Monday, 1 December 2008 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in spring 2008
Record low rainfall in many places during spring.

Summary

  • Spring temperatures in metropolitan Adelaide were above normal.
  • Record low rainfall across many locations in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills region.

An archive of previous seasonal summaries for Adelaide Metro & Hills is also available, as are summaries for other states and many other climate summaries and diagnostics.

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Rainfall

Some sites had their lowest total spring rainfall on record.

Many locations across the metropolitan and hills area recorded their lowest rainfall totals in recorded history for spring, with the remaining locations being in the very much below average range.

The South Australian Regional Office, Adelaide (Kent Town), recorded 37.8 mm. This is the lowest recorded during the 31 years of records and is 102.1 mm below the normal of 139.9 mm for spring at Kent Town. Last year 78.8 mm was recorded. The last year average or more spring rainfall was recorded in Adelaide was in 2005 with 227.2 mm

Only two spring rainfall totals at the South Australian Regional Office are less than this year. They are 33.9 mm in 1896 and 37.1 mm in 1967 both being recorded at the West Terrace site.

The highest spring rainfall total at Kent Town is 334.2 mm in 1992.

The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan area was in the northeastern suburbs with 78 mm at Hope Valley Reservoir. In the Adelaide hills area the highest total recorded was 107 mm at Woodhouse and Ashton Marble Hill Orchard.

Some sites had their lowest total spring rainfall for at least 25 years.

Temperature

Throughout the metropolitan and hills area the spring 2008 average maximum temperatures were between one and two degrees above the long-term normal whilst the average minimum temperatures were within a half of a degree of the normal.

The mean maximum temperature, recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town), for spring 2008 was 23.1°C, which is 1.2°C above the average spring mean maximum temperature of 21.9°C. The mean maximum temperature for spring last year was 24.0°C.

The hottest day during spring was recorded at Parafield Airport with 38.3°C on the 12th November. Mount Barker, in the Adelaide hills, recorded the coolest day during spring with 12.2°C on the 15th September.

Parafield Airport recorded the warmest days on average with 23.8°C, with the coolest days on average of 21.3°C at Mount Barker.

The mean minimum temperature for spring 2008 was 12.0°C at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town), which is marginally above the average spring mean minimum temperature of 11.7°C. Last spring the mean minimum temperature was 12.5°C.

The coldest night during spring was recorded at Mount Barker with minus 0.2°C on the 9th of September. The South Australian Regional Office recorded the warmest night during spring with 24.1°C on the 12th November.

The coolest nights on average, 7.4°C, was recorded at Mount Barker whilst the warmest nights on average were at the South Australian Regional Office site of 12.0°C

Further information

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

Extremes

Hottest day
Highest temperature		 38.3°C at Parafield Airport on 12 Nov
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 23.8°C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 21.3°C at Mount Barker
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 12.2°C at Mount Barker on 15 Sep
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 −0.2°C at Mount Barker on 9 Sep
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 7.4°C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 12.0°C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 24.1°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on 12 Nov
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 107.2 mm at Ashton Marble Hill Orchard
Highest wind gust
 98 km/h at Edinburgh RAAF on 15 Sep

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Records

Record lowest total spring rainfall
Total rainfall
for spring 2008 (mm) 		Previous lowest
for spring		 Years of
record		 Average for
spring
Mount Barker 63.4 71.6 in 1982 148 192.2
Woodside 62.6 64.8 in 1896 126 198.6
Belair (State Flora Nursery) 44.4 56.2 in 1896 125 185.4
Adelaide (Glen Osmond) 48.0 = 48.0 in 1982 121 151.3
Adelaide (Seaton) 30.2 31.5 in 1967 97 111.8
Parafield Airport 39.6 41.2 in 1982 61 113.7
Adelaide (Morphettville Racecourse) 20.2 21.1 in 1967 57 111.2
Adelaide Airport 27.4 31.0 in 1982 54 109.8
Edinburgh RAAF 38.0 40.8 in 1982 36 113.1
Bolivar Treatment Works 41.8 44.9 in 1982 35 111.8
Adelaide (Kent Town) 37.8 44.6 in 1982 32 139.9
Blackwood (Wittunga) 68.1 71.1 in 1982 30 171.2
Kensington Upper (Burnside) 51.6 55.2 in 2006 28 138.8

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Summaries

This table is very wide and may not fit if printed.

Summary statistics for spring 2008
Maximum temperatures
for spring
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for spring
(°C)		 Rainfall
for spring
(millimetres)
Mean for
spring
2008		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
spring
2008		 Mean for
spring
2008		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
spring
2008		 Total for
spring
2008		 Average
for
spring		 Rank of
spring
2008		 Fraction of
spring
average
Adelaide 23.1 +1.2 36.6 12 Nov 12.0 +0.3 5.4 5 Sep 37.8 139.9 lowest 27%
Adelaide Airport 22.2 +1.3 37.5 12 Nov 11.2 +0.5 2.8 5 Sep 27.4 109.8 lowest 25%
Edinburgh RAAF 23.4 +1.4 37.7 12 Nov 10.2 −0.1 2.1 5 Sep 38.0 113.1 lowest 34%
Mount Barker 21.3 +1.9 33.5 12 Nov 7.4 +0.2 −0.2 9 Sep 63.4 192.2 lowest 33%
Noarlunga 21.6   35.3 12 Nov 11.7   6.8 24 Sep 35.8
Parafield Airport 23.8 +2.0 38.3 12 Nov 10.2 −0.1 1.3 5 Sep 39.6 113.7 lowest 35%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 8 am on Monday 1 December 2008. 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

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