Barnes-Keoghan said.