Friday, 31 May 2013 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide Metro & Hills - Product code IDCKGC13L0
Adelaide Metro & Hills in autumn 2013: Record heat and dry conditions.
- Hottest autumn on record for Adelaide (since records began in 1887).
- Warmer than average by 1 to 2 °C.
- Drier than average, with rainfall typically 20% below normal.
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
Rainfall
Autumn rainfall across the Adelaide metropolitan area was generally below average throughout the season, with locations across the plains seeing rainfall about10% below average, and hills locations receiving up to 30% less rainfall than average.
The season started with drier than average conditions through March, near average April rainfall, and below average May rain. Sporadic and weak tropical activity has contributed to weather systems producing less rainfall than usual this season.
Adelaide (Kent Town) received 107.8 mm against the long term average of 123.2 mm. By comparison 153.0mm was recorded in autumn 2012. The lowest autumn rainfall total on record for the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) is 23.0 mm in 2005 and the highest is 281.8 mm recorded in 1983.
Rainfall totals were generally ranged from 80 to 110 mm on the plains, with totals of 140 to 200 mm in the Adelaide Hills. The wettest location in the Adelaide metropolitan and hills region was at Crafers in the Adelaide Hills which recorded 201.6 mm.
Note that the Adelaide official climate rainfall record is taken from the manually observed 203mm rain gauge at the Kent Town site of the Adelaide. These figures may differ from totals on some Bureau web pages as these may be from automatic tipping bucket rain gauge readings.
Some sites had their lowest total autumn rainfall on record.Temperature
Both maximum and minimum temperatures were between 1 to 2 °C hotter than average in autumn 2013. The season started with well above average temperatures through March, with closer to average temperatures in April. The first half of May saw another burst of well above average temperature, with the month also 1 to 2 °C warmer than average for both day and night time conditions. This has resulted in the hottest autumn for Adelaide on record (combining maximum and minimum temperatures) since records began in 1887. The previous hottest autumn was in 1923.
The maximum temperature averaged for the whole of autumn at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 24.4 °C, which is 1.7°C above the average autumn maximum temperature of 22.7°C. The lowest recorded maximum temperature for autumn at the South Australian Regional Office (Kent Town) is 20.6°C in 1995. By comparison, the mean maximum temperature for autumn 2012 was 22.8°C.
The hottest day during autumn, for any location in the Adelaide metropolitan and Hills area was 39.5 °C recorded at Edinburgh Airport on the 12th of March. Mount Lofty, in the Adelaide hills, recorded the coldest day during autumn with 9.4°C on the 22nd of May.
Parafield Airport recorded the warmest days on average with 24.8°C, with the coolest days on average of 18.6°C at Mount Lofty.
The Adelaide (Kent Town) mean minimum temperature for autumn 2012 was 14.6°C, 2.0 °C warmer than the autumn mean minimum of 12.6°C. In autumn 2012 the mean minimum temperature was 12.3°C. The lowest minimum temperature for autumn in Adelaide (Kent Town) is 11.5 °C observed in 1997.
The coldest night during autumn was recorded at Mount Barker with 3.8 °C on the 18th of May, whilst the warmest night was recorded at Edinburgh Airport with 27.2°C on the 7th of March.
The coolest nights on average for the season were at Mount Barker with 10.8 °C, whilst the warmest nights on average was at Noarlunga, with an average of 15.1 °C.
