Monday, 2 March 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in February 2009
Month Began With Heatwave.

Summary

  • Heatwave conditions during first week.
  • Near record daily maximum temperature for February in Adelaide.
  • Dry conditions prevailed during February.

An archive of previous monthly summaries for Adelaide Metro & Hills is also available, as are summaries for other states and many other climate summaries and diagnostics.

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Rainfall

Some sites had their lowest total February rainfall on record.

Adelaide's (Kent Town) rainfall for February 2009 was 0.8 mm recorded on 1 day, which is the 17th lowest February rainfall total in the 171 years of records. This is compared to the average of 12.9 mm on 4 days. The most recent drier February occurred in 2007 when no rainfall was recorded. Last year 3.0 mm was recorded in February on 3 days. Since 1839there has been ten occasions when no rainfall was recorded during February, the most recent being in 2007.

Temperature

The first week of February saw the continuation of the heatwave that began on the 26th of January. A significant change passed through Adelaide on Saturday the 7th after which the day time temperatures remained mostly below 30°C for the remainder of the month.

The mean maximum temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for February 2009 was 31.4°C, which is 2.1°C above the February mean maximum temperature of 29.3°C. This is the fourteenth hottest February since records began in 1887 and the hottest February since 2007 when the mean maximum temperature was 32.9°C. The mean February maximum last year was 27.6°C, while the record February mean maximum is 33.0°C in 1906.

On average between 4 and 5 days with maximum temperatures above 35°C could be expected during February in Adelaide, but 2009 saw 8 days above 35°C. On the 6th the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) recorded its 2nd highest maximum temperature for the month of February, 43.9°C. Mount Barker, in the Adelaide Hills, recorded its highest maximum temperature of 41.9°C for the month of February since records began in 1957. The hottest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area was 44.2°C on the 6th at Edinburgh.

The mean minimum temperature for February 2009 at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) was 18.7°C, which is 1.7°C above the normal February mean minimum temperature of 17.0°C. The highest average minimum temperature is 20.3°C in 2000. Last February the mean minimum temperature was 16.4°C.

The coldest minimum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area was 6.5°C on the 25th at Mount Barker, whilst the warmest night was 28.5°C at the Parafield Airport on the 2nd.

Some sites had their highest February temperature on record.

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		 44.2°C at Edinburgh RAAF on the 6th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 32.1°C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 29.3°C at Noarlunga
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 20.2°C at Noarlunga on the 11th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 6.5°C at Mount Barker on the 25th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 12.7°C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 18.7°C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 28.5°C at Parafield Airport on the 2nd
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 4.6 mm at Crafers (Mt Lofty Alert)
Highest wind gust
 76 km/h at Parafield Airport on the 7th

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Records

Record lowest total February rainfall
Total rainfall
for February 2009 (mm) 		Previous lowest
for February		 Years of
record		 Average for
February
Lyndoch 0.0 = 0.0 in 2008 123 18.9
Edinburgh RAAF 0.0 = 0.0 in 2007 37 15.7


Record highest February temperature
Highest temperature
in February 2009 (°C) 		Previous highest
for February		 Years of
record		 Average for
February
Mount Barker 41.9 on the 6th 41.8 on the 7th in 1983 53 26.7


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Summaries

This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.

Summary statistics for February 2009
Maximum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Rainfall
for February
(millimetres)
Mean for
February
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
February
2009		 Mean for
February
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
February
2009		 Total for
February
2009		 Average
for
February		 Rank of
February
2009		 Fraction of
February
average
Adelaide 31.4 +2.1 43.9 6th 18.7 +1.7 12.5 12th 0.6 12.6 low 5%
Adelaide Airport 30.0 +1.9 43.1 6th 17.7 +1.7 12.0 12th 0.2 18.1 very low 1%
Edinburgh RAAF 31.4 +1.5 44.2 6th 18.0 +1.5 11.7 22nd 0 15.7 lowest 0%
Mount Barker 30.9 +4.2 41.9 6th 12.7 +0.8 6.5 25th 1.4 25.2 low 6%
Noarlunga 29.3   42.5 6th 17.7   12.9 12th 0
Parafield Airport 32.1 +2.9 43.9 6th 17.3 +0.9 9.8 12th 0.4 17.4 low 2%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 8 am on Monday 2 March 2009. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Averages 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 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.

Further information

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