Lowest Temperatures and Conditions at Altitude

[Tony]

I can't believe this is still going on.

Me to.

Check this site out.

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_a ... period=win

Edit; and these sites to

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/ind ... y&area=nat
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/ind ... h&area=nat

Tony

[corvus]

Woke up on the platform at Wild Dog Creek campsite in a Bivvy the other day to actually see frost rising on the wood work little or none at sparrow fart then a build up of at least 3mm by proper day light fortunately we had no wind but heavy mist/fog so it took to around 10:30 am to defrost my mates Tent and my Bivvy.
Yes we dont have cold temps in Tas
corvus

[ILUVSWTAS]

I can't believe this is still going on.

Me to.

Check this site out.

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/ncc/climate_a ... period=win

Edit; and these sites to

http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/ind ... y&area=nat
http://www.bom.gov.au/jsp/awap/temp/ind ... h&area=nat

Tony

I think those stats confirm what we were saying ON AVERAGE (taking the whole state into the equasion) Tassie looks the coldest...

[Tony]

[quote="ILUVSWTAS]

I think those stats confirm what we were saying ON AVERAGE (taking the whole state into the equasion) Tassie looks the coldest... [/quote]

You have got me there, it is a pity that the ACT is not a state as it would be the coldest.

Tony

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yay!!! Can we put this to bed now?? as fun as it's been....

[NickD]

Yes we can! Just thought I'd share my best Tassie cold weather experience - or at least my latest one.
It was in March this year and I was at Kia Ora guiding a group along the Overland Track. We woke up early to a beautiful morning, before sunrise with a light dusting of frost. I cooked breakfast and noticed the temperature was still cooling. Thick ice covered all the tents. After breakfast I boiled some water for some washing up, I washed the plates and cups and then handed them to my clients.
Within 2-3 minutes my boiling washing water stuck the drying plates and cups together strong enough to be able to turn the plate upside down with the cup sticking to the surface!! COLD. The sun rose about another 15 minutes later and we felt the temperature rise by the minute. Kia Ora is a *&%$#! cold place for its altitude, cold air drainage in the morning from Mt Massif & Mt Ossa!!

[Nuts]

Kia Ora can be a cold place.
As for a general 'argument' though tassie may not really win on any count. Consistently 'cool' yes, 'cold', not really. Just with 'on the ground' experience I had 5am starts through several Canberra winters and it would be well into the minuses day after day after week and Canberra isnt even at 'altitude'. Wind Chill? Does it only get windy in Tassie? Seems wishful thinking to claim the 'toughest' conditions. The south west gets a mention but there is nothing stopping winds through much of the state at 'altitude', moreso in the west, so i cant imagine conditions would make temperatures magically colder or windier in the south? I doubt the area around the great lake would in fact be the 'coldest' but then i'm not sure theres a weather station in some of the coldest places ive been on the mainland either.

Besides... Heard Island would be more 'godforsaken' than either..

Personally, ive been coldest in wet -1/2c conditions and Tassie would win on that front as they seem to be able to occur at any time.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Yeh but as the above post states, canberra isnt considered a state...... Check the links Tony put up, as a whole Tassie is undoubtabley the coldest on average.

[Nuts]

Meh, yes, searching through the data, Tassie has to find something to win on
I was thinking that 'altitude' still formed some part of the topic...
It would be difficult with the mainland states as the cover such a vast range of environments but to overlay an area the size of tassie over the ACT and surrounding alps it would seem like the tropics!

[ILUVSWTAS]

Hahaha yeh know.....

Certainly the coldest temp in Aus is on the big island, but taking the state average into account we win, or lose depending on which way you look at it.

[Nuts]

Yeh, personally, i'd sacrifice another 5c colder in winter (so the rain falls as snow and stays) and summer rains only after the tents are pitched at night, in fact a remote for the weather would be nice

[Nuts]

maybe my judgement is 'tempered' by the fact that I live in a 1800's house where its warmer to go outside in the mornings . Maybe, being 'always' cold makes things seem milder in Tassie?

[Tony]

Yeh but as the above post states, canberra isnt considered a state...... Check the links Tony put up, as a whole Tassie is undoubtabley the coldest on average.

Small claim as Tasmania is a small state, please note that in the June minimum temperature map of Australia (below) the area of NSW that is as cold or colder is a much larger area, you could fit two or three Tasmania’s in it and that is just the -3C area.