Further information
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
| Extremes in autumn 2013 | |
|---|---|
| Hottest day | 39.5 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 12 Mar |
| Warmest days on average | 24.8 °C at Parafield Airport |
| Coolest days on average | 18.6 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Coldest day | 9.4 °C at Mount Lofty on 22 May |
| Coldest night | 3.8 °C at Mount Barker on 18 May |
| Coolest nights on average | 10.8 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Warmest nights on average | 15.2 °C at Noarlunga |
| Warmest night | 27.2 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 7 Mar |
| Warmest on average overall | 19.5 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town) |
| Coolest on average overall | 14.7 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Wettest overall | 206.0 mm at Crafers (Mt Lofty) |
| Driest overall | 22.1 mm at Echunga Golf Course |
| Wettest day | 40.4 mm at Uraidla (Sutton Creek) on 22 Apr |
| Highest wind gust | 83 km/h at Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS) on 21 Mar |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Record lowest total autumn rainfall | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Total rainfall for 1 March to 31 May 2013 (mm) |
Previous driest for 1 March to 31 May |
Years of record |
Average for 1 March to 31 May |
||
| Echunga Golf Course | 22.1 | 27.8 | in 2005 | 122 | 190.4 |
| Record highest autumn daily maximum temperature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mean daily maximum temperature for 1 March to 31 May 2013 (°C) |
Previous warmest for 1 March to 31 May |
Years of record |
Average for 1 March to 31 May |
||
| Adelaide Airport | 23.8 | = 23.8 | in 2008 | 59 | 22.1 |
| Adelaide (Kent Town) | 24.4 | = 24.4 | in 2008 | 37 | 22.7 |
| Record highest autumn mean daily minimum temperature | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Mean daily minimum temperature for 1 March to 31 May 2013 (°C) |
Previous warmest for 1 March to 31 May |
Years of record |
Average for 1 March to 31 May |
||
| Adelaide Airport | 14.0 | 13.8 | in 2007 | 59 | 11.9 |
| Parafield Airport | 13.8 | 13.7 | in 1942 | 53 | 12.0 |
| Mount Barker | 10.9 | 10.6 | in 2007 | 52 | 8.7 |
| Adelaide (Kent Town) | 14.6 | 14.2 | in 2007 | 37 | 12.6 |
| Edinburgh RAAF | 13.8 | 13.5 | in 1989 | 37 | 11.8 |
Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Summary statistics for autumn 2013 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures for 1 March to 31 May (°C) |
Minimum temperatures for 1 March to 31 May (°C) |
Rainfall for 1 March to 31 May (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for 1 March to 31 May 2013 |
Diff from average |
Highest for 1 March to 31 May 2013 |
Mean for 1 March to 31 May 2013 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for 1 March to 31 May 2013 |
Total for 1 March to 31 May 2013 |
Average for 1 March to 31 May |
Rank of 1 March to 31 May 2013 |
Fraction of 1 March to 31 May average |
|||
| Adelaide (Kent Town) | 24.4 | +1.7 | 38.4 | 11 Mar | 14.6 | +2.0 | 6.7 | 24 May | 107.6 | 126.7 | low | 85% |
| Adelaide Airport | 23.8 | +1.7 | 36.9 | 12 Mar | 14.0 | +2.1 | 5.7 | 24 May | 96.4 | 111.1 | average | 87% |
| Edinburgh RAAF | 24.5 | +1.5 | 39.5 | 12 Mar | 13.8 | +2.0 | 5.0 | 24 May | 95.6 | 98.6 | average | 97% |
| Kuitpo Forest Reserve | 21.1 | 35.4 | 11 Mar | 12.4 | 5.8 | 13 May | 134.0 | |||||
| Mount Barker | 21.8 | +1.1 | 37.6 | 11 Mar | 10.9 | +2.2 | 3.8 | 18 May | 92.2 | 177.0 | low | 52% |
| Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS) | 20.7 | 35.6 | 12 Mar | 11.7 | 5.2 | 13 May | 143.4 | |||||
| Mount Lofty | 18.6 | +2.7 | 32.7 | 11 Mar | 10.8 | +1.2 | 4.2 | 13 May | 186.8 | |||
| Noarlunga | 23.3 | 36.2 | 12 Mar | 15.2 | 8.6 | 18 May | 93.2 | |||||
| Parafield Airport | 24.8 | +2.0 | 38.4 | 12 Mar | 13.8 | +1.8 | 4.3 | 24 May | 116.6 | 109.2 | average | 107% |
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 3 pm on Friday 31 May 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
- Media
- media@bom.gov.au (03) 9669 4057
- Enquiries
- helpdesk.climate@bom.gov.au
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
