Monday, 1 March 2010 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in February 2010

Warmer than average and below average rainfall.

  • Rainfall in the Adelaide and hills region is mostly below average with many locations registering less than 10mm.
  • Monthly average temperature 2°C above average.

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

The rainfall recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for February 2010 is 5.6mm on 3 days. This is compared to the long-term average of 12.4mm on 3 days. Last year, 0.8mm was recorded in February on 1 day. Since 1839 there has been ten occasions that no rainfall was recorded during February, the most recent being in 2007.

With the February rainfall, the total rainfall for summer (2009/2010), so far, is 33.0mm in 12 days. During the same period last summer 42.4mm on 11 days was recorded. The summer average rainfall for Adelaide at Kent Town is 59.6mm. (The South Australian Regional Office rainfall total is from the manually observed 203mm rain gauge. This may differ from totals on the Bureau's webpage as these may be from the automatic tipping bucket rain gauge).

The highest rainfall recorded in the Adelaide and hills region for January was at Kersbrook with 33.6mm.

Temperature

Daytime temperatures were mainly in the high 20s and low 30s which is near the long-term average however several days during the month recorded temperatures exceeding 35°C raising the average maximum temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for February 2010 to 31.4°C, which is 2.1°C above the February mean maximum temperature of 29.3°C. This is the 13th hottest February, at the South Australian Regional Office, since temperature records began in 1887. The mean February maximum last year is 31.4°C, while the record highest February mean maximum at the South Australian Regional Office is 33.0°C more than 100 years ago in 1906.

During February, 6 days with maximum temperatures above 35°C were recorded at the South Australian Regional Office which is above the average number of days for Adelaide.

The hottest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide & hills area was 40.8°C on the 9th at Parafield Airport.

The mean minimum temperature for February 2010 at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) is 19.0°C, which is 1.9°C above the normal February mean minimum of 17.1°C. The highest average minimum is 20.3°C in 2000. Last January the mean minimum was 18.7°C.

The coldest minimum temperature recorded in the Adelaide and hills area was 7.9°C on the 6th at Mount Barker and Mount Lofty, whilst the warmest night was 26.9°C at Noarlunga on the 9th.

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 in February 2010
Hottest day 40.8 °C at Parafield Airport on the 9th
Warmest days on average 32.3 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 26.0 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 16.6 °C at Mount Lofty on the 28th
Coldest night 7.9 °C at Mount Barker on the 6th
7.9 °C at Mount Lofty on the 6th
Coolest nights on average 13.1 °C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average 19.0 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night 26.9 °C at Noarlunga on the 9th
Wettest overall 33.6 mm at Kersbrook
Highest wind gust 69 km/h at Noarlunga on the 28th

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for February 2010
Maximum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for February
(°C)		 Rainfall
for February
(millimetres)
Mean for
February
2010		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
February
2010		 Mean for
February
2010		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
February
2010		 Total for
February
2010		 Average
for
February		 Rank of
February
2010		 Fraction of
February
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 31.4 +2.1 39.0 9th 19.0 +1.9 13.6 6th 5.6 12.4 average 45%
Adelaide Airport 29.7 +1.6 36.9 9th 18.1 +2.1 12.9 7th 3.0 17.8 average 17%
Edinburgh RAAF 31.6 +1.6 39.7 9th 17.8 +1.3 11.4 24th 0.6 15.3 low 4%
Mount Barker 30.6 +3.9 40.6 9th 13.1 +1.3 7.9 6th 7.0 25.1 low 28%
Mount Lofty 26.0   33.9 10th 13.8   7.9 6th 13.8
Noarlunga 29.0   37.8 9th 18.3   12.9 6th 3.4
Parafield Airport 32.3 +3.1 40.8 9th 17.5 +1.2 11.7 7th 1.2 17.8 low 7%

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

A Monthly Climate Summary is prepared to list the main features of the weather in Adelaide Metro & Hills using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. Later information, including data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review, usually published in the fourth week of the month.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 11 am on Monday 1 March 2010. 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