Monday, 3 March 2014 - Monthly Climate Summary for South Australia - Product code IDCKGC23R0

South Australia in February 2014: Record heat and rainfall

February started with extreme temperatures for southern districts. Another burst of heat saw new temperature records in the second week, before record breaking rainfall leading up to Valentine's day mid-month.

• Record February rainfall at many sites across South Australia
• Statewide rainfall ranks 90th wettest in 115 years
• Warm days and nights across eastern districts
• Daily temperature records for several locations across the state

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

February was largely dry across the state until widespread heavy rainfall from a low pressure system which moved across the state from the 12th to the 14th. This event produced many records for individual locations, mainly in the agricultural districts, and largely due to this event February rainfall in 2014 ranked 90th wettest in 115 years of statewide records.

Many sites, particularly in the Clare Valley, Mount Lofty Ranges and the Adelaide region had record highest February rainfall totals , largely from the mid-month rainfall. Many locations across central South Australia also had record highest daily rainfall totals in this event.

Rainfall totals typically ranged from 30 to 50 mm across the pastoral areas, and 50 to 100 mm across most of the agricultural areas, though the South-east district and Kangaroo Island missed some of the rainfall, with lower monthly totals of 20 to 40 mm.

The wettest location in the state was at Lenswood in the Mount Lofty Ranges where 164.4 mm was recorded for the month, a new February record for that location.

Temperature

Despite a milder finish to the month, February 2014 started with very hot conditions which produced record hottest days at several locations. Maximum temperatures then remained over 40 °C over much of the state until mid-month. With a milder finish, February temperatures averaged across the whole of South Australia were then only 0.7 °C warmer than average, with February 2013 in comparison being slightly hotter at 0.8 °C warmer than average.

Maximum temperature

Daytime temperatures, as reflected in maximum temperatures, were up to 2 °C above average for the month in the eastern half of the state, but tended to be up to 1 °C cooler than average in the western half due to increased cloud.

The hottest location on average for the month was at Marree where the maximum temperatures averaged 38.5 °C for the month. In contrast, Cape Willoughby on Kangaroo Island was the coolest location for the month for daytime temperatures with maximum temperatures averaging 21.8 °C.

The hottest day was recorded at Keith on the 2 February where the temperature reached 46.6 °C, a new February record for that site, and third hottest temperature ever recorded in Keith. Mount Lofty in the Mount Lofty Ranges reached 14.3 °C on the 19 February, the coolest day in the state this month.

Several sites, many in the south-east, had their highest February temperature on record.

Minimum temperature

With a very hot first half of the month statewide monthly February minimum temperatures rank 84th warmest out of 105 years of observations. Two sites had their warmest February night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record in this period.

The hottest night recorded in the state was when the minimum temperature at Oodnadatta only dropped to 31.9 °C on the 13 February. But the hottest nights averaged across the whole month were at Moomba where overnight minimum temperatures averaged 24.2 °C.

The coldest night was recorded at Coonawarra in the south-east where the overnight temperature dropped to 4.3 °C on the 27 February, but overall for the month the coldest nights were at nearby at Naracoorte which average 11.4 °C for night-time minimum temperatures.

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Extremes in February 2014
Hottest day	46.6 °C at Keith (Munkora) on the 2nd
Warmest days on average	38.5 °C at Marree Comparison
Coolest days on average	21.8 °C at Cape Willoughby
Coldest day	14.3 °C at Mount Lofty on the 19th
Coldest night	4.3 °C at Coonawarra on the 27th
Coolest nights on average	11.4 °C at Naracoorte Aerodrome
Warmest nights on average	24.2 °C at Moomba Airport
Warmest night	31.9 °C at Oodnadatta Airport on the 13th
Warmest on average overall	31.2 °C at Moomba Airport
Coolest on average overall	18.4 °C at Robe Comparison
Wettest overall	164.4 mm at Lenswood
Wettest day	109.6 mm at Lenswood on the 14th
Highest wind gust	104 km/h at Sellicks Hill (Mount Terrible Radar) on the 4th

