Monday, 2 March 2009 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in summer 2008−09
Very hot heatwave and little rain.

Summary

  • Eight day heatwave during January and February.
  • Record highest overnight minimum temperature in Adelaide.
  • Lowest rainfall on record for the start of 2009.

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

Over the metropolitan and hills area the summer rainfall totals were mostly average to below average, most of the rain fell during December 2008. For the remainder of the summer (January and February 2009) all but a few locations have recorded their lowest rainfall in recorded history for the first 2 months of any year.

The South Australian Regional Office, Adelaide (Kent Town), recorded 42.2 mm. This is the seventh lowest recorded during the 32 years of records and is 18.2 mm below the normal of 60.4 mm for summer at Kent Town. Last year 49.6 mm was recorded. The last year average or more summer rainfall was recorded in Adelaide was in 2005/06 with 94.4 mm

The highest summer rainfall total at Kent Town is 130.4 mm in 1992/03 and the lowest summer rainfall total at Kent Town is 11.6 mm in 1984/85.

The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan area was in the northeastern suburbs with 53.6 mm at Golden Grove. In the Adelaide hills area the highest total recorded was 67.6 mm at Gould Creek.

Temperature

Summer began with a few weeks of cooler than average temperatures. Towards the end of January 2009 maximum temperatures were near to record highs during the heatwave that commenced on the 26th and lasted until the 2nd of February 2009. During the heatwave the South Australian Regional Office reached a new highest overnight minimum temperature of 33.9°C and also recorded its 3rd highest maximum temperature of 45.7°C. On six consecutive days the maximum temperature exceeded 40°C which also occurred during the summer of 1908. Throughout the metropolitan area the summer 2008/09 average maximum temperatures were between 0.5°C and 1.5°C above the long-term normal whilst in the hills the average maximum temperatures were more than 2°C above the normal.

The mean maximum temperature, recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town), for summer 2008/09 was 29.6°C, which is 1.2°C above the average summer mean maximum temperature of 28.4°C. The mean maximum temperature for summer last year was 29.2°C.

The hottest day during summer was recorded at Edinburgh with 45.8°C on the 28th January 2009. Mount Barker, in the Adelaide hills, recorded the coolest day during summer with 17.4°C on the 13th December 2008.

Parafield Airport recorded the warmest days on average with 30.2°C, with the coolest days on average of 27.7°C at Noarlunga.

The mean minimum temperature for summer 2008/09 was 17.4°C at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town), which is 0.8°C above the average summer mean minimum temperature of 16.6°C. Last summer the mean minimum temperature was 16.8°C.

The coldest night during summer was recorded at Mount Barker with 2.7°C on the 8th of December 2008. The South Australian Regional Office recorded the warmest night during summer with 33.9°C on the 29th January 2009, which is the highest recorded minimum temperature at the South Australian Regional Office since records began in 1887.

The coolest nights on average, 11.6°C, was recorded at Mount Barker whilst the warmest nights on average were at the South Australian Regional Office site of 17.4°C.

Some sites had their highest summer temperature on record.

Some sites had their warmest summer night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.

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		 45.8°C at Edinburgh RAAF on 28 Jan 2009
Warmest days on average
Highest mean daily maximum temperature		 30.2°C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average
Lowest mean daily maximum temperature		 27.7°C at Noarlunga
Coldest day
Lowest daily maximum temperature		 17.4°C at Mount Barker on 13 Dec 2008
Coldest night
Lowest temperature		 2.7°C at Mount Barker on 8 Dec 2008
Coolest nights on average
Lowest mean daily minimum temperature		 11.6°C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average
Highest mean daily minimum temperature		 17.4°C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night
Highest daily minimum temperature		 33.9°C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on 29 Jan 2009
Wettest overall
Highest total rainfall		 67.6 mm at Gould Creek (Little Para Reservoir Alert
Highest wind gust
 76 km/h at Parafield Airport on 7 Feb 2009

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Records

Record highest summer temperature
Highest temperature
in summer 2008−09 (°C) 		Previous highest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Average for
summer
Adelaide Airport 44.0 on 28 Jan 2009 = 44.0 on 30 Jan 1968 55 27.2
Mount Barker 44.5 on 28 Jan 2009 43.0 on 23 Jan 1982 53 26.3
Adelaide (Kent Town) 45.7 on 28 Jan 2009 44.3 on 14 Feb 2004 33 28.4


Record highest summer daily minimum temperature
Highest daily minimum
temperature
in summer 2008−09 (°C) 		Previous highest
for summer		 Years of
record		 Average for
summer
Adelaide (Kent Town) 33.9 on 29 Jan 2009 33.5 on 24 Jan 1982 33 16.5


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Summaries

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

Summary statistics for summer 2008−09
Maximum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for summer
(°C)		 Rainfall
for summer
(millimetres)
Mean for
summer
2008−09		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
summer
2008−09		 Mean for
summer
2008−09		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
summer
2008−09		 Total for
summer
2008−09		 Average
for
summer		 Rank of
summer
2008−09		 Fraction of
summer
average
Adelaide 29.6 +1.2 45.7 28 Jan 2009 17.4 +0.8 9.4 8 Dec 2008 42.2 60.4 low 70%
Adelaide Airport 28.0 +0.8 44.0 28 Jan 2009 16.5 +1.0 7.7 8 Dec 2008 31.6 60.0 low 53%
Edinburgh RAAF 29.8 +0.6 45.8 28 Jan 2009 16.3 +0.4 7.6 8 Dec 2008 48.4 58.9 average 82%
Mount Barker 28.8 +2.5 44.5 28 Jan 2009 11.6 +0.3 2.7 8 Dec 2008 37.4 85.7 low 44%
Noarlunga 27.7   44.6 28 Jan 2009 16.6   9.3 8 Dec 2008 32.0
Parafield Airport 30.2 +1.5 45.6 28 Jan 2009 15.9 +0.1 8.5 8 Dec 2008 40.4 63.2 low 64%

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Notes

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 8 am on Monday 2 March 2009. 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