Adelaide Metro & Hills in May 2014: A warm end to autumn

May 2014 started with a burst of cold conditions, with much of the months rainfall occurring before the 10th. The 11th to the 16th saw a period of well above average temperatures due to strong high pressure systems centred over eastern Australia, with Adelaide observing a record run of consecutive May days with maximum temperatures above 20 °C. Despite the cooler than average temperatures at the beginning of the month, day and night temperatures averaged across the month ended up well above average. Rainfall was near average across the region as a whole, though Adelaide recorded its wettest May in 11 years.

  • The first week of May sees the coldest May day since 1987 with 12.1°C on the 2nd
  • Adelaide observes a record 16 consecutive days with maximum temperatures greater than 20 °C
  • Warmest May days for Adelaide since 2005
  • With 64.4 mm of rainfall, Adelaide has its wettest May since 2003
  • Warm nights with equal record highest mean daily minimum temperature at some locations

For further information on the warm spell through May please see Special Climate Statement 49

Further information

Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 9669 4057
Email media@bom.gov.au

Extremes in May 2014
Hottest day 27.4 °C at Adelaide (Kent Town) on the 16th
Warmest days on average 20.8 °C at Parafield Airport
Coolest days on average 14.9 °C at Mount Lofty
Coldest day 7.7 °C at Mount Lofty on the 2nd
Coldest night 2.7 °C at Mount Barker on the 8th
Coolest nights on average 9.8 °C at Mount Barker
Warmest nights on average 13.2 °C at Noarlunga
Warmest night 19.5 °C at Noarlunga on the 17th
Warmest on average overall 16.6 °C at Noarlunga
Coolest on average overall 12.4 °C at Mount Lofty
Wettest overall 124.2 mm at Belair
Driest overall 14.0 mm at Adelaide (Salisbury Bowling Club)
Wettest day 36.2 mm at Belair on the 27th
Highest wind gust 85 km/h at Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS) on the 27th

Record highest May mean daily minimum temperature
Mean daily minimum
temperature
for May 2014 (°C)
Previous warmest
for May
Years of
record
Average for
May
Mount Barker 9.8 = 9.8 in 2007 113 6.7
Edinburgh RAAF 11.5 = 11.5 in 2013 41 9.2



Summary statistics for May 2014
Maximum temperatures
for May
(°C)
Minimum temperatures
for May
(°C)
Rainfall
for May
(millimetres)
Mean for
May
2014
Diff
from
average
Highest for
May
2014
Mean for
May
2014
Diff
from
average
Lowest for
May
2014
Total for
May
2014
Average
for
May
Rank of
May
2014
Fraction of
May
average
Adelaide (Kent Town) 20.6 +1.6 27.4 16th 12.2 +2.0 5.9 4th 64.4 60.0 average 107%
Adelaide Airport 20.4 +1.9 26.2 16th 11.6 +2.0 5.2 8th 59.2 54.1 average 109%
Edinburgh RAAF 20.7 +1.5 26.8 16th 11.5 +2.3 4.4 8th 45.6 44.3 average 103%
Kuitpo Forest Reserve 17.7   24.2 16th 11.2   5.2 8th 71.4
Mount Barker 19.2 +2.7 25.0 21st 9.8 +3.1 2.7 8th 59.6 87.3 average 68%
Mount Crawford (Mt Crawford AWS) 16.5 +1.6 22.3 21st 10.8 +2.3 4.3 3rd 70.4 66.1 average 107%
Mount Lofty 14.9   20.7 21st 9.9   3.7 3rd 98.8
Noarlunga 19.9   25.5 16th 13.2   7.3 8th 55.0
Parafield Airport 20.8 +1.9 26.8 21st 11.2 +1.8 4.9 3rd 52.6 48.2 average 109%

Notes

A Monthly 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 8 am on Monday 2 June 2014. 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

Bureau of Meteorology
Phone (03) 9669 4057
Email media@bom.gov.au

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