Thursday, 28 February 2013 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC13L0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in summer 2012-13: Hotter and drier than average

This statement was prepared before all data for the period were available. This may affect some of the statistics presented.
  • Summer rainfall only 50% to 60% of average.
  • Significantly hotter than average after heatwave conditions in the first half of January.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Summer rainfall has been well below average, typically only being about 50% to 60% of average across Adelaide Plains and Hills. Adelaide (Kent Town) received 35.0 mm compared with the long term average of 62.2mm, the driest summer since 2009/2010 when 33.0mm was recorded. The rainfall this summer was recorded on 13 days, when on average 15 days with rainfall might be expected. The lowest summer rainfall on for Adelaide was in 1906 when only 4.0mm was recorded at the West Terrace site. In comparison, last summer, 61.0mm was recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town).

The season started with below average rainfall in December, slightly below average in January, as well as February. A late breaking monsoon and weak and sporadic tropical activity contributed to the lack of significant rainfall events this summer.

Rainfall totals were typically in the 25 to 35mm range across the Adelaide metropolitan area, with the Adelaide Hills receiving higher totals of 40 to 60mm. The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area was at Cudlee Creek where 66.6mm was recorded this summer.

Temperature

Both maximum and minimum temperatures were generally warmer than average through summer.

The mean summer maximum temperature at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 30.0 °C, which is 1.5 °C above the average summer mean maximum temperature of 28.5°C. By comparison, the mean maximum temperature for summer 2011-12 was 29.1 °C.

A significant heatwave event across South Australia in the first 3 weeks of January saw temperatures well above average for several weeks in Adelaide. On the 4th of January Adelaide reached 45.0 °C the 4th hottest day ever recorded in Adelaide since temperature records began in 1887.
                           
The hottest day during summer, for any location in the Adelaide metropolitan and Hills area was 45.2 °C recorded at Edinburgh RAAF on the 4th of January. Adelaide Airport also observed its hottest day on record on the 4th with a maximum of 44.1°C. Mount Lofty, in the Adelaide hills, recorded the coldest day for any location with 13.9°C on December 3, 2012.

Parafield Airport recorded the warmest days on average with 30.4°C, while the coolest days where at Mount Lofty with an average of 24.3°C.

The Adelaide (Kent Town) mean minimum temperature for summer 2013 was 16.9°C, just above the long term summer mean minimum of 16.6°C, and the warmest nights on average for any location in the region. Last summer, the mean minimum temperature was 17.5°C.  

The coldest night during summer was recorded at Mount Barker with 4.2°C on the 6th of December 2012, whilst the warmest night was recorded at Noarlunga with 29.5°C on the 18th of February.

The coolest nights on average for the season were at Mount Lofty with an average minimum temperature of 12.3°C.

 

Further information

Bureau of Meteorology
South Australian Regional Office
South Australian Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone Phone (08) 8366 2600
Email climate.sa@bom.gov.au
Extremes in summer 2012-13
Hottest day 45.2 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 4 Jan 2013
Warmest days on average 30.4 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 24.3 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 13.9 °C at Mount Lofty on 3 Dec 2012
Coldest night 4.2 °C at Mount Barker on 6 Dec 2012
Coolest nights on average 12.3 °C at Mount Lofty
Warmest nights on average 16.9 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night 29.5 °C at Noarlunga on 18 Feb 2013
Warmest on average overall 23.5 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Coolest on average overall 19.8 °C at Kuitpo Forest Reserve
Wettest overall 66.6 mm at Cudlee Creek (O'Deas Road)
Driest overall 21.4 mm at McLaren Vale (Pirramimma Winery)
Wettest day 23.0 mm at Charleston on 16 Feb 2013
Highest wind gust 78 km/h at Edinburgh RAAF on 12 Dec 2012

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Record highest summer temperature
Highest temperature
in summer 2012-13 (°C) 		Previous warmest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Average for
summer
Adelaide Airport 44.1 on 4 Jan 2013 44.0 on 28 Jan 2009 59 27.3


Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for summer 2012-13
Maximum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Rainfall
for summer
(millimetres)
Mean for
summer
2012-13		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
summer
2012-13		 Mean for
summer
2012-13		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
summer
2012-13		 Total for
summer
2012-13		 Average
for
summer		 Rank of
summer
2012-13		 Fraction of
summer
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 30.0 +1.5 45.0 4 Jan 2013 16.9 +0.3 10.0 6 Dec 2012 35.0 62.2 low 56%
Adelaide Airport 28.2 +0.9 44.1 4 Jan 2013 16.2 +0.7 9.1 6 Dec 2012 34.0 59.5 average 57%
Edinburgh RAAF 30.1 +0.9 45.2 4 Jan 2013 16.0 +0.1 7.7 6 Dec 2012 34.4 61.5 low 56%
Kuitpo Forest Reserve 25.9   41.0 4 Jan 2013 13.8   8.0 10 Dec 2012 42.0
Mount Barker 27.6 +1.3 42.7 4 Jan 2013 12.6 +1.2 4.2 6 Dec 2012 42.5 86.1 low 49%
Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS) 27.4   41.8 4 Jan 2013 13.5   6.8 10 Dec 2012 45.6
Mount Lofty 24.3   38.5 4 Jan 2013 12.3   5.5 10 Dec 2012 54.2
Noarlunga 28.0   43.4 4 Jan 2013 16.5   10.1 6 Dec 2012 26.8
Parafield Airport 30.4 +1.6 44.7 4 Jan 2013 15.9 0.0 7.1 6 Dec 2012 32.2 63.7 low 51%

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

This statement was prepared before all data for the period were available. This may affect some of the statistics presented.

A Seasonal 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 3 pm on Thursday 28 February 2013. 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.

The ACORN-SAT dataset is being used for temperature area averages from December 2012 onwards. The major change from earlier datasets is that the ACORN-SAT dataset commences in 1910, rather than 1950, and hence rankings are calculated using a larger set of years.

Further information

Bureau of Meteorology
South Australian Regional Office
South Australian Climate Services Centre
Bureau of Meteorology
Phone Phone (08) 8366 2600
Email climate.sa@bom.gov.au