Friday, 1 October 2010 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC13R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in September 2010

Cold and Wet

  • Coldest September maximum temperatures in Adelaide since 1992.
  • Maximum temperatures 1°C to 2°C below the September average.
  • Wettest September in Adelaide since 2001.
  • Intense low pressure system with heavy rainfall and damaging winds early in the month.
  • Above average rainfall early and mid month raises water storage levels to near capacity.

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

The first week of September 2010 saw the development of an intense low pressure system, passing over Adelaide on the 3rd and 4th of September. This system produced widespread rainfall, lightning activity and strong winds on the afternoon and evening of 3rd September, with winds intensifying through the 4th September, and significant rainfall totals continuing, with damaging winds recorded at several locations. The highest wind gust recorded in the Adelaide and local hills area was 96km/h at Adelaide Airport, and 95km/h at Edinburgh Airport in the northern suburbs, on the 4th. Winds averaged 50 to 60 km/h for several hours at several locations through the afternoon of the 4th.

Adelaide (Kent Town) rainfall for September 2010 was 72.2mm recorded on 13 days (this rainfall total is from the manually observed 203mm rain gauge making up the long term rainfall record. This may differ from totals on the Bureau's webpage as these may be from the automatic tipping bucket rain gauge). This month's rainfall total is 11.9 mm above the Kent Town average of 60.3mm on 14 days. This is the highest September rainfall total recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town) since September 2001 when 137.2mm was recorded. The wettest September on record was in 1992 with 151.4 mm.

Rainfall totals were above average elsewhere across the metropolitan and hills area, ranging from about 50 mm in coastal areas to 70mm in areas near the foothills. In the Adelaide Hills rainfall totals were up to about 150mm. The highest reading was 152.2mm at Uraidla.

For the first 9 months of 2010 453.2mm has been recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town) which is 7.9 mm above the long-term average of 445.3 mm. Last year 438.4mm was recorded over the same period. Rainfall totals were generally close to average elsewhere across the Adelaide Hills and Metro area this year so far.

Some sites had their highest September daily rainfall on record.

 

Temperatures

Mean maximum temperatures were 1°C to 2°C below average across the Adelaide Hills and Metropolitan area.

The mean maximum temperature at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 16.9°C which is 2.1°C below the long-term September average. This has been the coldest September in Adelaide since 1992, when the mean maximum temperature was 15.8°C. September 1992 was also the coldest September on record at the Kent Town site.

Of particular note is that Adelaide maximum temperatures only exceeded 20°C once this September, with 20.5°C on the 13th. This equals the record of lowest number of days above 20°C in Adelaide at the Kent Town site, in September, also seen in 1992.

The lowest maximum temperature recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town) this September was 13.7°C on the 4th September.

The highest daily maximum temperature of 21.1°C was recorded at Parafield Airport, in the northern suburbs on the 13th, whilst the lowest daytime temperature was 8.3°C at Mount Lofty, in the Adelaide Hills, on the 5th.

Minimum temperatures were within 1°C of average this September. The mean minimum temperature at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 9.2°C, which is 0.5°C below the long-term September average. The lowest daily minimum temperature recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 4.1°C on the morning of the 7th.

Across the metropolitan and hills areas the lowest daily minimum temperature of 0.5°C was recorded at Mount Barker on the morning of the 30th, whilst the warmest night was 13.5°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 9th.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries
Extremes in September 2010
Hottest day 21.1 °C at Parafield Airport on the 13th
Warmest days on average 17.3 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 10.9 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 8.3 °C at Mount Lofty on the 5th
Coldest night 0.5 °C at Mount Barker on the 30th
Coolest nights on average 5.0 °C at Mount Lofty
Warmest nights on average 9.2 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
9.2 °C at Noarlunga
Warmest night 13.5 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 9th
Wettest overall 152.2 mm at Uraidla
Highest wind gust 96 km/h at Adelaide Airport on the 4th

Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Record highest September daily rainfall
Highest daily rainfall
in September 2010 (mm) 		Previous highest
for September		 Years of
record
Adelaide (Salisbury Bowling Club) 45.0 on the 4th 41.7 on the 22nd in 1923 126
Gumeracha 53.6 on the 4th 52.6 on the 7th in 1886 126
Two Wells 50.2 on the 4th 34.2 on the 23rd in 1998 125
Cudlee Creek (Millbrook) 58.8 on the 4th 52.6 on the 9th in 1941 97
Adelaide (Torrens Island) 34.6 on the 4th 33.0 on the 30th in 1928 82
Parafield Airport 37.0 on the 4th 26.7 on the 3rd in 1931 63
Williamstown (South Para Reservoir) 52.2 on the 4th 35.0 on the 8th in 2004 43
Bolivar Treatment Works 31.0 on the 4th 30.1 on the 23rd in 1998 38
Edinburgh RAAF 53.4 on the 4th 25.8 on the 23rd in 1998 38
Kensington Upper (Burnside) 36.8 on the 4th 35.6 on the 12th in 1917 33


Details Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for September 2010
Maximum temperatures
for September
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for September
(°C)		 Rainfall
for September
(millimetres)
Mean for
September
2010		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
September
2010		 Mean for
September
2010		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
September
2010		 Total for
September
2010		 Average
for
September		 Rank of
September
2010		 Fraction of
September
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 16.9 -2.1 20.5 13th 9.2 -0.5 4.1 7th 72.2 60.3 high 120%
Adelaide Airport 16.0 -2.1 19.2 12th 9.0 +0.1 3.7 30th 55.4 46.2 average 120%
Edinburgh RAAF 16.5 -2.4 21.0 13th 7.8 -0.3 2.3 29th 94.2 48.8 v high 193%
Mount Barker 15.1 -1.4 20.0 13th 6.1 +0.3 0.5 30th 129.6 85.5 high 152%
Mount Lofty 10.9   16.3 13th 5.0   2.3 7th 141.2
Noarlunga 15.6   19.2 3rd 9.2   5.2 29th 71.8
Parafield Airport 17.3 -1.5 21.1 13th 7.4 -0.8 1.7 29th 67.4 44.3 high 152%

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 9 am on Friday 1 October 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

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries

Creative Commons By Attribution logo Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence

Climate