Monday, 7 April 2008 - Monthly Climate Summary for South Australia - Product code IDCKGC13R0

South Australia in March 2008
A month of temperature extremes!!

Summary

• The first half of the month saw temperatures very much above average. Many highest March daily temperatures records and longest runs of days above 35°C were broken in a prolonged heat-wave event.
• Temperatures for the remainder of the month were significantly below average with some locations recording lowest daily minimum temperatures on record for March.
• Rainfall was near to below average across much of South Australia, tending to very much below average through central South Australia.

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Rainfall

Pastoral Districts

Rainfall over the Pastoral Districts was generally very much below average. Some locations had equal lowest March rainfall totals on record recording no rainfall, though this is not unusual for this time of year.

Rainfall totals were generally less than 2 mm, with several stations including Woomera Aerodrome, Andamooka, Marree, Mount Eba and Nonning receiving no rainfall for the month.

The highest rainfall total was 14.0 mm at Mintabie in the North West District.

Agricultural Districts

Rainfall totals over the Agricultural Districts were near to below average generally.

Totals were typically 5 to 10 mm, tending 10 to 15 mm on the Adelaide plains, with the Mount Lofty ranges and the Lower South East districts seeing totals more typically in the 15 to 25 mm range.

The highest rainfall reported in the Agricultural Districts was 37.6 mm at Hoyleton in the Lower North district, recording 30 mm of this in thunderstorm activity on the 12th and 13th of the month.

See a map of total rainfall.
See a map of rainfall deciles.

Temperature

The first half of the month saw widespread very much above average temperatures, particularly in the southern half of South Australia, resulting in a very prolonged heatwave. This was the result of a persistent northerly air-stream from a 'blocking' high remaining near stationary in the Tasman Sea through this period. For more detail, a Special Climate Statement was issued on the 20th March 2008 (see http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/special-statements.shtml). Many stations had highest March daily maximum and minimum temperature records for March, and record longest runs of days above 35°C and 40°C across the whole year.

The remainder of the month saw a change to a prolonged southerly air-stream, with the high pressure centres becoming established to the south of Western Australia, bringing conditions significantly cooler than average.

While this was not as extreme as the first half of the month, some locations recorded lowest daily minimum temperatures for March. The average temperatures across the whole month remained well above average, with some stations breaking records for mean March temperatures.

Looking at the state as a whole 2008 was the second warmest March on record since are averages began in 1950, after 1986.

Maximum

Mean maximum temperatures averaged across the whole month were generally 1 to 3°C above average across the pastoral districts, ranging from 31.4°C at Yunta in the Northeast Pastoral district to 35.46°C at Marree Comparison in the Far North Pastoral district.

Tarcoola Airport recorded the highest daily maximum for the month in the pastoral areas, with 41.7°C on the 8th. Yunta recorded the coolest with 18.7°C on the 27th.

Mean maximum temperatures in the agricultural areas averaged over the complete month were generally 4 to 6°C above average.

Mean maximum temperatures across the Agricultural Districts ranged from 23.1°C at Robe in the Lower Southeast district to 33.7°C at Port Augusta Aerodrome in the Upper North district.

42.7°C was the highest daily maximum temperature recorded for the month at Ceduna AMO and Nullarbor on the 9th and Kyancutta on the 8th.The coolest daily maximum was 13.5°C at Mount Crawford on the 27th.

Highest daily March maximum temperatures were recorded at Cape Borda on Kangaroo Island, Meningie in the Lower Murray Valley, and Mount Gambier and Naracoorte Aerodrome in the Lower South East.

Locations breaking longest runs of daily maximum temperatures above 35°C or 40°C include Adelaide, Ceduna, Elliston, Snowtown, Kyancutta and Nuriootpa (see the Special Climate Statement).

Despite the cool finish many stations had highest March mean maximum temperatures on record, including Ceduna, Elliston, Kimba and Yongala, Loxton, Lameroo, Streaky Bay, Mount Gambier Aerodrome, Renmark, Keith, Adelaide Airport, Warooka and Mount Barker.

Minimum

Mean minimum temperatures across the month were generally 1 to 3°C above average over the state.

Mean minimum temperatures in the Pastoral districts ranged from 13.1°C at Gluepot in the Northeast district, to 19.8°C at Marree in the Far North district.

The lowest recorded daily minimum temperature in the Pastoral districts was 3.1°C at both Gluepot and Yunta, on the 27thand 28th respectively. The warmest was 28.7°C at Oodnadatta Airport on the 16th.

Across the Agricultural areas mean minimum temperatures ranged from 9.9°C at Coonawarra in the Lower South East district to 17.9°C at Adelaide.

The lowest recorded daily minimum temperature in the Agricultural districts was −0.9°C at Keith in the Upper Southeast district on the 28th. The warmest daily minimum temperature was at Adelaide on the 14th when a new March daily minimum record was equaled with 30.2°C.

