The August rainfall data is in. It confirms what we all knew. It was DRY with a capital “D”. Looking at the rainfall decile map (attached below) its clear the entire agricultural region was affected. At Least 20 stations recorded their lowest August rainfall on record. Some of the standouts were Willunga with only 10.6mm (av 79), lowest in 152 years of records! Port Elliot CP with just 3.2mm (av 62), lowest in 148 years! Tarcoola managed ZERO which they also did in 2012. Though with just 14mm for an August average its not really that hard to achieve such a low recording, nonetheless its still zero.
This I find interesting. I managed 44mm for August. Now this is no record but its still barely 1/3 of what we expect. But its pretty darned good in light of pretty much everywhere else in the ranges. Take that Willunga fall, an all time record low, yet they are barely 20km from me as the crow flies. Amazing variations over such a tiny distance and really indicative of the fickle nature of anything that was about and importantly where and which direction the rainfall came from.
It wasnt just rains that were low. Temperatures were also low with more records tumbling across the state. 5 stations recorded their lowest August minimums on record. These included Warooka, Hawker, Kent Town, Whyalla and Marla. The Hawker record was a chilly minus 5.5! 16 stations had their lowest mean daily minimum temp on record. Of these Yongola had an extraordinary av min of just 0.2. An 87 year record! To get this many many mornings were well into the sub zero’s. Yongola is a terribly cold place and frost hollow being at a decent altitude of 521m ASL and holds many cold records for SA.
A month of semi stationary high pressures stalled over the state have left a legacy of dry, frosts and chilly nights. A month not to be forgotten any time soon.
I always find the stats fascinating, here is some of Augusts “extremes”
The hottest day goes to Tarcoola which reached 33.1 on the 31st.
Coldest day was (not surprisingly) Mt Lofty at 6.3 on the 1st
Coldest night was-6.6 at Yunta on the 6th
Warmest night was 15.9 at Cleve on the 31st.
Wettest day was Bridgewater on the 1st with 40.8mm. Considering Bridgewater only had 51.1 for the entire months total they effectively had just 10.3mm for the month. For a winters month in the higher ranges this is extraordinary!!
Wettest overall 60.8mm at Arkaroola!
The highest wind gust was 98km/h at Cape Willoughby (a windy spot at the best of times) on the 1st.

For a little comparison a few of my own extremes from August
Hottest day 21.8 deg on the 29th
Coldest day 7.3 deg on the 17th
Warmest night 10.7 deg on the 30th
Coldest temp 0.7 deg on the 12th
wettest day 29.5mm on the 1st

For a very comprehensive August report visit the Bureau’s excellent webpage at http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/month/sa/summary.shtml

August deciles