Wednesday, 1 June 2011 - Monthly Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in May 2011: Cold May Days!

• May rainfall near average.
• Maximum temperatures were up to 1.5°C below average.
• Minimum temperatures were within 1°C of average.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

May rainfall was mostly near average across the wider Adelaide area, with most of the month's rainfall received from the 9th to the 15th and the 20th to the 24th.

The May 2011 rainfall total at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 61.8mm on 14 days. This is just above the long-term average of 59.9mm on 12 days. Last year, 56.8 mm was recorded in May on 10 days.

The wettest rainfall recorded in the Adelaide and hills region for this month was at Crafers (Mt Lofty) with 131.0 mm.

The Adelaide (Kent Town) site has had its fourth wettest January to May period on record with 214 mm. The wettest first five months was in 1983 with 296 mm. Looking across the complete Adelaide rainfall record for Kent Town and West Terrace, the wettest first five months at West Terrace was in 1889 with 349 mm.

Note that the Adelaide official climate rainfall record is taken from the manually observed 203mm rain gauge at the Kent Town site. These figures may differ from totals on some Bureau web pages as these may be from automatic tipping bucket rain gauge readings.

Temperature

Average monthly maximum temperatures were mostly up to 1.5°C below average for May across the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area. The coldest days were experienced around the 23rd to 25th of the month in wet and cloudy conditions following the passage of a cold front.

The mean May maximum temperature recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town) for May 2011 was 18.0°C which is 1.0°C below the long-term mean maximum temperature. In comparison, May 2010 saw average maximum temperatures of 19.7°C at Adelaide (Kent Town).

The record lowest May mean maximum in Adelaide is 17.3°C set in 1979 at Kent Town.

The coldest day at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 14.4°C on the 25th, with the coldest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide & hills area being 8.2°C on the 25th at Mt Lofty.

Mean minimum temperatures were within 1.0°C of average this May.

The mean minimum temperature for May 2011 at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 10.0°C, which is 0.2C below the long-term mean minimum temperature.

The record lowest May mean minimum in Adelaide is 8.8°C set in 2006 at Kent Town. Last May the mean minimum was 10.5°C.

The coldest minimum temperature recorded in the Adelaide and hills area was 1.6°C on the 31st at Mt Barker, whilst the warmest night was 16.4°C at Noarlunga on the 20th.

Some sites had their lowest May mean daily maximum temperature for at least 25 years.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top