Monday, 1 February 2016 - Monthly Climate Summary for South Australia - Product code IDCKGC13R0

South Australia in January 2016: Warm start to the year

Intermittent thunderstorm activity produced patchy rainfall that was focussed in central and northern South Australia for the first half of January. The second half of the month saw widespread thunderstorm activity across the State extend further south, and a strong cold front ended the month with milder conditions. Temperatures tended to stay warmer than average, though not extremely so.

• Generally warmer than average nights
• Warm days in the south
• Cooler than average in a small area of the Far North
• Average to above average rainfall for most areas despite a drier than normal start to the month

Despite a generally drier than normal first half of the month, many locations finished with average to above average rainfall for the month. Parts of southern pastoral areas, and the lower southeast districts tended to be drier for the month. In early January, heavy rain and hail was reported in the Flinders Ranges, the northeast and southeast of the State. In the 24 hours to 9am on 1 January, Kalamurina in the State's north reported its highest January daily rainfall on record with further rainfall resulting in a 2-day total of 179.4 mm (compared to a January monthly average for the site of 24.2 mm). Widespread thunderstorm activity produced daily totals of 10 to 30 mm across the agricultural districts on the 22 January. Similar daily totals were recorded in the last few days of the month across the central and eastern parts of the agricultural areas from a cold frontal system. More than a dozen sites had their wettest January for at least 20 years.

For South Australia as a whole, January mean temperatures were 0.83 °C warmer than normal. Despite a milder first week of the month, and a cold front on the last few days bringing cooler conditions, both daytime and night time temperatures were above average (0.38 °C and 1.28 °C above average respectively) for South Australia as a whole. Hot temperatures in early to mid-January resulted in total fire bans for many areas and lightning strikes started bushfires on Kangaroo Island and in the Clare Valley. The agricultural areas and the southern pastoral districts tended to be warmer than average by 1 to 2 °C, with the Far North up to 1 °C cooler than average due to increased tropical cloud.

Strong winds on 21 January saw Cleve Aerodrome record 106 km/h, the site's strongest ever recorded maximum wind gust in January (Cleve's previous January record was 83 km/h on 3 January, 2005).

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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

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

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

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top