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

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Record highest February daily rainfall
	Highest daily rainfall in February 2014 (mm)		Previous wettest for February		Years of record
Streaky Bay	109.0	on the 14th	77.5	on the 20th in 1938	135
Truro	77.0	on the 15th	60.2	on the 14th in 1913	133
Auburn	80.6	on the 15th	71.1	on the 6th in 1973	132
Georgetown	67.2	on the 15th	56.6	on the 6th in 1973	132
Adelaide (Pooraka)	87.8	on the 14th	73.2	on the 5th in 1890	131
Marrabel	80.0	on the 15th	69.9	on the 18th in 1946	130
Curramulka	65.4	on the 14th	58.0	on the 19th in 2011	127
Uraidla	84.5	on the 14th	70.0	on the 1st in 1974	123
Woodside	93.2	on the 14th	61.0	on the 1st in 1974	119
Adelaide (Glen Osmond)	72.0	on the 14th	66.3	on the 17th in 1943	116
Mount Bryan	60.0	on the 15th	55.0	on the 5th in 2011	114
Sutherlands	61.0	on the 15th	60.8	on the 7th in 1997	114
Spalding	59.4	on the 15th	53.8	on the 28th in 1939	111
Beltana Station	55.0	on the 14th	54.1	on the 25th in 1939	102
Kimba	53.2	on the 15th	44.6	on the 7th in 1998	94
Point Pass	57.2	on the 15th	52.3	on the 6th in 1973	93
Alawoona	60.0	on the 14th	58.4	on the 2nd in 1950	92
Ceduna AMO	52.2	on the 14th	33.8	on the 28th in 1987	75
Port Kenny (Mount Cooper)	75.0	on the 14th	42.4	on the 8th in 1976	74
Burra Community School	74.9	on the 15th	53.8	on the 20th in 1987	54
Cowell (Winter Springs)	80.4	on the 15th	59.0	on the 24th in 1979	45
Caliph	70.2	on the 15th	40.4	on the 24th in 1979	40
Adelaide (Kent Town)	75.2	on the 14th	33.8	on the 20th in 2003	38
Blackwood (Wittunga)	63.0	on the 14th	44.8	on the 20th in 2000	36
Burnside	77.6	on the 14th	64.5	on the 14th in 1913	36
Morgan (Brenda Park Station)	44.2	on the 15th	38.0	on the 3rd in 2011	23
McLaren Vale (Pirramimma Winery)	38.4	on the 14th	23.0	on the 20th in 2000	21
Clare High School	75.8	on the 15th	73.0	on the 7th in 1997	20
Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS)	65.8	on the 14th	44.0	on the 20th in 2003	20

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Record highest total February rainfall
	Total rainfall for February 2014 (mm)	Previous wettest for February		Years of record	Average for February
Truro	117.5	112.6	in 2000	135	21.1
Williamstown	117.5	107.2	in 1946	133	21.9
Lyndoch	113.8	99.0	in 1973	128	20.0
Adelaide (Glen Osmond)	92.8	88.9	in 1943	127	20.1
Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre)	105.7	98.5	in 1969	119	18.8
Ungarra	95.2	87.3	in 1946	99	18.8
Alawoona	130.0	100.6	in 1950	93	19.6
Purnong (Claypans)	106.5	101.7	in 1973	88	19.4
Port Kenny (Mount Cooper)	114.4	96.8	in 1976	74	15.3
Parafield Airport	98.4	81.7	in 1946	67	19.2
Edinburgh RAAF	104.0	75.8	in 1974	42	18.6
Caliph	118.2	70.8	in 1979	40	16.9
Adelaide (Kent Town)	98.2	63.0	in 2003	38	15.7
Burnside	98.4	78.7	in 1919	36	19.8
Loxton Research Centre	101.6	93.4	in 2000	30	19.9
Heathfield Works Depot	100.2	96.0	in 2000	27	30.1
Clare High School	102.4	92.0	in 2003	20	27.4
McLaren Vale (Pirramimma Winery)	55.2	50.6	in 2000	20	19.4
Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS)	114.6	88.4	in 2003	20	27.4

