Climate Change Chart of Orpheus Island, Australia

Overview of climate changes

Temperature changes

Averaged across calendar months, monthly mean temperature shows a difference of +1.20 °C compared with the earlier reference period. This is an unweighted mean of monthly averages, not a day-weighted annual average, and it describes the aggregate rather than a change in every month; the figures are monthly means, not daytime maximum temperatures. The largest monthly increase in mean temperature was in June, with a difference of +1.69 °C. This identifies the strongest increase among the monthly differences, not a uniform change throughout the year.

Changes in rainfall

Mean daily rainfall, averaged across calendar months, had a difference of +0.63 mm/day. This unweighted average of monthly means is not a day-weighted annual average, and it does not imply that rainfall increased in every month; these are daily mean amounts rather than monthly totals. The largest monthly increase in mean daily rainfall occurred in January, at a difference of +2.92 mm/day. In contrast, February had the largest monthly decrease, a difference of -2.83 mm/day. These extrema show that the monthly differences varied in direction, without describing conditions on individual days.

Changes in sunshine duration

Mean daily sunshine duration averaged across calendar months shows a difference of +0.07 hours/day. This is an unweighted average across monthly means rather than a day-weighted annual figure, so it describes an aggregate and not the change in every month. The largest monthly increase in mean daily sunshine was in February, with a difference of +1.20 hours/day; the largest monthly decrease was in May, at a difference of -0.46 hours/day. These are differences in daily mean sunshine duration for the named months, not a measure of how sunshine varied from day to day.