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INTRODUCTION: Townsville, the largest tropical city of Australia, is characterized by its tropical climate, with distinct dry season. Townsville Weather does not experience a very high range of temperature. December, which is the warmest month of the year, records a daily maximum average temperature of 31.4 o C and daily minimum temperatures averaging 25.0 o C. The summer is hot and humid with monsoon threatening an outburst only by the end of December. Tropical Cyclones threaten the region only by early April. South-East Trade winds dominate the winter months during which the weather is mostly fine. Since Townsville lies along the coastline, the lifting effect is not present resulting in winter having clear blue skies, warm days and cool nights. July is the coolest month averaging a maximum of 24.0 o C and a daily minimum temperature averaging 13.5 o C. Townsville experiences 320 days of sunshine a year at a daily average of 8.5 hours. October is the brightest month with an average of 9.7 hours of sunshine a day. The least average sunshine is experienced in February with an average of 7.2 hours a day. Townsville receives an annual rainfall of 1136mm. It has two seasons- a short wet summer with a considerable rainfall and a long dry period for the rest of the year. It is during this time of the year that the high incidence of solar radiation reduces the water level. This affects the crops and the lawns and gardens in the urban area. The last century experience 13 major droughts. Paulama Dam at Mount Spec in the north and Ross River Dam, are the principal storage system developed for irrigation. Townsville Weather pattern features tropical storms and cyclones. Cyclone Althea in 1971, struck the coastal fringes of the Townsville. Heavy rains accompanied with storms flooded the entire region and caused innumerous problems. In the early January of 1988, ex-Cyclone Sid moved down as gulf depression. On 11 th January, the Bureau of Meteorology, reported 549 mm of rainfall in 24 hours.
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