Highest total February rainfall for at least 20 years
	Total rainfall for February 2014 (mm)	Most recent February at least this wet		Years since wetter	Average for February
North Adelaide	96.6	175.3	in 1925	89	20.9
Streaky Bay	114.4	133.0	in 1938	76	14.8
Cummins	68.0	104.1	in 1938*	75	15.4
Wirrulla	97.6	184.5	in 1938*	75	16.7
Sedan (Sandleton)	112.4	113.2	in 1946	68	18.3
Robertstown	93.6	116.5	in 1947*	66	20.5
Roseworthy	92.8	95.4	in 1946*	66	18.4
Corny Point	98.5	121.5	in 1946*	65	16.8
Poochera	70.3	70.8	in 1968	46	17.1
Arno Bay	54.0	95.6	in 1969	45	18.3
Cherry Gardens	76.4	152.0	in 1969	45	29.8
Curramulka	86.4	125.5	in 1969	45	17.6
Lenswood Research Centre	125.4	174.8	in 1969	45	28.4
Mannum Council Depot	121.8	131.4	in 1969	45	17.3
Palmer	143.8	179.1	in 1969	45	23.9
Adelaide (Seaton)	91.0	101.1	in 1969*	44	20.4
Birdwood	142.0	164.7	in 1969*	44	23.4
Hahndorf	99.6	168.2	in 1969*	44	25.9
Karoonda	93.4	113.1	in 1969*	44	20.1
Mount Pleasant	158.4	159.6	in 1969*	44	24.5
Uraidla	123.9	154.7	in 1969*	44	32.2
Adelaide (Pooraka)	87.8	92.2	in 1969*	43	18.5
Ashton Co-op	127.0	167.3	in 1969*	43	32.9
Bridgewater	113.4	161.7	in 1969*	43	29.3
Gumeracha	138.8	151.8	in 1969*	42	23.5
Two Wells	93.6	103.5	in 1969*	42	17.1
Angaston	93.4	98.0	in 1973	41	22.0
Auburn	98.6	135.9	in 1973	41	24.3
Freeling	90.3	100.6	in 1973	41	22.0
Laura	86.1	121.7	in 1973	41	20.6
Mindarie	110.0	127.3	in 1973	41	19.8
Murray Bridge Comparison	81.2	88.7	in 1973	41	18.7
Port Broughton	90.6	95.5	in 1973	41	18.0
Port Germein	61.0	130.0	in 1973	41	17.7
Tanunda	92.8	94.0	in 1973	41	20.3
Marrabel	105.6	118.8	in 1973*	40	21.5
Watervale	83.9	145.6	in 1973*	40	25.2
Adelaide (Salisbury Bowling Club)	64.0	90.6	in 1974*	39	18.3
Georgetown	76.8	130.4	in 1973*	39	21.1
Nundroo	87.4	89.8	in 1975	39	15.5
Sedan	114.4	124.1	in 1969*	39	19.5
Adelaide Airport	76.8	80.2	in 1976	38	19.1
Coulta	55.8	88.6	in 1976	38	14.0
Mount Hope (Fairview)	65.8	94.6	in 1976	38	13.9
Echunga Golf Course	76.6	92.2	in 1976*	37	26.5
Gulnare	63.2	78.6	in 1979	35	21.8
Whyalla (Mullaquana)	110.4	121.5	in 1979	35	22.0
Mintaro	97.2	146.6	in 1973*	30	24.1
Woodside	133.8	162.3	in 1969*	30	28.7
Adelaide (Brighton)	63.8	73.9	in 1946*	23	20.6
Adelaide (Morphett Vale)	59.0	85.6	in 1974*	22	21.7
Wirrabara	78.6	98.8	in 1992	22	21.9

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported.

