Tasmania has a cool temperate climate with four distinct seasons. The highest recorded maximum temperature in Tasmania is 42.2 °C (108.0 °F) at Scamander on 30 January 2009, during the 2009 southeastern Australia heat wave. Tasmania's lowest recorded minimum temperature is −14.2 °C (6.4 °F) on 7 August 2020, at Central Plateau.[1]
Rainfall in Tasmania is highly differentiated for a relatively compact island. It follows a complicated pattern rather analogous to that found on large continents at the same latitude in the northern hemisphere. Rainfall increases from around 506 millimetres (19.9 in) at Ouse in the centre to 2,690 millimetres (106 in) at Cradle Valley in the northwestern highlands.[2]
Sunshine is also highly differentiated, with average quotients ranging from around 4 hours a day (under 1,500 hours a year) in the South West of the island, up to around 7 hours daily (2,550 hours annually) in the North East around the Launceston area. It shares a similar climate to places like the United Kingdom, New Zealand, the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, and Vancouver Island region of Canada.
- ^ "Rainfall and Temperature Records: National". Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 14 November 2009.
- ^ "Cradle Valley Climate". Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology. Retrieved 1 January 2009.