NEARLY three-quarters of Queensland had above- average rainfall in 2011, while temperatures across the state were generally below average, according to an official wrap of the year's weather.
The Bureau of Meteorology's annual climate summary for the 'sunshine state' shows the impact of the flooding rains that affected the region, including extreme flooding in Brisbane and the Lockyer Valley and Toowoomba in January.
The Queensland area-averaged rainfall for 2011 was 827 millimetres, or more than 200mm above the 1961-90 average of 623.4mm.
Seventy-two percent of the state experienced above-average rainfall, with some areas (including Mornington Island and Bedourie) having the greatest downpours on record.
The bureau said the central west, parts of the southern border districts (east of the channel country), and parts of the south-east coast (such as Brisbane and Coolangatta) had close to average rainfall for the year.
It said Queensland had its wettest March on record (the previous wettest being in 1950), and the lowest area-averaged autumn mean temperature on record.
Queensland's wettest spot was Bellenden Ker Top, the state's second highest mountain (60 kilometres south of Cairns), where more than 10 metres of rain fell during the year (10,078mm).
Queensland had the lowest area-averaged annual mean temperature since 1984, with below-average mean temperatures stretching from the west to the coast across the central part of the state, the bureau said.
"Several sites set new records for low temperatures, including a few where June 9 was their coldest day ever registered (e.g. Croydon had its lowest mean daily maximum), and several where days or nights were the coolest they have been for several decades," it said.
"The coolest on average overall was Applethorpe (14.5deg C) and the warmest on average overall was Coconut Island (28.4 deg C)."
Queensland's hottest day was at Birdsville Airport with 47.4deg C on January 27, while the coldest night was at Stanthorpe's Leslie Parade with -7.3deg C recorded on July 12.
The bureau took a national focus in its accompanying Annual Australian Climate Statement, pointing to consecutive La Ni a weather events as a factor behind the nation experiencing its third-wettest year on record and second-highest two-year total.
Australia experienced its first cooler-than-average year since 2001, while it was the nation's coldest autumn since at least 1950, the statement said.
"Daytime maximum temperatures were suppressed over much of the mainland as a result of the heavy rainfall at both the start and end of 2011, and relatively frequent southerly airstreams in the first half of the year," the bureau said in its national statement.
However, it said the 10 years from 2002 to 2011 were Australia's equal-warmest 10-year period on record.
The bureau said globally 2011 was the warmest La Ni a year on record, with the 13 warmest years having all occurred in the 15 years since 1997.
"Of the 23 climate regions monitored by the WMO (World Meteorological Organization) globally, northern Australia was the only region to record cooler-than-normal temperatures during 2011, in association with very heavy rainfall," it said.
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