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Record highest February temperature
	Highest temperature in February 2014 (°C)		Previous warmest for February		Years of record	Average for February
Mount Gambier Aero	44.9	on the 2nd	43.6	on the 16th in 1983	73	25.2
Mount Barker	43.0	on the 2nd	41.9	on the 6th in 2009	58	26.8
Streaky Bay	44.0	on the 11th	43.6	on the 6th in 1993	57	29.1
Keith	46.5	on the 2nd	44.8	on the 14th in 2004	53	29.8
Warooka	41.6	on the 1st	41.5	on the 7th in 1983	49	27.1
Meningie	44.2	on the 2nd	43.6	on the 14th in 2004	48	26.4
Edinburgh RAAF	45.0	on the 2nd	= 45.0	on the 14th in 2004	42	30.0
Adelaide (Kent Town)	44.7	on the 2nd	44.3	on the 14th in 2004	38	29.4
Coonawarra	43.6	on the 2nd	43.0	on the 14th in 2004	29	27.5
Cape Jaffa (The Limestone)	40.8	on the 2nd	39.9	on the 17th in 2007	23	24.6
Coulta (Coles Point)	42.7	on the 1st	41.2	on the 17th in 2007	23	27.5

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Record lowest February daily maximum temperature
	Lowest daily maximum temperature in February 2014 (°C)		Previous coolest for February		Years of record	Average for February
Price	19.2	on the 20th	19.5	on the 29th in 2012	50	28.0

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Record highest February daily minimum temperature
	Highest daily minimum temperature in February 2014 (°C)		Previous warmest for February		Years of record	Average for February
Parafield Airport	30.3	on the 12th	= 30.3	on the 12th in 1977	58	16.4
Coulta (Coles Point)	26.3	on the 2nd	26.1	on the 3rd in 1993	23	15.5