I will concede one thing and that is that Tasmania can experience cold, wet and windy weather conditions more often than in the Australian Alps but that does not mean that we never get cold, wet and windy weather conditions in the Australian Alps, like Tasmania it can snow, be cold, wet and windy at any time of the year.

Tony

[ILUVSWTAS]

As many a man has been told

Size doesnt matter

[Son of a Beach]

I think the important conclusion to draw from all of this excellent information is that the weather in Tasmania is more miserable more often and therefore Tasmania is a horrible place to be, and somewhere that is not at all worth visitting and non-Tasmanians shouldn't bother coming to check it out but should just take our word for it - it's a miserable dump of an island that is always wet, windy and cold. Us Taswegians all wish we lived elsewhere! Don't we?

[ILUVSWTAS]

HAHAHAHA

Yeeee I love saying things like that Nik

Yeh horrid wet place..... Especially at the moment, no one is buying water at all oh no..... (he says while 2 water cartage trucks have been past our house today AND YES I LIVE IN THE HUON)

[Nuts]

What!! Hold on... Tassie is not the Most Horrible, wheres the horrible data?

Heat is 'horrible'. I spent a few years in Newman (WA) not far from Marble Bar and the Hottest(?) recorded temperatures... That truly was 'horrible' back then with no air con or modern convenience, i was only a nipper but am still suffering the effect of blistering sunburn and have hazy memories of stiffling heat (remember seeing an egg fry on the tarmac in school yard)...

[NickD]

Yes heats a killer. Glad we don't have to put up anything of that nature that is too ridicolous, at least not for more than a week in a year!!
The original arguement stemmed from somebody laughing at the use of the word 'altitude' in Tasmania, and the cold weather debate took off from there.
Altitude in terms of thin air, is obviously non existent in Tasmania, but 2200 for the Mainland doesn't really count either.
But when a Tasmanian will talk about altitude for our state, its probably referencing anything above 900m, as once at this height, its becoming ALPINE and the weather therefore very changeable/harsh and not very suitable for year round occupancy of humans, and in a lot of cases trees.

[north-north-west]

At last. Common sense wins the day.

[corvus]

Could be wrong but 900m is hardly Alpine as we have plenty of Trees and shrubs at this level check out the Arm River Track.
corvus.

[ILUVSWTAS]

Ever walked in the Southwest corvus??

Nuts just alerted me with his post, happy bday btw!

[Nuts]

Woke up on the platform at Wild Dog Creek campsite in a Bivvy the other day to actually see frost rising on the wood work little or none at sparrow fart then a build up of at least 3mm by proper day light fortunately we had no wind but heavy mist/fog so it took to around 10:30 am to defrost my mates Tent and my Bivvy.
Yes we dont have cold temps in Tas
corvus

You looked like you had survived ok when we arrived... perhaps not at 'sparrow fart'

btw... happy b'day yee 'ol fart' (and young ollster too)!

[Ent]

Content removed by poster.

[corvus]

Ever walked in the Southwest corvus??

Nuts just alerted me with his post, happy bday btw!

No and thank you and the Southwest is not an Alpine area as you well know.
Rugged ,cold, precipitous in places but not alpine gets extreme southern winds however by definition it it not Alpine
corvus

[Nuts]

sorry corvus but 'k'! wouldnt all the southern ranges and peaks be as 'alpine' as anywhere in tas?
Even the Ironbound range (at 1000+meters) has alpine vegetation (including cushion plants) right on the coast...

[ILUVSWTAS]

Thanks Nuts.
Good to see there's a few from up North who know what their talking about.

Corvus, do a search at a library or bookstore for a book called ALPINE TASMANIA by Professor Jamie Kirkpatrick it is a fascinating read, and as they say, your never too old to learn!!

[NickD]

Is the definition of alpine 'above the treeline', we have Snowgum's and Yellow Gums which I would consider an 'Alpine Tree'

[ILUVSWTAS]

All of which is explained to the uneducated in the above mentioned book

[Tony]

ozaps-map.gif (14.36 KiB) Viewed 18920 times

Source:http://members.ozemail.com.au/~slacey/alpine.htm

[pazzar]

I think you will find that there is much more area above the tree line in Tasmania than what that picture shows.