Maitland and Streaky Bay had highest March mean minimum temperatures on record.

Many stations had record highest daily March minimum temperatures including Kimba, Kyancutta, Price, Adelaide, Eudunda, Meningie, Keith and Murray Bridge.

Stations recording lowest daily March minimum temperatures included Leigh Creek, Elliston and Hawker.

Renmark managed to achieve both records in the one month, looking across both the town and aerodrome records, as well as highest daily March maximum temperature on record!!

Some sites had their highest March temperature on record.
Some sites had their coldest March day (lowest maximum temperature) on record.
Some sites had their highest March mean daily maximum temperature on record.
See a map of mean maximum temperatures.
See a map of maximum temperature anomalies.
Some sites had their lowest March temperature on record.
Some sites had their warmest March night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.
Some sites had their highest March mean daily minimum temperature on record.
See a map of mean minimum temperatures.
See a map of minimum temperature anomalies.

Further information

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

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Extremes

Hottest day Highest temperature	42.7°C at Kyancutta on the 8th 42.7°C at Ceduna AMO on the 9th 42.7°C at Nullarbor on the 9th
Warmest days on average Highest mean daily maximum temperature	35.4°C at Marree Comparison
Coolest days on average Lowest mean daily maximum temperature	23.1°C at Robe Comparison
Coldest day Lowest daily maximum temperature	13.5°C at Mount Crawford Fire Tower on the 27th
Coldest night Lowest temperature	−0.9°C at Keith (Munkora) on the 28th
Coolest nights on average Lowest mean daily minimum temperature	9.9°C at Coonawarra
Warmest nights on average Highest mean daily minimum temperature	19.7°C at Marree Comparison
Warmest night Highest daily minimum temperature	30.2°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 14th
Wettest overall Highest total rainfall	37.6 mm at Hoyleton
Highest wind gust	85 km/h at Nullarbor on the 17th

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Records

Record highest March temperature
	Highest temperature in March 2008 (°C)		Previous highest for March		Years of record	Normal for March
Mount Gambier Aero	41.3	on the 17th	41.1	on the 6th in 1986	67	23.0
Neptune Island	34.6	on the 13th	32.8	on the 2nd in 1965	47	21.0
Meningie	40.5	on the 17th	40.0	on the 6th in 1986	42	24.1
Maitland	40.1	on the 9th	39.7	on the 2nd in 2007	27	25.7

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Record lowest March daily maximum temperature
	Lowest daily maximum temperature in March 2008 (°C)		Previous lowest for March		Years of record	Normal for March
Maitland	17.0	on the 27th	17.2	on the 29th in 2007	27	25.7

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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
Mount Barker	30.1	28.8	in 1940	108	24.6
Ceduna AMO	32.0	30.2	in 1953	67	26.6
Mount Gambier Aero	27.0	26.4	in 1974	67	23.0
Adelaide Airport	29.7	28.2	in 1971	54	25.4
Keith	30.7	29.8	in 1974	54	26.8
Warooka	28.8	27.4	in 1986	49	25.0
Elliston	29.4	26.6	in 1996	47	24.0
Neptune Island	23.4	22.4	in 2007	47	21.0
Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre)	31.5	30.5	in 1986	47	27.2
Eudunda	29.5	28.6	in 1986	44	25.5
Meningie	28.8	26.0	in 2006	42	24.1
Murray Bridge Comparison	32.0	29.4	in 1986	42	26.5
Cape Willoughby	23.8	22.5	in 1986	41	20.6
Kimba	31.5	30.8	in 1986	41	27.8
Edinburgh RAAF	31.1	29.4	in 1986	36	26.8
Adelaide (Kent Town)	30.9	28.9	in 1986	32	26.2
Maitland	30.0	27.8	in 1974	27	25.7

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Record highest March daily minimum temperature
	Highest daily minimum temperature in March 2008 (°C)		Previous highest for March		Years of record	Normal for March
Kyancutta	27.4	on the 14th	26.5	on the 11th in 1978	79	12.3
Neptune Island	21.7	on the 9th	21.2	on the 1st in 1989	47	15.9
Keith	26.1	on the 14th	26.0	on the 22nd in 1982	46	11.4
Eudunda	27.6	on the 14th	24.1	on the 8th in 1966	44	12.1
Price	25.4	on the 14th	23.2	on the 8th in 1983	44	14.1
Meningie	26.1	on the 14th	25.0	on the 13th in 1985	42	12.5
Murray Bridge Comparison	25.2	on the 14th	23.1	on the 13th in 1985	42	12.8
Kimba	25.8	on the 14th	25.0	on the 13th in 1985	41	13.9
Adelaide (Kent Town)	30.2	on the 14th	29.7	on the 13th in 1985	32	15.1
Maitland	27.0	on the 17th	26.9	on the 2nd in 2000	28	14.2

