Friday, 31 July 2009 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC13R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in July 2009
A Warm, Wetter than Average Month.

Summary

  • Tornado sweeps southern suburbs.
  • Very warm nights in Adelaide, with warmest July nights since 1975.
  • Above average rainfall boosts average reservoir levels to 70%.

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

The rainfall at the South Australian Regional Office, Kent Town, for July 2009 was 109.0 mm recorded (Please note: This is the official reading from the manual gauge at the South Australian Regional Office, for which long term records exist. Observations for the month in progress available elsewhere on our website may differ due to being recorded on automatic instruments for which only short records are available.) on 18 days, which is very much above the long term average of 74.8 mm. This has been the wettest July since 1996 when 115.0 mm was recorded. The highest July rainfall occurred in 1986 with 159.8 mm.

Over the metropolitan and hills area the rainfall recordings were predominantly above average to very much above average than the long-term July averages. Rainfall totals were generally between 60 mm and 90 mm over the coastal and northern plains areas, however, over the higher parts of the Adelaide Hills totals in excess of 200 mm were recorded at many locations. The highest rainfall total was 256.6 mm recorded at Uraidla in the Adelaide Hills.

For the first seven months of the year 321.0 mm have been recorded at the South Australian Regional Office. The long-term average is 316.6 mm for the same period.

Temperature

The average temperature over metropolitan Adelaide and adjacent hills area was above average for July, grading from about 1.0°C above the long-term average throughout metropolitan Adelaide to about 1.5°C above in the Adelaide Hills.

The mean maximum temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for July 2009 was 15.8°C, which is 0.5°C above the long-term mean maximum temperature. Last year, in contrast, was 0.5°C below the long-term July mean maximum temperature.

The hottest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area was 21.7°C on the 20th at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town).

The mean minimum temperature for July 2009 at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) was 9.0°C, which is 1.6°C above the normal July mean minimum temperature of 7.4°C. This is the warmest July average minimum temperature since 1975, at the South Australian Regional Office, and is the equal sixth highest since temperature records began in 1887. The lowest recorded average minimum temperature is 4.8°C in 1899. July, last year, the mean minimum temperature was 7.4°C.

The coldest minimum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area was −0.1°C on the 7th at Edinburgh, whilst the warmest night was 14.5°C at the South Australian Regional Office, at Kent Town, on the 21st.

Some sites had their highest July mean daily minimum temperature on record.

Severe Thunderstorm

A small supercell spawned a significant tornado in the southern Adelaide suburb of Port Noarlunga on 11 July. The tornado damage track was 2.7 km long. At the western end, the tornado damaged five houses, demolished a shed, shifted cars, and hurled iron and glass debris across an oval during a football match. One person on the oval was injured. Substantial tree damage occurred along the eastern section of the track. Damage was rated to be at the high end of category F1 or possibly the low end of category F2 on the Fujita tornado category scale.

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		 21.7°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 20th
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 15.8°C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 13.8°C at Mount Barker
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 10.7°C at Mount Barker on the 14th
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 −0.1°C at Edinburgh RAAF on the 7th
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 6.2°C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 9.4°C at Noarlunga
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 14.5°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 21st
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 256.6 mm at Uraidla
Highest wind gust
 78 km/h at Adelaide Airport on the 2nd

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Records

Record highest July mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for July 2009 (°C) 		Previous highest
for July		 Years of
record		 Average for
July
Adelaide Airport 8.5 = 8.5 in 1993 54 7.0
Adelaide (Kent Town) 9.0 8.5 in 1995 32 7.4


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Summaries

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

Summary statistics for July 2009
Maximum temperatures
for July
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for July
(°C)		 Rainfall
for July
(millimetres)
Mean for
July
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
July
2009		 Mean for
July
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
July
2009		 Total for
July
2009		 Average
for
July		 Rank of
July
2009		 Fraction of
July
average
Adelaide 15.8 +0.5 21.7 20th 9.0 +1.6 2.9 7th 109.0 75.8 high 144%
Adelaide Airport 15.5 +0.6 19.8 20th 8.5 +1.5 1.8 7th 65.2 59.6 average 109%
Edinburgh RAAF 15.6 +0.3 20.1 20th 7.0 +1.0 −0.1 7th 88.0 53.4 very high 165%
Mount Barker 13.8 +1.0 18.5 20th 6.2 +1.7 0.0 6th 195.4 106.1 very high 184%
Noarlunga 15.1   19.0 20th 9.4   4.4 7th 105.6
Parafield Airport 15.7 +0.7 20.8 20th 7.6 +1.3 0.1 7th 109.0 59.2 very high 184%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 3 pm on Friday 31 July 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