Nanutarra is a locality in Western Australia adjacent to where the Ashburton river is crossed by the North West Coastal Highway. It is also close to the turn-off for State Route 136 to Paraburdoo and Tom Price.[1] It is 40 kilometres (25 mi) south of the Onslow turn-off in the Cane River conservation park where it is on either side of the highway.
The name is related to the locality, the pastoral lease Nanutarra Station, the bridge over the Ashburton river, the mine and the roadhouse.[2]
Due to its isolation from other localities, it is a reference point to issues along the North West Coastal Highway from some distance in either direction.[3]
To the south, the nearest significant stopping place, 217 kilometres (135 mi) away, is Minilya: to the north the Fortescue River roadhouse is 160 kilometres (99 mi) distant.
Nanutarra has a hot arid climate (Köppen BWh) with sweltering summers, very warm winters and extremely erratic rainfall. Tropical cyclones can smash into the town and may produce more than the average annual rainfall in a single storm; but in the absence of cyclones or winter cloudbands long periods may pass without any rainfall at all. For instance, only 84.4 millimetres or 3.32 inches of rain fell in all of 1919, but as much as 221.0 millimetres or 8.70 inches fell on 18 February 1921 alone and as much as 442.6 millimetres or 17.43 inches in March 2000.
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Record high °C (°F) | 49.1 (120.4) |
49.8 (121.6) |
47.0 (116.6) |
42.6 (108.7) |
39.3 (102.7) |
32.8 (91.0) |
32.6 (90.7) |
35.6 (96.1) |
40.4 (104.7) |
44.4 (111.9) |
46.4 (115.5) |
48.4 (119.1) |
49.8 (121.6) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 41.3 (106.3) |
40.2 (104.4) |
38.5 (101.3) |
34.9 (94.8) |
29.8 (85.6) |
26.0 (78.8) |
25.4 (77.7) |
27.3 (81.1) |
30.6 (87.1) |
34.3 (93.7) |
36.8 (98.2) |
39.8 (103.6) |
33.7 (92.7) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | 24.4 (75.9) |
25.1 (77.2) |
23.8 (74.8) |
20.7 (69.3) |
16.1 (61.0) |
12.6 (54.7) |
11.3 (52.3) |
12.2 (54.0) |
14.0 (57.2) |
16.8 (62.2) |
19.3 (66.7) |
22.3 (72.1) |
18.2 (64.8) |
| Record low °C (°F) | 16.8 (62.2) |
16.4 (61.5) |
15.1 (59.2) |
12.5 (54.5) |
7.6 (45.7) |
4.7 (40.5) |
2.5 (36.5) |
2.0 (35.6) |
5.7 (42.3) |
8.4 (47.1) |
12.0 (53.6) |
15.3 (59.5) |
2.0 (35.6) |
| Average rainfall mm (inches) | 45.2 (1.78) |
65.6 (2.58) |
39.9 (1.57) |
20.5 (0.81) |
35.6 (1.40) |
37.0 (1.46) |
22.1 (0.87) |
11.6 (0.46) |
2.0 (0.08) |
2.1 (0.08) |
3.9 (0.15) |
13.4 (0.53) |
298.9 (11.77) |
| Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm) | 4.7 | 6.1 | 3.9 | 1.9 | 3.2 | 4.1 | 2.6 | 1.6 | 0.6 | 0.4 | 0.7 | 1.5 | 31.3 |
| Source: [4] | |||||||||||||
22°32′37″S 115°30′06″E / 22.54362°S 115.50175°E / -22.54362; 115.50175
