Mudgee experienced its hottest July on record, with the mean maximum temperature for the month clearing the old mark by a full degree.
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The figure for the seventh month of 2019 was 16.9°C, which was not only 2.5°C up on the average but past the previous record of 15.9°C set in both 2017 and 2013. The hottest day was 21.2°C on Monday the 22nd, which was part of a run of 10 days topping out in at least the high-teens - a range that the month began in as well.
It's worth pointing out that the Mudgee Airport weather station July average top temp is 14.4°C, however only four days last month were below that. The lowest maximum figures were 11.3°C on both days of the weekend of the 13th/14th, which was because of a series of cold fronts moving through the state at the time that brought cool and windy conditions.
However, the cold nights of July 2019 brought the mean minimum temp down, with 0.9°C which was 0.2 below the average for the month. The coldest was -4.6°C recorded prior to 9am on Friday the 19th, which one of 18 sub-zero bottom readings.
The area continues to be parched, with just 4mm falling in the entire 31 days. The Bureau of Meteorology classified the rainfall for the month as 'very low', and below 10 per cent of the July average (41.9mm).
It was also the third driest July on record at the local airport weather station, with only above the two equal lowest (2.6mm in 2017 and 2002). The wettest 24-hour-period of the month was prior to 9am on Monday the 8th, when 2mm was recorded.
According to the BOM the mean maximum temperature for NSW as a whole was 2.17 °C warmer than the July average and the sixth-warmest on record. And rainfall across the state was generally below average, particularly across the tablelands, which received very much below average rainfall.
This was because high pressure systems were dominant and few rain-bearing systems crossed.