Thursday, 1 December 2016 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Adelaide - Product code IDCKGC23L0

Adelaide in spring 2016: Cooler temperatures with above average rainfall

Adelaide had a cool, wet and windy spring. Rainfall was very much above average for most locations, with several periods of heavy rainfall and strong winds. Temperatures were mostly below average, owing to predominantly southwesterly winds and the passage of frequent cold fronts.

Wetter than average spring

  • Wet conditions observed through September and October, saw particularly heavy rain days about Adelaide and the Mount Lofty Ranges and resulted in river rises with Flood Warnings issued on several occasions
  • The heavy rainfall throughout the season resulted in several locations recording nearly double the long term average for spring with some other locations in the Hills reporting their wettest spring on record
  • Adelaide (Kent Town) recorded its wettest spring since 2001 with 245.4 mm, more than half of which was recorded in September
  • An intense low pressure system in late September brought heavy rainfall that saw some locations record their wettest spring day on record

Cool days and nights

  • Both daily maximum and daily minimum temperatures were more than one degree below average for spring for most locations
  • Much cooler than average in the northern suburbs with both Edinburgh RAAF and Parafield Airport reporting their coolest days and coolest nights for at least 20 years
  • The mean minimum temperature for spring at Adelaide (Kent Town) was 10.6°C, the coolest spring nights for the city since 1986

Strong and gusty winds and heavy rain

  • Strong, gusty and damaging winds occurred several times through the season, particularly during September and October
  • In the Adelaide region, flash flooding occurred on 15 September as 101.4 mm of rainfall was recorded at Uraidla and 100.2 mm at Ashton, with a number of other sites in the Adelaide Hills exceeding 80 mm

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
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Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes in spring 2016
Hottest day 36.3 °C at Parafield Airport on 20 Nov
Warmest days on average 21.2 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 15.0 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 7.7 °C at Mount Lofty on 30 Sep
Coldest night 1.5 °C at Mount Barker on 19 Oct
Coolest nights on average 6.5 °C at Mount Lofty
Warmest nights on average 10.8 °C at Adelaide Airport
Warmest night 23.9 °C at Mount Lofty on 21 Nov
Warmest on average overall 15.8 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Coolest on average overall 10.8 °C at Mount Lofty
Wettest overall 604.1 mm at Piccadilly (Woodhouse)
Wettest day 105.2 mm at Lobethal on 30 Sep
Strongest wind gust 109 km/h at Kuitpo Forest Reserve on 9 Oct

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Record highest spring daily rainfall
New record
(mm)		 Old
record		 Years of
record
Lobethal 105.2 on 30 Sep 84.4 on 8 Nov 2005 133
McLaren Vale (Pirramimma Winery) 43.2 on 29 Sep 34.4 on 31 Oct 1997 24
Mount Crawford AWS 54.0 on 30 Sep 50.0 on 31 Oct 1997 23


Record highest spring total rainfall
New record
(mm)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
spring
Mount Barker 401.6 372.8 in 1992 156 191.5
Hahndorf 476.8 428.6 in 1992 132 211.9
Uraidla 596.0 575.4 in 1992 126 256.3
Mount Bold Reservoir 391.8 387.0 in 1992 79 182.0
Burnside 296.4 266.8 in 2005 37 135.0
Heathfield Works Depot 548.5 486.8 in 1992 30 244.9

Highest spring total rainfall for at least 20 years
Observed
(mm)		 Most recent
higher		 Average for
spring
Woodside 359.4 366.5 in 1964* 199.2
Nairne 319.8 338.4 in 1992 170.9
Cudlee Creek (Millbrook Reservoir) 451.8 477.8 in 1992* 213.2
Edinburgh RAAF 186.4 288.6 in 1992* 110.4
Lenswood Research Centre 513.4 545.0 in 1992* 240.8
Lobethal 406.4 485.0 in 1992* 213.7
Adelaide (Seaton) 194.0 288.2 in 1992* 110.4
Williamstown 332.0 491.2 in 1992* 167.9

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported



Lowest spring mean daily maximum temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)		 Most recent
lower		 Average for
spring
Edinburgh RAAF 20.7 19.4 in 1992 22.4
Parafield Airport 21.2 20.3 in 1992 22.1


Record lowest spring mean daily minimum temperature
New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
spring
Adelaide (Kent Town) 10.6 = 10.6 in 1986 39 11.8

Lowest spring mean daily minimum temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)		 Most recent
lower		 Average for
spring
Parafield Airport 9.4 9.3 in 1952* 10.4
Edinburgh RAAF 9.4 =9.4 in 1986 10.3

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a lower value has gone unreported



Lowest spring mean temperature for at least 20 years
Observed
(°C)		 Most recent
lower		 Average for
spring
Adelaide (Kent Town) 15.8 15.1 in 1992 17.0
Adelaide Airport 15.4 14.5 in 1992 16.0
Edinburgh RAAF 15.0 14.6 in 1992 16.4
Parafield Airport 15.3 14.9 in 1992 16.3


Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for spring 2016
Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
spring
2016		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
spring
2016		 Mean for
spring
2016		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
spring
2016		 Total for
spring
2016		 Average
for
spring		 Rank of
spring
2016		 Fraction of
spring
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 21.0 -1.2 36.1 20 Nov 10.6 -1.2 4.9 19 Oct 245.4 131.3 v high 187%
Adelaide Airport 20.0 -1.1 35.2 20 Nov 10.8 0.0 5.5 23 Sep 191.0 106.8 v high 179%
Edinburgh RAAF 20.7 -1.7 35.8 17 Nov 9.4 -0.9 3.3 23 Oct 186.4 110.4 v high 169%
Kuitpo Forest Reserve 17.4 -1.7 31.9 20 Nov 8.3 -1.3 3.5 22 Oct 343.4 162.1 v high 212%
Mount Barker 19.4 -0.1 34.3 20 Nov 7.7 +0.4 1.5 19 Oct 401.6 191.5 highest 210%
Mount Crawford AWS 16.8 -1.8 32.2 21 Nov 7.3 -1.6 2.3 23 Oct 290.4 152.1 v high 191%
Mount Lofty 15.0 +0.2 29.4 20 Nov 6.5 -1.0 2.1 23 Oct 543.2
Noarlunga 19.8 -1.9 34.9 20 Nov 10.7 -1.3 5.3 19 Oct 145.8 101.3 high 144%
Parafield Airport 21.2 -0.9 36.3 20 Nov 9.4 -1.0 3.3 19 Oct 179.2 111.0 high 161%

Extremes Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

The Seasonal climate summary, generally published on the first working day of each month, lists the main features of the weather in Adelaide using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Thursday 1 December 2016. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

Averages for individual sites 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 10 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.

Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057
Enquiries

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