Australia blows away July daytime temperature records as rain bands stay south

Australia smashed its daytime temperature records for July as another poor month for rainfall left skies relatively clear across the continent. 

Cool nights but record warm days were a
feature of July across much of the country.

The Bureau of Meteorology's monthly reports showed average maximum temperatures were 2.62 degrees above the long-run average, beating the previous record set in 1975 by a full two-thirds of a degree.

Even with widespread overnight frosts, mean temperatures - averaging out day and night time temperatures - came in as the third highest for July in records dating back to 1910.

The bureau confirmed Sydney had its second-warmest July for maximums, with an average daytime top of 19.1 degrees, or 2.7 degrees above the norm.

Read Peter Hannam’s story in today’s Melbourne Age - “Australia blows away July daytime temperature records as rain bands stay south.”