Wednesday, 31 August 2011 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC23R0

Adelaide Metro & Hills in winter 2011: Slightly warmer with below average winter rainfall

  • Below average rainfall due to a drier than average June and July.
  • Warmer than average temperatures with below average frost conditions in the Adelaide Hills.

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall

Winter rainfall across the metropolitan area was mostly below average with parts receiving up to 20% less than normal. Adelaide (Kent Town) recorded 191 mm, which is 31.0 mm below the long-term winter rainfall average, and well below last years total of 240.8 mm.

Note that the rainfall readings used here for climate records are from the manual Kent Town gauge. Some Adelaide rainfall totals on some Bureau of Meteorology web pages may differ as they are from automatic rainfall recordings.

Despite a wet August, where rainfall exceeded the monthly average of 68.2 mm by 24.2 mm, the lower than normal winter rainfall can be attributed to the well below average rainfall recorded in June and July. Rainfall during June was more than 53% lower than the June long term average, while in July, 81% of the July average was recorded.

The lowest winter rainfall total in Adelaide, at either West Terrace or Kent Town, was 59.8 mm recorded in 2006. The highest winter rainfall ever recorded was 403.7 mm recorded in 1916 at the West Terrace site.

The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area during winter of 2011 was in the Adelaide Hills at Crafers with 403.6 mm.

Temperature

Maximum temperatures were warmer than average across the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area this winter. The 2011 winter mean maximum temperature recorded at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 16.7 °C, which is 0.7 °C above the long term average winter maximum, and was 1.3 °C warmer than the winter of 2010. The winter mean maximum temperature of 2011 is the 5th highest to have been recorded at Kent Town since records began in 1977. Only 3 winters out of the last 10 have been below the long term average.

The hottest maximum temperature recorded in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area was 25.8 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on the 3rd of August. The coldest day was recorded at Mount Lofty on July 12 with 5.8 °C. Parafield Airport recorded the warmest days on average with 17 °C, which is 1.3 °C above the warmest winter average recorded at this location last year. The coolest days on average were recorded at Mount Lofty with 10.7 °C, which is 1.2 °C greater than what was recorded last year for this location.

Minimum temperatures were also slightly warmer than average across the Adelaide metropolitan and hills area. The mean minimum temperature for winter 2011 was 8.6 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town), which is 0.7 °C above the average winter mean minimum of 7.9 °C. Last winter the mean minimum was 7.4 °C. The coldest night during winter was recorded at Mount Barker with -2.5 °C on the 22nd of July in an event the saw widespread frost conditions across the Adelaide region. Adelaide (Kent Town) recorded the warmest night during winter with 15.5 °C on the 1st July, 1.6 °C warmer than warmest night which was recorded at this location last year. The coolest nights on average were 6.0 °C at Mount Lofty. Warmest nights on average were at Noarlunga with 9.3 °C.

The numbers of frost nights across the Adelaide plains remained near average, however only 7 nights of frost were recorded at Mount Barker this winter, well below than the long term average of 18.7 days, and much fewer than the 23 nights of winter 2010.

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 in winter 2011
Hottest day 25.8 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 3 Aug
Warmest days on average 17.0 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 10.7 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 5.8 °C at Mount Lofty on 12 Jul
Coldest night -2.5 °C at Mount Barker on 22 Jul
Coolest nights on average 6.0 °C at Mount Barker
6.0 °C at Mount Lofty
Warmest nights on average 9.3 °C at Noarlunga
Warmest night 15.5 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on 1 Jul
Warmest on average overall 12.7 °C at Noarlunga
Coolest on average overall 8.4 °C at Mount Lofty
Wettest overall 403.6 mm at Crafers (Mt Lofty)
Highest wind gust 83 km/h at Adelaide Airport on 20 Jun

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top



Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for winter 2011
Maximum temperatures
for winter
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
for winter
(°C)		 Rainfall
for winter
(millimetres)
Mean for
winter
2011		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
winter
2011		 Mean for
winter
2011		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
winter
2011		 Total for
winter
2011		 Average
for
winter		 Rank of
winter
2011		 Fraction of
winter
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 16.7 +0.7 24.6 3 Aug 8.6 +0.7 1.3 22 Jul 191.0 222.0 average 86%
Adelaide Airport 16.4 +0.8 23.7 3 Aug 7.7 +0.3 0.1 22 Jul 143.6 164.8 average 87%
Edinburgh RAAF 16.5 +0.6 25.8 3 Aug 6.4 0.0 -1.0 22 Jul 151.6 155.9 average 97%
Mount Barker 14.2 +0.6 23.0 3 Aug 6.0 +1.1 -2.5 22 Jul 283.0 308.0 average 92%
Mount Lofty 10.7   19.1 3 Aug 6.0   1.1 22 Jul 346.4
Noarlunga 16.1   22.3 3 Aug 9.3   3.3 16 Jul 121.2
Parafield Airport 17.0 +1.3 25.6 3 Aug 6.6 -0.1 -0.9 16 Jul 132.2 166.2 low 80%

Extremes 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 2 pm on Wednesday 31 August 2011. 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