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Record lowest March temperature
	Lowest temperature in March 2008 (°C)		Previous lowest for March		Years of record	Normal for March
Elliston	4.0	on the 28th	5.3	on the 31st in 1969	47	14.2
Hawker	5.1	on the 28th	5.5	on the 24th in 1977	35	14.8
Leigh Creek Airport	6.7	on the 29th	8.3	on the 28th in 1984	25	17.3

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Record highest March mean daily minimum temperature
	Mean daily minimum temperature for March 2008 (°C)	Previous highest for March		Years of record	Normal for March
Streaky Bay	17.5	17.3	in 1940	82	14.7
Maitland	17.4	16.9	in 1974	28	14.2

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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
Northwest (district 16)
Andamooka	33.5	+1.3	40.2	8th	18.1	−0.1	11.3	28th	0	14.2	lowest	0%
Coober Pedy Airport	33.3		40.1	8th	19.3		11.2	29th	0
Ernabella	31.9		37.7	16th	17.4		10.2	28th	10.6
Nonning	32.2	+2.8	40.2	8th	15.0	+0.7	4.4	29th	0	14.6	lowest	0%
Roxby Downs	34.0		40.1	8th	16.9		7.2	28th	0
Tarcoola Aero	34.0		41.7	8th	16.2		6.1	28th	0.4
Woomera Aerodrome	32.7	+2.3	39.7	13th	18.4	+1.6	10.1	27th	0	13.4	lowest	0%
Far North (district 17)
Leigh Creek Airport	33.2	+2.0	40.0	7th	17.8	+0.5	6.7	29th	0	16.6	very low	0%
Marree Aero	35.3		41.4	8th	18.8		8.7	29th	0
Marree Comparison	35.4	+1.5	41.5	8th	19.7	+1.8	10.5	28th	0	14.1	lowest	0%
Moomba Airport	34.4		39.3	8th	19.2		9.1	29th	0.2
Oodnadatta Airport	34.6	+0.9	40.6	8th	19.0	−0.2	10.0	28th	1.4	12.1	normal	12%
Western Agricultural (district 18)
Ceduna AMO	32.0	+5.4	42.7	9th	14.3	+1.2	3.8	27th	3.4	16.1	normal	21%
Cleve	30.8	+5.0	41.1	9th	16.9	+2.2	8.4	27th	6.8	20.4	low	33%
Cleve Aerodrome	31.0		41.3	10th	16.3		8.2	27th	6.2	19.8	normal	31%
Coulta	28.9		38.7	8th	15.6		6.2	27th	8.8
Cummins Aero	31.6		42.0	9th	14.8		3.0	28th	4.4
Elliston	29.4	+5.4	39.2	9th	16.0	+1.8	4.0	28th	4.4	14.5	low	30%
Kimba	31.5	+3.7	40.5	8th	16.4	+2.5	6.6	27th	1.0	16.0	low	6%
Kyancutta	33.6	+3.7	42.7	8th	13.6	+1.3	2.9	27th	0.5	13.4	low	4%
Minnipa DPI	31.6		41.5	8th	16.8		6.6	27th	3.0
Neptune Island	23.4	+2.4	34.6	13th	16.9	+1.0	12.6	27th	17.8	18.9	normal	94%
North Shields	27.9		42.4	9th	15.0		7.1	28th	10.0
Nullarbor	30.9	+4.4	42.7	9th	14.3	+0.3	5.3	28th	5.2	21.4	normal	24%
Port Augusta Aero	33.7		41.8	10th	17.5		6.6	28th	0
Streaky Bay	31.1	+3.9	40.6	9th	17.5	+2.8	9.1	27th	3.6	14.5	normal	25%
Whyalla Aero	31.2	+4.1	41.3	13th	15.8	+0.5	7.7	29th	8.6	19.8	normal	43%
Wudinna Aero	33.0		41.8	8th	14.9		3.2	27th	0.6
Upper North (district 19)
Hawker	32.1	+2.0	39.2	13th	15.4	+0.6	5.1	28th	0	16.2	lowest	0%
Yongala	29.0	+1.8	38.5	10th	12.1	+1.4	2.2	27th	0	16.0	lowest	0%
Northeast (district 20)
Gluepot Reserve	32.5		41.3	13th	13.1		3.1	27th	0
Yunta Airstrip	31.4		39.3	12th	13.2		3.1	28th	0
Lower North (district 21)
Clare High School	29.5		38.7	10th	13.8		1.4	28th	10.4
Port Pirie Aerodrome	32.2		41.3	8th	16.7		7.1	28th	20.4
