LAST year was the sixth warmest on record and more than half a degree above the Australian annual average temperature.

Some areas, including NSW and the Murray-Darling Basin, recorded their warmest year since records have been kept.

The Bureau of Meteorology, in its annual Australian Climate Statement released today, said the annual mean maximum temperature for 2007 of 28.6C was 0.73C above normal.

The average annual mean temperature was 21.8C, with the annual mean minimum temperature 0.61C above normal.

Mean temperatures were above average across Australia during every month except June and December in 2007.

Much of the south had record annual mean and maximum temperatures and it was the warmest year on record for the Murray-Darling Basin, South Australia, NSW and Victoria.

Despite widespread drought in the far south-west and south-east of the continent, annual mean rainfall was slightly more than average at 497mm (25mm above normal).

The bureau said there was average to above average annual rainfall across northern and central Australia, average to below average annual rainfall in the southwest and mixed results in the remainder.

The report said La Nina, which typically brings better rains, failed to deliver in 2007.

"La Nina conditions developed in the tropical Pacific Ocean during 2007," the climate statement said.

"Such conditions are usually, but not always, associated with above-average rainfall across much of Australia.

"However, the 2007 La Nina event was slow to develop and its influence during winter and spring was confounded by a counter influence from the Indian Ocean."

The bureau said that despite some promising rains during the first half of the year, July to October was particularly dry across the south with widespread above average rainfall not returning until November.

"Patchy rainfall across southern Australia means that long-term droughts persist in the far southwest and in the southeast, including the Murray-Darling Basin, all of Victoria and northern Tasmania."

News Limited

Thanks admin ,can you tell me when they started recording temperatures and which states were first and where there more than one spot in each state

Hi glass, good question but I am not sure, I will try to find out for you. I read somewhere that SA started rain and temp recording some time in the 1850s

Hi Glass, I was able to find the following info but it doesn't say when records started, I guess that it was different from state colony to colony

A Brief History of the Bureau of Meteorology

Meteorological observations commenced in Australia with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. With the spread of European exploration and settlement, the number of observations available across the continent grew, largely through the efforts of individuals with scientific interests or training. By the end of the nineteenth century, the importance of meteorology was firmly recognised and most Australian States had established separate Meteorological Services that collectively had access to observations from an area exceeding the size of Europe, prepared daily weather charts, issued forecasts and had begun the development of a climatological data bank.

Following Federation, the Commonwealth Government assumed national responsibility for meteorological services and, except during World War II, since 1 January 1908 the Bureau of Meteorology has functioned as a largely self-contained agency of the Federal Government.

Read more

http://www.bom.gov.au/inside/eiab/Bureauhistory.shtml