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Record Cool January / Feb 2004:

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High pressure systems centred consistently below the level of Tasmania helped keep us in a S/SE airstream. The result of this was one of the coolest January's ever with Mount Gambier, Keith, Edinburgh and Warooka recording their coolest January on record. I recorded only  2 days exceeding 30 degrees for January. The average Max was 22.9 and the average min an amazing 9.9! Not once did the minimum temp rise above 15 degrees. The data and graph below tells the story. Take note of the last 5 days of Jan and first 2 days of Feb where the maximum temp hovered around 18 degrees for a full 7 days!!!
The cool spell ended in Feb when the temps returned to a normal summer.

date	Max	Min 		date	Max	Min 
1-Jan	29.2	10.8		21-Jan	20.1	7.9
2-Jan	33.3	11		22-Jan	20.6	10.1
3-Jan	34.7	15		23-Jan	21.8	8.9
4-Jan	25.3	10.9		24-Jan	21.9	9.7
5-Jan	20.9	10.4		25-Jan	22.7	9.2
6-Jan	15.2	11.1		26-Jan	26.4	9.1
7-Jan	15.9	7.1		27-Jan	18.2	10.6
8-Jan	17	6.9		28-Jan	18.4	8.4
9-Jan	18.4	7.1		29-Jan	17.6	8.8
10-Jan	18.9	10.4		30-Jan	18.2	11.1
11-Jan	19.9	8.1		31-Jan	18.9	10.9
12-Jan	22.5	7.5		1-Feb	18	10.4
13-Jan	22.4	8.1		2-Feb	18.7	9.4
14-Jan	21.1	9.6		3-Feb	20.6	10
15-Jan	24.4	7.2		4-Feb	27.3	8.2
16-Jan	22.4	9.7		5-Feb	32.4	14.3
17-Jan	18.3	8.9		6-Feb	30.1	13.8
18-Jan	20.7	7.7		7-Feb	34.4	12.9
19-Jan	29.1	8.7		8-Feb	32.3	13.9
20-Jan	25.6	10.8				
		Max	Min 				
Av		22.9	9.9				
extremes	34.7	6.9				
24 hour temp	16.4					

Messy Synoptic09-02-04

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How's this for a synoptic chart!

Rollercoaster temps 10-02-04

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As often happens a night time wind change to the north raises temps. Then when the sun breaks the horizon things start to heat quite rapidly. Nothing unusual, but then at around 8:30am the wind swung around to the SE. Not a slowish change, but a sudden abrupt "snap" to a howling S/Easterly. The result was plummet in temps of around 3 degrees in half an hour. Then as fast as it came the SE wind swung back to the NW. No transition, just instant change. Again the temps followed this time rising 9 degreees in an hour and a half. Then you guessed it the wind changed again and the temp plummeted 7 degrees in an hour. This happened twice more during the course of the day before finally the S-Easterly set in around 5:00pm and the temp plummeted 5.5 degrees in half an hour and a total of 16.5 degrees in 4 hours before stabilising! A 19.2 degree temp variation, one hell of an unusual day. The graphs from the WX below display the days unusual conditions.

Feb Heat 2004

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In contrast to Jan, conditions did a total flip and the heat rolled in. Well, records are made to be broken and broken they were throught southern Australia. Too many records were broken to list them all here so I will concentrate on our local area for now..

