Thursday, 1 March 2018 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Greater Adelaide - Product code IDCKGC23L0

Greater Adelaide in summer 2017-18: warm with below average rainfall

Despite a relatively wet December, summer rainfall was close to or below average across Adelaide and the Hills during summer 2017-18. A very warm January, combined with above average temperatures during February and much of December, resulted in above average daytime and night time temperatures.

Below average rainfall

  • Despite a wetter than average December 2017, rainfall totals in the Adelaide region for summer 2017-18 were below average with most sites reporting around 60% to 80% of their summer average
  • The wettest day for most sites was on the first day of summer with moderate falls in the 20 mm to 30 mm reported mainly in outer suburbs.

Above average temperatures

  • Several heatwave events were reported in the Adelaide area during summer 2017-18 particularly during January 2018
  • Adelaide Airport reported a record long run for summer of consecutive days of 30 °C or above, with the 13 days from 16 to 28 January breaking the previous record run of 12 days from 28 January to 8 February 1956.
  • The 14 consecutive days of 30 °C or above at both Kent Town and Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) from 15 to 28 January equalled the city's second longest run for summer (also reported in 1930, 1956 and 2009) behind the 17 days at Kent Town from 4 to 20 February 2004
  • Mean maximum and minimum temperatures were generally one to two degrees higher than average

Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira)

  • Total rainfall for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 39.0 mm, which is 58% of the long-term average of 66.9 mm
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 29.6 °C, which is 1.6 °C above the long-term average of 28.0 °C. The warmest day was 42.3 °C on 6 January, and the coolest day was on 2 December when the temperature reached 19.6 °C
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 17.3 °C, which is 1.1 °C above the long-term average of 16.2 °C. The coldest morning was 10.8 °C on 7 Dec, and the warmest morning was on 9 February when the minimum temperature was 28.7 °C

Further information

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Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes in summer 2017-18
Hottest day 44.8 °C at Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre) on 19 Jan 2018
Warmest days on average 31.2 °C at Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre)
Coolest days on average 24.8 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 12.1 °C at Mount Lofty on 7 Dec 2017
Coldest night 6.2 °C at Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre) on 8 Dec 2017
6.2 °C at Mount Barker on 26 Feb 2018
Coolest nights on average 13.0 °C at Mount Lofty
Warmest nights on average 17.8 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Warmest night 28.7 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on 9 Feb 2018
28.7 °C at Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) on 9 Feb 2018
Warmest on average overall 24.1 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town)
Coolest on average overall 18.9 °C at Mount Lofty
Wettest overall 92.6 mm at Piccadilly (Woodhouse)
Wettest day 29.4 mm at Woodside on 1 Dec 2017
Strongest wind gust 80 km/h at Sellicks Hill (Mount Terrible Radar) on 31 Jan 2018
80 km/h at Sellicks Hill (Mount Terrible Radar) on 1 Feb 2018

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for summer 2017-18
Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
summer
2017-18		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
summer
2017-18		 Mean for
summer
2017-18		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
summer
2017-18		 Total for
summer
2017-18		 Average
for
summer		 Rank of
summer
2017-18		 Fraction of
summer
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 30.4 +1.7 44.1 28 Jan 2018 17.8 +1.1 10.4 8 Dec 2017 41.2 65.3 low 63%
Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) 29.6 +1.6 42.3 6 Jan 2018 17.3 +1.1 10.8 7 Dec 2017 39.0 66.9 low 58%
Adelaide Airport 28.5 +1.1 41.4 6 Jan 2018 17.2 +1.6 10.7 8 Dec 2017 42.4 60.9 average 70%
Edinburgh RAAF 30.2 +0.9 44.2 19 Jan 2018 16.9 +0.9 8.6 5 Dec 2017 43.0 65.1 average 66%
Kuitpo Forest Reserve 26.1 +0.9 40.0 28 Jan 2018 14.3 +0.6 7.9 8 Dec 2017 66.2 86.5 average 77%
Mount Barker 28.0 +1.6 42.1 28 Jan 2018 13.3 +1.9 6.2 26 Feb 2018 77.6 86.9 average 89%
Mount Crawford AWS 27.4 +0.9 40.7 28 Jan 2018 13.9 +0.5 7.3 8 Dec 2017 54.0 83.8 average 64%
Mount Lofty 24.8 +3.8 37.9 28 Jan 2018 13.0 +1.1 6.4 26 Feb 2018 90.0
Noarlunga 28.2 +0.6 41.3 18 Jan 2018 17.2 +0.7 9.8 8 Dec 2017 44.6 58.0 average 77%
Parafield Airport 30.9 +1.9 44.1 28 Jan 2018 17.0 +1.1 9.5 9 Dec 2017 48.2 65.4 average 74%
Rosedale (Turretfield Research Centre) 31.2 +1.4 44.8 19 Jan 2018 15.3 +0.6 6.2 8 Dec 2017 50.8 61.9 average 82%

Extremes Maps 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 Greater 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.

In September 2017 this summary was broadened to include data from observing sites in or near the Greater Adelaide “Greater Capital City Statistical Area” (GCCSA). The Australian Bureau of Statistics designed the GCCSAs to “include the population within the urban area of the city, as well as people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the city, and live in small towns and rural areas surrounding the city. It is important to note that GCCSAs do not define the built up edge of the city. They provide a stable definition for these cities and are designed for the output of a range of social and economic survey data.”

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 8 am on Thursday 1 March 2018. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.

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

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