Tuesday, 1 December 2009 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in spring 2009: First recorded spring Heatwave!

  • Adelaide region recorded its first spring heatwave since temperature records commenced in 1887.
  • Plentiful rainfall during September and towards the end of November results in average to above average amounts for spring.

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Although October’s rainfall was below the long-term average for that month, September and November’s above average rainfall brought the spring rainfall across the Adelaide region up to average and above average.

The South Australian Regional Office, Adelaide (Kent Town), recorded 122.2mm. This is 14.5mm below the normal of 136.7mm for spring at Kent Town.  Last year 37.8mm was recorded. The last year when average or more spring rainfall was recorded in Adelaide was in 2005 with 227.2mm

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

The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan area was in the northeastern suburbs with 175.8mm at Hope Valley Reservoir.  In the Adelaide hills area the highest total recorded was 317.6mm at Piccadilly (Woodhouse).

See a map of rainfall deciles.

Temperature

The Adelaide region experienced its first spring heatwave during the first half of November when record highest maximum temperatures were recorded at all locations. More information about the Adelaide heatwave can be found here.

Throughout the metropolitan and hills area the spring 2009 average maximum temperatures were between two and three degrees above the long-term normal whilst the average minimum temperatures were between one and two degrees above the normal.

The mean temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) for spring 2009 is 18.7°C which is second only to spring 1914 when the average temperature was 18.8°C.

The mean maximum temperature, recorded at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town), for spring 2009 was 24.1°C, which is 2.2°C above the average spring mean maximum temperature of 21.9°C.  Since recorded maximum temperatures were commenced in 1887, the highest mean maximum temperature for spring at the South Australian Regional Office is 24.9°C in 1914. The mean maximum temperature for spring last year was 23.1°C.

The hottest day during spring was recorded at Edinburgh RAAF with 44.5°C on the 19th November. Mount Lofty, in the Adelaide hills, recorded the coolest day during spring with 7.2°C on the 25th September.

Parafield Airport and Edinburgh RAAF recorded the warmest days on average with 24.8°C, with the coolest days on average of 17.9°C at Mount Lofty.

The mean minimum temperature for spring 2009 was 13.3°C at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town), which is 1.7°C above the spring mean minimum temperature of 11.6°C.  This is the highest mean minimum temperature recorded at the South Australian Regional Office since 1887. Last spring the mean minimum temperature was 12.0°C.

The coldest night during spring was recorded at Mount Barker with minus 0.5°C on the 10th of September. Noarlunga recorded the warmest night during spring with 26.2°C on the 12th November.

The coolest nights on average, 8.7°C, was recorded at Mount Barker whilst the warmest nights on average were at the South Australian Regional Office site of 13.3°C

Some sites had their highest spring temperature on record.
Some sites had their highest spring mean daily maximum temperature on record.
Some sites had their highest spring mean daily minimum temperature on record.

Further information

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Extremes in spring 2009
Hottest day 44.5 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 19 Nov
Warmest days on average 24.8 °C at Edinburgh RAAF
24.8 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 17.9 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 7.2 °C at Mount Lofty on 25 Sep
Coldest night 0.5 °C at Mount Barker on 10 Sep
Coolest nights on average 8.7 °C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average 13.3 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night 26.2 °C at Noarlunga on 12 Nov
Wettest overall 317.6 mm at Piccadilly (Woodhouse)
Highest wind gust 89 km/h at Adelaide Airport on 25 Sep
89 km/h at Adelaide Airport on 28 Nov

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Record highest spring temperature
Highest temperature
in spring 2009 (°C) 		Previous highest
for spring		 Years of
record		 Average for
spring
Adelaide Airport 43.1 on 19 Nov 41.9 on 30 Nov 1962 55 20.9
Parafield Airport 44.1 on 19 Nov = 44.1 on 30 Nov 1993 53 21.8
Edinburgh RAAF 44.5 on 19 Nov 44.3 on 30 Nov 1993 38 22.1
Adelaide (Kent Town) 43.0 on 19 Nov 42.0 on 30 Nov 1993 33 21.9


Record highest spring mean daily maximum temperature
Mean daily maximum
temperature
for spring 2009 (°C) 		Previous highest
for spring		 Years of
record		 Average for
spring
Adelaide Airport 23.5 23.4 in 2007 54 20.9
Edinburgh RAAF 24.8 = 24.8 in 2006 36 22.1


Record highest spring mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for spring 2009 (°C) 		Previous highest
for spring		 Years of
record		 Average for
spring
Edinburgh RAAF 11.5 = 11.5 in 2000 36 10.2
Adelaide (Kent Town) 13.3 13.2 in 2000 32 11.7


Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for spring 2009
Maximum temperatures
for spring
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for spring
(°C)		 Rainfall
for spring
(millimetres)
Mean for
spring
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
spring
2009		 Mean for
spring
2009		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
spring
2009		 Total for
spring
2009		 Average
for
spring		 Rank of
spring
2009		 Fraction of
spring
average
Adelaide Plains (district 23A)
Adelaide (Kent Town) 24.1 +2.2 43.0 19 Nov 13.3 +1.7 4.8 10 Sep 123.6 136.3 average 91%
Adelaide Airport 23.5 +2.5 43.1 19 Nov 12.5 +1.8 3.6 15 Sep 103.2 109.7 average 94%
Edinburgh RAAF 24.8 +2.6 44.5 19 Nov 11.5 +1.2 1.6 7 Oct 96.8 112.7 average 86%
Parafield Airport 24.8 +3.0 44.1 19 Nov 11.5 +1.2 1.8 10 Sep 115.8 113.7 average 102%
Mount Lofty Ranges (district 23C)
Mount Barker 22.0 +2.6 39.5 19 Nov 8.7 +1.4 0.5 10 Sep 238.8 192.5 high 124%
Mount Lofty 17.9   37.1 19 Nov 9.2   2.1 7 Oct 281.0
Noarlunga 22.8   41.8 19 Nov 12.9   5.0 9 Oct 94.4

Details Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

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 10 am on Tuesday 1 December 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

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries

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