June 2005 in Victoria (preliminary release)

Thursday, 30 June 2005

PRELIMINARY MONTHLY CLIMATE SUMMARY (June 2005) - VICTORIAN REGIONAL OFFICE
Final summary to be released 4pm Fri July 1, 2005.

June 2005 - Wet in northern Victoria, but only near normal rainfall in southern Districts.

Victoria had some relief from its long dry spell during June, as a series of fronts advanced across the State during the middle of the month. A number of rain bands preceding these fronts dropped useful amounts of rainfall, especially in the north of the State. As the month drew to a close, further rain was advancing across the State, this time on account of a rain depression located over inland New South Wales.

Preliminary Bureau of Meteorology figures for the month show that June rainfall totals in southern Victoria ranged from about 50-60 mm in the Mallee (normal 25-30 mm), to 70 - 80 mm in the Wimmera (normal 40 - 50 mm), to 70 - 80 mm in the Northern Country (normal 35 - 45 mm), to about 100 mm over the North Central (normal 65 - 75 mm), and to about 150 mm in the Northeast (normal 75- 100 mm).

In southern Victoria, 60 - 70 mm was received across the Western District (close to normal), 50 - 60 mm was received across the Central District (also close to normal), whilst Gippsland was the only part of the State to receive below normal totals (averaging 40 -50 mm, against the normal of 60 - 80 mm).

On account of one of the driest Autumns on record, the June rainfall has not alleviated the longer-term rainfall deficiencies, with most of the State receiving only about 80% of the January to June rainfall that normally falls during the first six months of the calendar year.

With regard to the future, the El Niño threat continues to recede, although some risk remains, and the chances of accumulating at least average rain over the next three months are close to 50% across Victoria.

June 2005 was an unusually warm with daytime temperatures were about 2 degrees above normal across Victoria, and about 1 deg C above normal overnight. The month's warmest days were the 7th and 8th, with Hopetoun recording a maximum temperature of 25.7 deg C on the 8th. There were widespread snowfalls over the alpine regions during the month, and June's lowest temperature -5.9 deg C at Mt Hotham on the 22nd, with Wangaratta (on the 3rd) recording the State's lowest temperature for a non-alpine station (-5.0 deg C).

In Melbourne, the average minimum temperature was 8.7 deg C (normal: 7.2 deg C), while the average maximum temperature was 16.5 deg C (normal: 14.3 deg C). 42.6 mm of rain was recorded (normal: 42.5 mm).

Since January 1, Melbourne has received 283.6 mm of rain, just below the long term normal for the first six months of the year (299.4 mm).

For further information contact:

Dr Harvey Stern,

Climate and Consultancy,

tel: (03) 9669 4949 (BH)
or (03) 9669 4916 (AH)

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