The Bureau of Meteorology has released its annual climate statement for the past 12 months, finding that 2020 was Australia's fourth-warmest year on record.
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The summary found the mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures were above average for all states, as well as the Northern Territory.
Rainfall was close to average overall, easing drought conditions across many parts of the country, but some regions still received below average rainfall, including the west of Western Australia, southeastern Queensland and western Tasmania.
Senior climatologist Dr Lynette Bettio said the temperature increase over the past decade had been significant.
"The mean temperature for the 10 years from 2011 to 2020 was the highest on record, at 0.94 °C above average, and 0.33 °C warmer than the previous 10 years," she said.
"Rainfall for Australia was close to average for the nation as a whole at 483.4mm - four per cent above the 1961-1990 average of 466.0mm."
Annual rainfall was above average across large parts of NSW, parts of South Australia between the Flinders Ranges and Lake Eyre/Kati Thanda, much of northern and eastern Western Australia and much of the Northern Territory.
Globally, every year from 2013 onwards has been among the 10 warmest on record.
- Dr Lynette Bettio
Flooding impacted eastern Australia during February and March, particularly through Queensland and NSW.
Sydney, Hobart and Darwin experienced particularly warm daytime temperatures.
The annual mean maximum temperature was above average for Perth, Canberra, and Brisbane; close to average at most sites across greater Adelaide; and close to average or slightly below average in Melbourne.
All capital cities except Adelaide observed warmer than average annual mean minimum temperatures.
Nights were especially warm in Sydney, Darwin, Hobart, Canberra and Brisbane.
Australia also recorded its warmest ever spring in 2020.
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"Globally, every year from 2013 onwards has been among the 10 warmest on record, with 2016 and 2019 being the hottest and 2020 among the top three, despite the onset of La Nina which has a suppressing effect on global temperatures," Dr Bettio said.
For NSW in particular, the only region not to record above average temperatures for the year was the southwest.
However, from February to April there were three consecutive months of below average mean maximum temperatures across the State, the first such period for any months since 2012.
On January 4, Penrith Lakes reached 48.9 °C, the highest temperature ever recorded in the Sydney Basin.
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