The Bull Creek Ranges Feb Temps (website location) Date Max Temp Time Min Temp Time 1/02/2004 18 (14:21) 10.4 (05:24) 2/02/2004 18.7 (16:06) 9.4 (06:52) 3/02/2004 20.6 (15:36) 10 (01:12) 4/02/2004 27.3 (17:28) 8.2 (06:50) 5/02/2004 32.4 (14:40) 14.3 (01:55) 6/02/2004 30.1 (17:13) 13.8 (23:26) 7/02/2004 34.4 (16:39) 12.9 (06:21) 8/02/2004 32.3 (11:56) 13.9 (23:59) 9/02/2004 22.4 (15:36) 12.9 (07:33) 10/02/2004 33.8 (16:11) 14.6 (00:00) 11/02/2004 29.1 (16:05) 14.6 (04:43) 12/02/2004 31.3 (14:07) 13.9 (23:59) 13/02/2004 30.9 (16:12) 13.4 (04:15) 14/02/2004 39.1 (13:56) 25.9 (23:05) 15/02/2004 31.7 (14:10) 15.5 (23:59) 16/02/2004 28.3 (14:45) 13.5 (23:20) 17/02/2004 29.9 (12:52) 13.3 (00:55) 18/02/2004 28.8 (14:21) 11.6 (07:42) 19/02/2004 31.7 (16:45) 12 (07:52) 20/02/2004 32.5 (16:39) 15 (00:00) 21/02/2004 15.4 (12:21) 11.1 (23:59) 22/02/2004 18.8 (14:25) 9.8 (07:08) 23/02/2004 17.9 (15:48) 10.1 (00:12) 24/02/2004 23.5 (15:08) 8.9 (08:16) 25/02/2004 27.2 (15:41) 8.1 (07:35) 26/02/2004 27.6 (14:19) 10.7 (03:29) 27/02/2004 25 (14:46) 9.7 (07:23) 28/02/2004 25.3 (16:22) 9.4 (06:52) 29/02/2004 20.5 (15:12) 8.9 (23:59) Januarys cool carried over for the first few days then it all changed with 4 days above 30 degrees. A slight respite, then the heat returned culminating with a day of extreme fire danger and top temp of 39 degrees on the 14th. Hot indeed for us. Even more scorching was temperatures recorded from other areas of the state on this day. A few stations broke their feb records as can be seen in the next column:

Febuary Records (cont) Port Lincoln 44.2 (previously 43.4, 3/2/1993) Snowtown 45.2 (44.8, 16/2/1983) Adelaide 44.3 (43.4, 1912 and 1981) Nuriootpa 43.0 (42.1, 20/2/1980) I had reports of 49 degrees from Copeville in the Mallee!!  The next day a "cool" change bought relief for us but most of the state continued to cook under plus 40 degree temps, including Adelaide. So many records were set for Feb. It really was an amazing month. Here are a few more stats........ Adelaide : 15 consecutive days over 30 - breaking the record of 14 set in 1930 and 1956. Adelaide : 8 successive days over 35, equalling the existing record. Oodnadatta - 8 consecutive nights over 30 equals the record set on 30/12/2003-5/1/2004, but prior to this year the record was 4. (Too damn hot!) One amazing month for all of Southern Australia.

Night time temp rise 1st March 2004

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After a warmish. the usual evening sea breeze kicked in cooling temps and raising humidity. The normal state of affairs you could say. Early morning all that changed as the N/Westerly took over and totally reversed conditions. Quite a temp rise in the middle of the night!!

Warm and Dusty March 2004

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Not what the doctor ordered was an extended dry spell for more than 2 weeks in March. To make matters worse was warm to hot temperatures culminating in a very hot night on the 27th where the temp did not drop below 20 degrees. Very warm indeed for this time of year. Some centres like Noarlunga did not drop below 26 degrees and in fact hovered above 28 degrees for most of the night

Date Max Temp/time Min Temp/Time Rain 13.03.2004 22.1 (16:22) 8 (03:21) 0 14.03.2004 22.6 (15:34) 9.1 (05:53) 0.25 15.03.2004 22.8 (14:29) 8.6 (07:51) 0.25 16.03.2004 24.1 (16:02) 9.2 (07:52) 0 17.03.2004 23.5 (15:25) 9.7 (23:59) 0 18.03.2004 22.6 (16:00) 6.6 (07:08) 0 19.03.2004 28 (15:43) 9.3 (07:46) 0.25 20.03.2004 22.1 (13:23) 10.9 (21:27) 0 21.03.2004 18.8 (14:39) 8.7 (07:38) 0 22.03.2004 21.6 (14:04) 6 (06:07) 0 23.03.2004 25.9 (15:20) 9.5 (07:45) 0.25 24.03.2004 28.5 (14:36) 10.8 (03:00) 0 25.03.2004 27.5 (14:06) 12.1 (23:59) 0 26.03.2004 23.8 (16:21) 9 (07:50) 0 27.03.2004 31.9 (16:32) 9.8 (04:35) 0

We were actually the lucky ones in the eastern Ranges with some dews heavy enough to register. Morning fogs kept things fresh, but it soon burns off. But it was not just South Australia suffering these conditions. The WHOLE of southern Australia, from Perth, sweltering in 40+ degree heat to Melbourne. The dominating highs kept half a continent under their influence for this extended period. Disturbing start to the year.

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