Australian summer maximum temperature lags

Abstract

The difference in timing between when the annual temperature cycle reaches its peak and the time of maximum solar radiation is referred to as the lag in summer maximum temperatures. Values of the lag at a number of Australian extratropical locations are calculated using a harmonic method applied to the daily temperature record. The results are more precise than from previous studies based on the use of monthly data, and, in addition, reveal the existence of significant trends since about 1900 over southeastern Australia. These trends indicate that now, the warmest time of the year occurs about one week later than at the start of the twentieth century. Since about 1950, there also appears to ..