Recent variations in annual‐mean maximum temperatures over Australia

A data set of annual‐mean maximum temperature variations over the Australian continent, including Tasmania, for the period 1946 to 1975 has been prepared, using all available data. From this data set, trends over the 30‐year period indicate a space scale of variability typically less than 1500km. Most of Australia has experienced a rise in annual‐mean maximum temperature over the period although the proportion which has experienced a fall is not insignificant. This has implications for the determination of hemispheric trends in temperature south of the equator. Comparisons between annual‐mean maximum temperature anomalies and annual rainfall are made, which show that there is no strong overall relationship. Typically negative correlations do emerge, however, when comparisons are made between temperature variations and the two major patterns of rainfall derived from a principal component analysis. It is further demonstrated that the pattern of trends in temperature can be related to a large extent to the trends in circulation features to which these two major patterns have been ascribed: the Southern Oscillation, and the mean latitude of the high pressure belt over eastern Australia.