Monday, 7 April 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro - Product code IDCKGC13R0

Adelaide Metro in March 2008
Record Heat Wave!!!

Summary

  • 15 consecutive days with a maximum temperature in excess of 35°C is the longest heat wave recorded at the South Australian Regional Office.
  • 13 consecutive days with a maximum temperature in excess of 37.8°C (100°F) at the South Australian Regional Office, this surpasses the heat wave of January 1939. There were 8 days in January 1939 when the maximum temperature exceeded the 100°F mark but not consecutively.
  • Adelaide recorded its warmest minimum temperature for March of 30.2°C.
  • March 2008 average monthly temperature of 24.4°C is the 3rd warmest recorded at the South Australian Regional Office.
  • The average maximum temperatures, recorded in the metropolitan area, were about 4.5°C above the long-term average for the month, whilst the average minimum temperatures were between 2°C and 3°C above the long-term average.
  • The Adelaide metropolitan area recorded below average rainfall for March.

For more information about the heatwave click here.

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Rainfall

Adelaide's (Kent Town) rainfall for March 2008 of 16.4 mm was recorded on 5 days. This is 9.1 mm below the average of 25.5 mm on 6 days. Near average rainfall of 24.6 mm was recorded last year. The highest March rainfall total at Kent Town is 106.0 mm in 1983, but the highest rainfall recorded in March at the South Australian Regional Office was 116.6 mm in 1878 at the West Terrace site. The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan area in March was at the suburb of Salisbury with 20.7 mm.

Temperature

The mean maximum temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for March 2008 was 30.8°C, which is 4.5°C above the March mean maximum temperature of 26.3°C. This ranks as the highest average maximum temperature for March recorded at the Kent Town site but it is only the 2nd highest March recorded at the South Australian Regional Office since 1887. The average March maximum last year was 27.3°C. The highest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan area was 40.9°C on the 13th at Edinburgh RAAF, whilst the lowest was 17.8°C recorded at both Noarlunga and Kent Town on the 27th.

The mean minimum temperature for March 2008 at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) was 17.9°C, which is 2.7°C above the normal March mean minimum of 15.2°C. This ranks as the 2nd highest average minimum temperature for March recorded at the Kent Town site but it is the 6th highest March recorded at the South Australian Regional Office, highest being in 1934 with 18.9°C. Last March, the mean minimum was 16.1°C. The coldest minimum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan area was 6.4°C on the 27th at the Parafield Airport, whilst the warmest night was 30.2°C at Kent Town on the 14th.

Some sites had their highest March mean daily maximum temperature on record.

Some sites had their highest March mean daily maximum temperature for at least 25 years.

Some sites had their warmest March night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.

Footnote

Temperature records were recorded in Adelaide using both Stevenson Screens and a Glaisher stand from 1887 on. Glaisher stands were open to the south, and so influenced by reflected radiation, and often measured several degrees higher than the completely enclosed Stevenson screen, currently in use, and accepted as the standard for enclosure of temperature recording instruments for many years.

The Glaisher stand was used as the official record in Adelaide until August 1947 when the Bureau database of Adelaide temperatures was changed to utilise the Stevenson screen readings, which had been taken since 1887, to bring Adelaide inline with accepted international standards.

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		 40.9°C at Edinburgh RAAF on the 13th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 31.2°C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 29.5°C at Noarlunga
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 17.8°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 27th
17.8°C at Noarlunga on the 27th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 6.4°C at Parafield Airport on the 27th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 16.4°C at Parafield Airport
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 17.9°C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 30.2°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 14th
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 17.6 mm at Edinburgh RAAF
Highest wind gust
 67 km/h at Edinburgh RAAF on the 14th

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Records

Record highest March mean daily maximum temperature
Mean daily maximum
temperature
for March 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for March		 Years of
record		 Normal for
March
Adelaide Airport 29.7 28.2 in 1971 54 25.4
Edinburgh RAAF 31.1 29.4 in 1986 36 26.8
Adelaide (Kent Town) 30.9 28.9 in 1986 32 26.2


Record highest March daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in March 2008 (°C) 		Previous highest
for March		 Years of
record		 Normal for
March
Adelaide (Kent Town) 30.2 on the 14th 29.7 on the 13th in 1985 32 15.1


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Summaries

Summary statistics for March 2008
Maximum temperatures
for March
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for March
(°C)		 Rainfall
for March
(millimetres)
Mean for
March
2008		 Diff
from
normal		 Highest for
March
2008		 Mean for
March
2008		 Diff
from
normal		 Lowest for
March
2008		 Total for
March
2008		 Normal
for
March		 Rank of
March
2008		 Fraction of
March
normal
Adelaide 30.8 +4.5 40.5 17th 17.9 +2.7 9.1 27th 16.4 25.5 normal 64%
Adelaide Airport 29.7 +4.3 40.0 17th 16.7 +2.4 8.7 27th 12.0 20.8 normal 58%
Edinburgh RAAF 31.1 +4.4 40.9 13th 16.5 +2.1 6.8 27th 17.6 23.9 normal 74%
Noarlunga 29.5   39.5 9th 17.8   9.1 27th 7.4
Parafield Airport 31.2 +4.5 40.0 17th 16.4 +1.9 6.4 27th 8.0 21.1 normal 38%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Monday 7 April 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