Friday, 1 March 2024 - Seasonal Climate Summary for Greater Adelaide - Product code IDCKGC23L0
Greater Adelaide in summer 2023–24
Rainfall
- Rainfall for summer was above to very much above average at all sites across Adelaide and the Hills.
- Most rainfall for the season was recorded during December and January, when the rainfall totals were above to very much above average for those months.
- Little or no rain fell across Adelaide and the Hills during February, with monthly totals very much below average.
- Despite a very dry February, it was the wettest summer since 2016–17 for Greater Adelaide when averaged across the region.
- Rainfall totals ranged from 140% of average at Parafield Airport to 209% of average at Noarlunga.
- Noarlunga had its highest total summer rainfall since 2002.
Temperature
- Mean maximum temperatures for summer were generally close to average or cooler than average across sites in Adelaide and the Hills.
- Daytime temperatures during in December and January were generally close to average or below average, but February had warmer than average days.
- On 9 December, several sites had their coldest summer day on record.
- The highest temperature recorded during summer was 42.4 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 4 February 2024.
- Mean minimum temperatures in summer were generally close to average to cooler than average.
- The coldest temperature recorded during summer was 6.2 °C at Mount Lofty on 20 December 2023.
Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira)
- Total rainfall for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 134.6 mm, which is 201% of the long-term average of 67.0 mm.
- The mean daily maximum temperature for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 28.3 °C, which is 0.3 °C above the long-term average of 28.0 °C.
- The warmest day was 41.2 °C on 23 January, and the coolest day was on 9 December when the temperature reached 15.9 °C.
- The mean daily minimum temperature for Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) was 16.0 °C, which is 0.2 °C below the long-term average of 16.2 °C.
- The coldest morning was 9.5 °C on 19 January, and the warmest morning was on 13 January when the minimum temperature was 25.4 °C.
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Extremes in summer 2023–24 | |
|---|---|
| Hottest day | 42.4 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 4 Feb 2024 |
| Warmest days on average | 29.9 °C at Parafield Airport |
| Coolest days on average | 23.8 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Coldest day | 11.8 °C at Mount Lofty on 9 Dec 2023 |
| Coldest night | 6.2 °C at Mount Lofty on 20 Dec 2023 |
| Coolest nights on average | 12.1 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Warmest nights on average | 16.2 °C at Adelaide Airport |
| Warmest night | 26.4 °C at Edinburgh RAAF on 21 Feb 2024 |
| Warmest on average overall | 22.7 °C at Parafield Airport |
| Coolest on average overall | 17.9 °C at Mount Lofty |
| Wettest overall | 197.4 mm at Mount Lofty |
| Wettest day | 51.4 mm at Prospect Hill on 10 Dec 2023 |
| Strongest wind gust | 106 km/h at Mount Crawford AWS on 8 Dec 2023 |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Highest summer total rainfall for at least 20 years | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Observed (mm) |
Most recent higher |
Average for summer |
|||
| Noarlunga | 121.2 | 129.0 | in 2002* | 57.9 | |
* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported
| Record lowest summer daily maximum temperature | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
New record (°C) |
Old record |
Years of record |
Average for summer |
|||
| Edinburgh RAAF | 17.2 | on 9 Dec 2023 | = 17.2 | on 20 Dec 1988 | 52 | 29.4 |
| Mount Crawford AWS | 12.8 | on 9 Dec 2023 | 13.3 | on 19 Dec 2010 | 30 | 26.6 |
| Kuitpo Forest Reserve | 12.8 | on 9 Dec 2023 | 13.0 | on 3 Dec 2001 | 26 | 25.3 |
| Noarlunga | 15.3 | on 9 Dec 2023 | 16.9 | on 13 Dec 2018 | 24 | 27.7 |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
| Summary statistics for summer 2023-24 | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum temperatures (°C) |
Minimum temperatures (°C) |
Rainfall (millimetres) |
||||||||||
| Mean for summer 2023-24 |
Diff from average |
Highest for summer 2023-24 |
Mean for summer 2023-24 |
Diff from average |
Lowest for summer 2023-24 |
Total for summer 2023-24 |
Average for summer |
Rank of summer 2023-24 |
Fraction of summer average |
|||
| Adelaide (West Terrace / ngayirdapira) | 28.3 | +0.3 | 41.2 | 23 Jan 2024 | 16.0 | -0.2 | 9.5 | 19 Jan 2024 | 134.6 | 67.0 | v high | 201% |
| Adelaide Airport | 27.1 | -0.3 | 40.1 | 23 Jan 2024 | 16.2 | +0.5 | 10.0 | 3 Dec 2023 | 113.4 | 60.6 | v high | 187% |
| Edinburgh RAAF | 29.4 | 0.0 | 42.4 | 4 Feb 2024 | 15.8 | -0.2 | 9.5 | 3 Dec 2023 | ||||
| Kuitpo Forest Reserve | 24.4 | -0.9 | 37.3 | 23 Jan 2024 | 13.1 | -0.6 | 9.2 | 3 Dec 2023 | 166.8 | 88.8 | high | 188% |
| Mount Barker | 26.6 | +0.1 | 38.7 | 23 Jan 2024 | 12.6 | +1.1 | 7.5 | 17 Dec 2023 | 171.0 | 87.2 | v high | 196% |
| Mount Crawford AWS | 26.1 | -0.5 | 37.8 | 4 Feb 2024 | 13.1 | -0.3 | 6.7 | 20 Dec 2023 | 104.4 | 82.1 | high | 127% |
| Mount Lofty | 23.8 | +1.9 | 34.8 | 23 Jan 2024 | 12.1 | +0.1 | 6.2 | 20 Dec 2023 | 197.4 | 125.0 | high | 158% |
| Noarlunga | 27.1 | -0.6 | 40.0 | 23 Jan 2024 | 15.9 | -0.6 | 11.0 | 3 Dec 2023 | 121.2 | 57.9 | v high | 209% |
| Parafield Airport | 29.9 | +0.8 | 42.1 | 23 Jan 2024 | 15.5 | -0.4 | 9.5 | 3 Dec 2023 | 90.0 | 64.5 | high | 140% |
Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top
Notes
The Seasonal climate summary, usually published in the first week of the following 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.
This summary includes 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 represent a socio-economic definition of each capital city. This means the greater capital city boundary includes people who regularly socialise, shop or work within the capital city, but live in the small towns and rural areas surrounding the capital city. It does not define the built up edge of the capital city.
This statement has been prepared based on information available at 10 am on Friday 1 March 2024. 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.
Information about Australian Indigenous seasonal calendars is available at the Indigenous Weather Knowledge website.
Unless otherwise noted, all maps, graphs and diagrams in this page are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
