Monday, 15 January 2024 - Annual Climate Summary for Greater Adelaide - Product code IDCKGC53L0
Greater Adelaide in 2023
Rainfall
- Rainfall totals for 2023 were close to average or above average at sites across Adelaide and the Hills.
- Rainfall totals for 2023 ranged from 98% of average at Edinburgh RAAF, Mount Crawford AWS, and Mount Lofty to 117% of average at Noarlunga.
- For Greater Adelaide as a whole, rainfall totals in 2023 were less than in 2022, but more than in 2021.
- June and December were much wetter than average months for Greater Adelaide, with numerous sites having their wettest June or December day on record respectively.
- After a dry first half of November, severe thunderstorms crossed Greater Adelaide on 27–28 November, bringing strong winds, heavy rain and flash flooding, with McLaren Vale (Pirramimma Winery) and Brownhill Creek (Scotch College) having their highest daily rainfall on record.
Temperature
- Mean maximum temperatures for 2023 were close to average or warmer than average across Adelaide and the Hills.
- Mean maximum temperatures ranged from 0.5 °C cooler than average at Kuitpo Forest Reserve to 1.2 °C warmer than average at Mount Lofty.
- Maximum temperatures were cooler than average in May, but were much warmer than average in September.
- Mean minimum temperatures for 2023 were close to average or warmer than average across Adelaide and the Hills.
- Mean minimum temperatures ranged from 0.2 °C cooler than average at Mount Crawford AWS and Noarlunga to 1.2 °C warmer than average at Mount Barker.
Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira)
- Total rainfall for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 587.6 mm, which is 111% of the long-term average of 527.8 mm.
- The mean daily maximum temperature for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 22.3 °C, which is 0.5 °C above the long-term average of 21.8 °C.
- The warmest day was 40.6 °C on 14 January, and the coolest day was on 27 June when the temperature reached 12.2 °C.
- The mean daily minimum temperature for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 12.2 °C, which is 0.2 °C above the long-term average of 12.0 °C.
- The coldest morning was 2.9 °C on 18 July, and the warmest morning was on 24 February when the minimum temperature was 29.6 °C.
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Extremes in 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Hottest day | 41.6 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 10 Nov |
| Warmest days on average | 23.3 °C at Parafield Airport |
| Coolest days on average | 17.0 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Coldest day | 7.1 °C at Mount Lofty on 6 Jul |
| Coldest night | -0.3 °C at Mount Barker on 17 Jul |
| Coolest nights on average | 8.8 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Warmest nights on average | 12.5 °C at Noarlunga |
| Warmest night | 30.6 °C at Noarlunga on 24 Feb |
| Warmest on average overall | 17.3 °C at Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) |
| Coolest on average overall | 14.2 °C at Mount Crawford AWS |
| Wettest overall | 1,173.2 mm at Ashton |
| Wettest day | 96.0 mm at Piccadilly (Woodhouse) on 23 Jun |
| Strongest wind gust | 130 km/h at Sellicks Hill (Mount Terrible Radar) on 18 May |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Record highest daily rainfall | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (mm) |
Old record |
Years of record |
||||
| McLaren Vale (Pirramimma Winery) | 49.6 | on 28 Nov | 46.4 | on 5 Jul 2016 | 31 | |
| Brownhill Creek (Scotch College) | 74.8 | on 28 Nov | 64.4 | on 14 Feb 2014 | 27 | |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Summary statistics for 2023 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures (°C) |
Minimum temperatures (°C) |
Rainfall (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for 2023 |
Diff from average |
Highest for 2023 |
Mean for 2023 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for 2023 |
Total for 2023 |
Average annual total |
Rank of 2023 |
Fraction of annual average |
|||
| Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) | 22.3 | +0.5 | 40.6 | 14 Jan | 12.2 | +0.2 | 2.9 | 18 Jul | 587.6 | 527.8 | high | 111% |
| Adelaide Airport | 21.7 | +0.1 | 40.4 | 14 Jan | 12.1 | +0.6 | 2.0 | 17 Jul | 505.6 | 438.5 | high | 115% |
| Edinburgh RAAF | 22.8 | +0.1 | 41.6 | 10 Nov | 11.2 | 0.0 | 1.7 | 19 Jul | 420.2 | 429.0 | average | 98% |
| Kuitpo Forest Reserve | 18.7 | -0.5 | 38.1 | 10 Nov | 10.2 | -0.1 | 2.3 | 19 Jul | 796.8 | 725.9 | average | 110% |
| Mount Barker | 20.8 | +0.7 | 37.9 | 10 Nov | 9.3 | +1.2 | -0.3 | 17 Jul | 772.6 | 764.3 | average | 101% |
| Mount Crawford AWS | 19.0 | -0.1 | 37.8 | 10 Nov | 9.5 | -0.2 | 2.8 | 26 Oct | 647.8 | 661.5 | average | 98% |
| Mount Lofty | 17.0 | +1.2 | 34.6 | 23 Feb | 8.8 | +0.1 | 1.6 | 8 Sep | 968.6 | 985.0 | average | 98% |
| Noarlunga | 21.6 | -0.1 | 40.7 | 14 Jan | 12.5 | -0.2 | 4.3 | 17 Jul | 529.2 | 452.4 | high | 117% |
| Parafield Airport | 23.3 | +0.8 | 41.4 | 10 Nov | 11.1 | -0.1 | 0.2 | 18 Jul | 449.6 | 448.5 | average | 100% |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
Notes
The Annual climate summary, lists the main features of the weather in Greater Adelaide using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated.
This summary includes data from observing sites in or near the Greater Adelaide “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” (GCCSA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics designed the GCCSAs to represent a socio-economic definition of each capital city. This means the greater capital city boundary includes people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the capital city, but live in the small towns and rural areas surrounding the capital city. It does not define the built up edge of the capital city.
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 2 pm on Monday 15 January 2024. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.
In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.
Averages for individual sites are long-term means based on observations from
all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site.
They are not shown for sites with less than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median
is sometimes more representative than the
mean
of long-term average rain.
The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site,
based on the
decile ranking
(very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3,
average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9
and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a
percentage of the long-term mean.
Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.
Information about Australian Indigenous seasonal calendars is available at the Indigenous Weather Knowledge website.
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