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Summary statistics for February 2014
	Maximum temperatures for February (°C)				Minimum temperatures for February (°C)				Rainfall for February (millimetres)
	Mean for February 2014	Diff from average	Highest for February 2014		Mean for February 2014	Diff from average	Lowest for February 2014		Total for February 2014	Average for February	Rank of February 2014	Fraction of February average
Northwest (district 16)
Andamooka	36.3	+0.7	44.5	13th	22.5	+1.3	14.8	20th	18.2	25.2	average	72%
Coober Pedy Airport	35.7		44.0	13th	21.6		14.0	20th	25.0	14.9	high	168%
Ernabella (Pukatja)	33.8		39.8	10th			13.7	17th	6.8
Marla Police Station	35.2	-0.8	42.0	12th	21.4	+0.1	13.7	24th	36.2	31.6	high	115%
Roxby Downs (Olympic Dam Aerodrome)	36.5		44.7	13th	21.5		13.4	20th	16.8
Woomera Aerodrome	35.3	+1.6	44.9	13th	20.8	+1.4	12.8	21st	17.2	20.2	average	85%
Far North (district 17)
Arkaroola	34.0	+0.8	42.5	9th	21.0	+1.7	13.5	20th	70.5	39.5	high	178%
Leigh Creek Airport	35.6	+1.2	43.0	10th	21.5	+1.1	13.1	20th	33.4	28.8	average	116%
Marree Aero	37.4		44.8	13th	22.9		15.6	22nd	63.6
Marree Comparison	38.5	+1.7	45.5	13th	22.9	+1.8	15.5	21st	55.0	21.5	high	256%
Moomba Airport	38.2		44.5	14th	24.2		17.2	22nd	12.6
Oodnadatta Airport	36.7	+0.1	43.9	9th	22.9	+0.6	14.7	23rd	28.4	32.1	average	88%
Western Agricultural (district 18)
Ceduna AMO	28.8	+0.6	45.3	11th	16.7	+1.6	10.5	21st	56.2	14.2	v high	396%
Cleve	27.7	0.0	43.4	2nd	17.1	+1.0	11.0	20th	61.9	22.7	v high	273%
Cleve Aerodrome	27.9		44.1	2nd	16.6		10.7	20th	50.8	19.4	high	262%
Coulta (Coles Point)	28.1	+0.6	42.7	1st	15.5	0.0	8.9	24th	11.6	14.0	average	83%
Cummins Aero	29.7		46.2	2nd	15.8		9.2	27th	66.6
Elliston	26.1	+0.5	43.4	11th	16.3	+0.4	11.7	17th	45.8	13.7	v high	334%
Kimba	31.0	-0.1	42.6	2nd	16.0	-0.1	9.0	20th	72.4	21.5	v high	337%
Kyancutta	32.6	+0.2	45.1	11th	16.1	+1.7	8.2	21st	71.9	16.4	v high	438%
Minnipa Pirsa	31.9		44.5	11th	16.5		9.4	20th
Neptune Island	22.7	+0.4	29.8	1st	17.0	+0.4	14.3	20th	47.4	14.2	v high	334%
North Shields (Port Lincoln AWS)	26.3	+0.4	42.1	2nd	16.3	+0.1	11.9	20th	38.8	15.0	v high	259%
Nullarbor	26.8	-0.9	44.9	1st	16.8	+0.8	11.0	25th	70.8	13.7	v high	517%
Port Augusta Aero	34.5		45.5	1st	20.6		14.2	22nd	39.6
Streaky Bay	30.1	+1.0	44.0	11th	17.4	+1.3	11.5	21st	114.4	14.8	v high	773%
Whyalla Aero	29.7	+0.2	45.2	8th	18.4	+0.6	13.3	20th	62.4	26.3	high	237%
Wudinna Aero	32.4		45.7	1st	16.0		8.4	21st	72.0
Upper North (district 19)
Hawker	34.5	+1.1	42.8	8th	19.0	+1.0	11.9	23rd	71.2	21.4	v high	333%
Yongala	30.8	+0.7	41.4	12th			6.3	21st	56.1	21.4	high	262%
Northeast (district 20)
Gluepot Reserve (Gluepot)	32.9		44.5	2nd	16.1		8.3	21st	93.8
Yunta Airstrip	33.5		43.4	12th	16.7		8.4	20th	13.8
Lower North (district 21)
Clare High School	29.2		42.5	2nd	15.3		8.6	20th	102.4	27.4	highest	374%
Port Pirie Aerodrome	32.3		44.8	12th	18.3		10.2	22nd	84.2
Snowtown (Rayville Park)	31.7		44.7	12th	14.6		7.6	20th	96.6
Yorke Peninsula (district 22A)
Edithburgh	25.3	+0.2	42.5	8th	17.1	0.0	13.5	17th	56.4	18.8	v high	300%
Kadina AWS	31.0		44.0	8th	15.8		9.5	22nd	45.2
Maitland	29.4	+1.0	43.1	1st	16.7	+0.8	11.0	21st	71.0	22.5	v high	316%
