Friday, 29 February 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro - Product code IDCKGC13R0

Adelaide Metro in February 2008
Dry and Relatively Cool.

Summary

  • February 2008 was a welcome relief after the record heat of last February's average maximum temperature of 32.9°C (the hottest on record), but there was little rain to record.
  • The average maximum temperatures, recorded in the metropolitan area, were mostly between 1°C and 1.5°C below the long-term average for the month, whilst the average minimum temperatures were about 0.5°C below the long-term average.
  • The higher than average cloud cover and predominantly southerly airstream contributed to the below average temperatures.
  • The Adelaide metropolitan area recorded below average rainfall for February.

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Rainfall

Adelaide's (Kent Town) rainfall for February 2008 was 3.0 mm, recorded on 3 days. This is 10.2 mm below the average of 13.2 mm on 4 days. Last year, no rain was recorded in February. The driest February on record has occurred in several years, the most recent was last year. The highest February rainfall total at Kent Town is 63.0 mm in 2003, but the highest rainfall recorded in February at the South Australian Regional Office was 154.7 mm in 1925 at the West Terrace site. The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan area, in February, was at the suburb of Keswick with 5.4 mm.

Temperature

The mean maximum temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for February 2008 was 27.6°C, which is 1.7°C below the February mean maximum temperature of 29.3°C. This ranks as equal 37th coolest February recorded at the South Australian Regional Office since 1887. The mean February maximum last year was 32.9°C. The hottest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan area was 39.2°C on the 19th at Edinburgh RAAF, whilst the lowest was 19.8°C at Noarlunga on the 23rd.

The mean minimum temperature for February 2008 at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) was 16.4°C, which is 0.7°C below the normal February mean minimum of 17.1°C. Last February, the mean minimum was 19.0°C. The coldest minimum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan area was 9.5°C on the 25th at the Parafield Airport, whilst the warmest night was 27.7°C at Noarlunga on the 19th.

Further information

South Australian Regional Office
South Australian Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8366 2600
Email climate.sa@bom.gov.au

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 39.2°C at Edinburgh RAAF on the 19th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 28.9°C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 26.2°C at Noarlunga
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 19.8°C at Noarlunga on the 23rd
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 9.5°C at Parafield Airport on the 25th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 15.6°C at Noarlunga
15.6°C at Parafield Airport
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 16.4°C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 27.7°C at Noarlunga on the 19th
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 3.8 mm at Noarlunga
Highest wind gust
 69 km/h at Edinburgh RAAF on the 22nd

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Summaries

Summary statistics for February 2008
Maximum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Rainfall
for February
(millimetres)
Mean for
February
2008		 Diff
from
normal		 Highest for
February
2008		 Mean for
February
2008		 Diff
from
normal		 Lowest for
February
2008		 Total for
February
2008		 Normal
for
February		 Rank of
February
2008		 Fraction of
February
normal
Adelaide 27.6 −1.7 38.1 19th 16.4 −0.7 11.6 29th 3.0 13.2 low 20%
Adelaide Airport 27.0 −1.1 37.1 17th 15.7 −0.3 11.1 9th 2.6 18.4 low 14%
Edinburgh RAAF 28.6 −1.4 39.2 19th 16.1 −0.5 10.0 25th 0.6 16.1 low 4%
Noarlunga 26.2   36.5 19th 15.6   9.7 29th 3.8
Parafield Airport 28.9 −0.3 38.2 19th 15.6 −0.8 9.5 25th 1.0 17.7 low 6%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 9 am on Friday 29 February 2008. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Normals 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 20 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of "normal" 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, normal in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9 and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of normal shows how much rain has fallen this time as a percentage of the long-term mean.

Further information

South Australian Regional Office
South Australian Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (08) 8366 2600
Email climate.sa@bom.gov.au