Of Australia's six state capitals, Brisbane is the only one which has a truly tropical climate - and that is true notwithstanding its location some 400 kilometres south of the Tropic of Capricorn. Unlike Perth, Adelaide and Sydney, the Australian cricket season takes place during Brisbane's wet season, for in tropical latitudes the east coast of each continental land-mass enjoys a similar climatic regime which provides warm dry winters and hot thundery summers. In other words, the climate of the Queensland coast is parallel to those of Mozambique, southeast China, southern Brazil, and Florida. And like southern China and Florida (and to a lesser extent Mozambique) Queensland is at risk from hurricanes during the late-summer and early-autumn, although the Australian variety are called cyclones rather than hurricanes.
The average annual rainfall in Brisbane is 1130mm, and the wettest months, with 125 to 175mm each, fall from December to March inclusive. November, with a 'normal' rainfall of 93mm is considerably drier, and this rain is distributed among ten days during the month on average, compared with 16 to 20 days during each of the remaining summer months.
This is why touring international cricket teams almost invariably play the first match of an Australian series in November in Brisbane. For English sides, fresh from the gloom and cold of the northern autumn, it is quite a shock to the system because the heat of a Brisbane summer – afternoon temperatures typically approaching 30°C – is usually compounded by very high humidity levels.
The Test Match, of course, starts on Thursday 23rd, and the England team’s last match took place in Adelaide where both temperature and humidity were appreciably lower. So a certain amount of acclimatisation will be needed. The tropical climate also contributes to the character of the Brisbane wicket which is usually one of the fastest and bounciest in Australia, while the high humidity is also good news for bowlers who can swing the ball.
Brisbane Test Matches are frequently interrupted by rain, though usually only for short periods. Even though the city's November rain is more than falls in a typical August in Manchester or Leeds, it normally falls in short sharp thundery downpours, and as soon as the sun breaks through again the excess water evaporates quickly. Thus much less time is spent waiting for the umpires to declare the ground fit to resume play.
Cyclone-associated rains later in the summer have on occasion brought about disasters with flash floods and mudslides. For instance, in January 1974 some 500mm of rain fell in three days in the city itself, and much more than that in the hills around its western and southern periphery: five people died, thousands of homes were flooded and insurance losses were put at over £250 million at today's prices.
© Philip Eden