Minlaton Aero	28.7		44.1	2nd	15.8		9.4	20th	66.8
Stenhouse Bay	24.7		44.0	2nd	17.1		12.5	17th	38.0
Warooka	26.8	-0.3	41.6	1st	16.2	+0.2	10.5	20th	56.2	17.3	v high	325%
Kangaroo Island (district 22B)
Cape Borda	24.7		37.0	11th	14.4		9.8	20th	23.8
Cape Willoughby	21.8	0.0	37.9	2nd	16.3	0.0	12.0	20th	28.2	18.1	high	156%
Kingscote Aero	26.1		43.8	2nd	13.6		8.5	11th	29.0	17.0	high	171%
Parndana Cfs AWS	25.1		42.6	2nd	13.2		8.6	20th	31.2
Adelaide Plains (district 23A)
Adelaide (Kent Town)	29.8	+0.4	44.7	2nd	17.8	+0.6	10.7	20th	98.2	15.7	highest	625%
Adelaide Airport	28.2	+0.1	42.3	2nd	16.9	+0.8	10.8	20th	76.8	19.1	v high	402%
Edinburgh RAAF	30.0	0.0	45.0	2nd	17.6	+1.0	11.7	24th	104.0	18.6	highest	559%
Parafield Airport	30.4	+1.1	44.6	2nd	17.2	+0.8	10.7	20th	98.4	19.2	highest	513%
Roseworthy AWS	30.7		45.9	2nd	15.9		8.4	27th	77.2
County Light (district 23B)
Nuriootpa Viticultural	28.7		42.1	2nd	15.0		7.1	20th	98.0
Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre)	30.2	-0.3	44.7	2nd	16.2	+0.7	9.4	20th	105.7	18.8	highest	562%
Mount Lofty Ranges (district 23C)
Hindmarsh Island AWS	25.2		44.1	2nd	15.7		10.7	28th	15.2
Kuitpo Forest Reserve	25.5		41.3	2nd	14.3		8.9	20th	63.4
Mount Barker	27.0	+0.2	43.0	2nd	13.3	+1.4	8.7	20th	93.6	25.8	v high	363%
Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS)	26.9		41.6	2nd	14.5		7.8	20th	114.6	27.4	highest	418%
Mount Lofty	24.3		38.9	2nd	13.5		7.3	28th	107.4
Noarlunga	28.0		43.4	2nd	17.3		11.2	27th	54.2
Parawa (Second Valley Forest AWS)	23.9		40.2	2nd	14.0		9.9	20th	39.8	29.8	high	134%
Victor Harbor (Encounter Bay)	24.7		44.0	2nd	14.7		8.4	11th	32.8
Upper Murray Valley (district 24A)
Loxton Research Centre	31.8	+0.5	44.4	2nd	15.6	+1.1	9.7	27th	101.6	19.9	highest	511%
Renmark Aero	32.8		45.3	8th	16.5		9.7	20th	95.4
Lower Murray Valley (district 24B)
Eudunda	29.5	+0.5	42.0	1st	15.1	+0.8	8.8	20th	103.8	22.9	v high	453%
Meningie	26.1	-0.3	44.2	2nd	14.4	+0.5	7.6	28th	31.0	17.1	high	181%
Murray Bridge (Pallamana Aerodrome)	28.9		45.3	2nd	14.5		8.5	27th	105.2
Murray Bridge Comparison	29.2	-0.2	46.0	2nd	15.2	+0.5	8.9	27th	81.2	18.7	v high	434%
Strathalbyn Racecourse	26.9		44.1	2nd	14.7		9.4	5th	57.6
Murray Mallee (district 25A)
Karoonda	30.6		45.5	2nd	14.8		9.0	27th	93.4	20.1	v high	465%
Upper Southeast (district 25B)
Keith	30.5	+0.7	46.5	2nd	13.3	+0.1	6.8	27th	0	20.2	lowest	0%
Keith (Munkora)	30.9		46.6	2nd	12.5		5.1	27th	14.8
Lameroo (Austin Plains)	31.5		45.3	2nd	14.0		7.0	21st	24.6
Lameroo Comparison	31.0	+0.5	45.0	2nd	14.8	+1.2	9.0	20th	28.0	21.9	high	128%
Lower Southeast (district 26)
Cape Jaffa (The Limestone)	24.6	0.0	40.8	2nd	13.9	+0.3	9.5	17th	17.0	17.6	average	97%
Coonawarra	28.6	+1.1	43.6	2nd	11.5	-0.3	4.3	27th	10.4	18.1	average	57%
Mount Gambier Aero	27.4	+2.2	44.9	2nd	11.9	+0.2	6.2	18th	22.2	25.9	average	86%
Naracoorte Aerodrome	30.1		45.3	2nd	11.4		4.9	28th	7.2
Padthaway South	29.4		43.4	2nd	12.2		4.5	27th	6.2
Robe Airfield	24.9		41.7	2nd	12.3		5.0	18th	41.4
Robe Comparison	23.0	+0.4	33.9	2nd	13.8	+0.1	9.4	18th	33.4	18.7	high	179%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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