Port Pirie Nyrstar Comparison	32.5	+3.2	42.0	8th	18.9	+3.0	10.0	28th	25.0	17.9	high	140%
Snowtown	31.9		40.8	10th	13.6		2.9	28th	8.0
Yorke Peninsula (district 22A)
Edithburgh	26.9		41.1	13th	15.2		6.8	28th	9.6
Kadina AWS	31.6		40.8	8th	13.4		3.6	28th	6.2
Maitland	30.0	+4.2	40.1	9th	17.4	+3.1	8.0	28th	10.6	20.2	normal	52%
Minlaton Aero	30.2		41.0	13th	15.9		6.5	28th	8.0
Stenhouse Bay	26.6		41.2	9th	16.8		10.5	28th	9.2
Warooka	28.8	+3.8	38.2	7th	16.2	+1.7	9.0	28th	3.6	16.1	low	22%
Kangaroo Island (district 22B)
Cape Willoughby	23.8	+3.3	35.3	13th	16.0	+0.5	10.2	27th	10.0	21.1	normal	47%
Kingscote Aero	28.3		39.9	17th	11.2		3.3	28th	6.4
Adelaide Plains (district 23A)
Adelaide	30.9	+4.7	40.5	17th	17.9	+2.8	9.1	27th	16.2	25.2	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%
Parafield Airport	31.2	+4.5	40.0	17th	16.4	+1.9	6.4	27th	8.0	21.1	normal	38%
County Light (district 23B)
Nuriootpa Viticultural	29.8		39.2	16th	12.7		0.9	28th	6.8
Rosedale	31.5	+4.3	41.0	13th	14.8	+1.6	3.0	28th	10.1	19.8	normal	51%
Mount Lofty Ranges (district 23°C)
Hindmarsh Island AWS	28.1		40.6	17th	14.9		8.6	22nd	22.2
Kuitpo Forest Reserve	27.7		37.4	8th	15.3		6.9	27th	20.6
Mount Barker	30.1	+5.5	40.5	8th	11.4	+1.0	3.5	28th	17.4	31.1	normal	56%
Mount Crawford Fire Tower	26.2		36.9	17th	14.4		5.5	21st	19.4
Noarlunga	29.5		39.5	9th	17.8		9.1	27th	7.4
Parawa	25.9		36.9	9th	15.1		8.6	27th	29.8
Victor Harbor	27.4		40.5	17th	13.0		5.7	2nd	17.6
Upper Murray Valley (district 24A)
Loxton Research Centre	31.8	+3.8	41.0	13th	12.3	+0.5	3.2	30th	0	10.9	very low	0%
Renmark Aero	32.2		41.7	13th	13.8		4.2	27th	0.8
Lower Murray Valley (district 24B)
Eudunda	29.5	+4.0	39.5	10th	14.7	+2.6	4.9	28th	7.2	20.3	normal	35%
Meningie	28.8	+4.7	40.5	17th	13.7	+1.1	6.5	28th	11.8	22.0	normal	54%
Murray Bridge	31.7		42.1	13th	12.1		3.3	28th	4.6
Murray Bridge Comparison	32.0	+5.5	42.3	9th	13.3	+0.5	5.1	28th	4.5	20.0	low	23%
Strathalbyn Racecourse	29.7		40.3	9th	13.8		6.2	22nd	10.4
Murray Mallee (district 25A)
Karoonda	31.4		42.0	13th	12.9		4.0	28th	2.0	16.0	low	13%
Upper Southeast (district 25B)
Keith	30.7	+3.8	41.9	13th	13.3	+1.9	2.5	28th	5.2	21.0	low	25%
Keith	31.0		42.4	13th	11.0		−0.9	28th	5.4
Lameroo	31.4		41.7	13th	13.0		3.1	28th	2.6
Lameroo Comparison	31.5	+3.9	41.6	13th	13.9	+2.4	4.1	27th	2.4	18.1	low	13%
Lower Southeast (district 26)
Cape Jaffa	25.6		36.3	9th	13.0		5.5	27th	17.2
Coonawarra	29.0	+4.2	39.8	13th	9.9	−0.1	1.7	27th	16.8	24.7	normal	68%
Mount Gambier Aero	27.0	+4.0	41.3	17th	11.8	+1.4	4.7	28th	29.6	34.9	normal	85%
Naracoorte Aerodrome	30.2		42.0	13th	11.4		1.0	28th	7.8
Padthaway South	29.5		40.1	17th	11.2		1.7	28th	11.4
Robe Airfield	25.5		37.3	13th	11.2		3.8	19th	16.8
Robe Comparison	23.1	+2.1	33.5	16th	13.4	+0.7	7.4	1st	18.6	26.5	normal	70%

Jump to:  Extremes  Records  Summaries  Notes  the top

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Notes

Further information

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

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