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Monthly climate

An extensive region of enhanced convection in the western-central tropical Pacific

Enhanced convection affected a wide area of the western-central tropical Pacific in August. This covered much of the region between 20°N and 15°S and 160°E and 170°W, enhancing rainfall from Micronesia across to Hawaii, Nauru, Kiribati and Tuvalu. Extremely high August rainfall (300-500% of average) was recorded throughout much of Western Kiribati. Rainfall was at least 125% average in Tuvalu, parts of northern and central New Caledonia, northern and eastern Fiji, Tonga, and the Maequesas Islands of northern French Polynesia. The SPCZ extended east from the south of Tuvalu to the east of Samoa. It continued to be weak with little activity further east in the Southwest Pacific.

In contrast, a large area of divergence, with sunny conditions, affected much of the Indonesia, Australia and Papua New Guinea region. Willis Island, in the western Coral Sea has recorded below average rainfall every month since August 2001. Rainfall continued less than 50% of average in the Southern Cook Islands.

Temperatures were generally below average in Fiji, and around average in Queensland, Australia. Fiji recorded two new minimum temperature records and one new maximum temperature record. Temperatures were 0.7°C above average for New Caledonia.

Climate extremes in August 2002

Country Location Rainfall (mm) % of normal Comments
Western Kiribati Tarawa 477 346 Very High
Western Kiribati Beru 496 486 Record High
Western Kiribati Arorae 492 378 Record High
Eastern Kiribati Kanton Island 214 301 Record High
Fiji Rotuma 421 218 Very High
New Zealand Raoul Island 210 219 Well above average
Tonga Mata’aho Airport 198 215 Well above average
Country Location Max Air Temp (°C) Date Comments
Fiji Matei 22.2 11th Record Low
Country Location Min Air Temp (°C) Date Comments
Fiji Rotuma 26.8 18th Record High
Fiji Vunisea 11.7 18th Record Low

Outgoing Long-wave Radiation (OLR) anomalies, in Wm-2 , for August 2002 represented by shaded areas, and rainfall percentage of average, shown by numbers. High radiation levels (yellow) are typically associated with clearer skies and lower rainfall, while cloudy conditions lower the OLR (blue) and typically mean higher rainfalls. The August 2002 position of the South Pacific Convergence Zone (SPCZ), as identified from total rainfall, is indicated by the solid green line. The average climatological position of the SPCZ is identified by the dashed green line. Data source: NOAA-CIRES Climate Diagnostics Center. Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), as identified from total rainfall, is indicated by the solid blue line.