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Dry and Cold June!

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June has been a cold and dry month. Below is a snapshot of how it has transpired at this location.

Date - Max Temp (time) - Min Temp (time) 01/06/2006 11.3 (14:57) 5.4 (19:46) 02/06/2006 14 (12:55) 3.6 (04:57) 03/06/2006 13.7 (14:26) 5 (23:58) 04/06/2006 11.4 (14:06) 4.3 (06:52) 05/06/2006 13.5 (15:13) 4 (23:30) 06.06.2006 12.7 (15:25) 3.1 (07:26) 07.06.2006 12.3 (14:34) 3.1 (01:02) 08.06.2006 12.3 (14:18) 6.0 (04:39) 09.06.2006 13.2 (13:25) 4.9 (20:16) 10.06.2006 11.5 (14:17) 4.3 (06:10) 11.06.2006 9.0 (14:16) 3.7 (08:14) 12.06.2006 7.1 (14:23) 4.1 (07:28) 13.06.2006 11.1 (15:06) 1.7 (06:58) 14.06.2006 11.9 (15:15) 3.0 (00:00)

Date - Max Temp (time) - Min Temp (time) 15.06.2006 13.5 (15:29) 1.6 (03:26) 16.06.2006 12.0 (12:16) 6.2 (08:10) 17.06.2006 10.8 (15:25) 2.9 (20:07) 18.06.2006 12.5 (15:20) 1.9 (01:41) 19.06.2006 13.3 (15:26) 2.3 (05:01) 20.06.2006 13.7 (14:01) 3.5 (00:22) 21.06.2006 13.9 (15:02) 6.1 (01:45) 22.06.2006 12.5 (13:04) 6.0 (23:58) 23.06.2006 12.5 (14:53) 3.9 (08:04) 24.06.2006 9.3 (11:26) 4.3 (01:08) 25.06.2006 10.4 (11:13) 4.0 (23:56) 26.06.2006 10.9 (14:20) 3.7 (02:53)

This is an average max for this period of just 11.9 degrees C and an average minumum of 3.9 degrees C.

The 12th certainly was a cool one! No sub-zeroes for me at this location, but then thats no surprise as frost is almost unheard of at this part of the range due to exposure mostly.

Stories I heard - burst pipes in houses at Mt Barker, other hills locations and in the Mallee. Was told of a centre pivot irrigator in the upper SE left running overnight to try to protect crops that FROZE!! There was a line of ice from the sprinklers to the ground. Unbelievable and unsubstantiated at this time. Entire potato plantings under irrigation in the Mallee have been lost overnight to frosts. In Karoonda there was frozen diesel in the tractors and pressure pumps froze up along with serious home damage from burst pipes in house roofs (as in other locations). All my brother in laws chillies are dead from frost UNDER the verandah up against the house. Ridiculous!

Adelaide's average minimum temperature for the first two-thirds of June has been 4.6C, 4,1 below average and the coldest average for the period on record. The clear skies and high pressure responsible for this feat have also produced the city's twelfth-lowest rainfall in 120 years for the period, with just 10.4mm recorded.
Data Source Laurier Williams Australian Weather News. See this page for more cold stories.

We also had just 13.75mm of rain during this period making a total 35mm for the month to date making this BY FAR AND AWAY the driest June I have ever recorded at this location. It is not the lowest ever in the district though with a mere 17.4mm in 1913 at Meadows being the record in my area thus far.

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**UPDATED**
Our final monthly tally of rainfall for June 2006 was a mere 39.8mm. In the 11 years of records at this location this is (as stated above) the lowest June rainfall by a long way. The previous low was 91mm in 1993. This is a very significant low with massive deficets! The long term Meadows township average for June is 119mm. The 11 year average at this location prior to this recording was 173mm. The stats speak for themselves I think.

Year Jun 1913 17.4 1914 30.9 1944 35.6 1958 36.9 1959 24.7 1967 18.6 1969 35.5 1979 27.3 1986 36.2

This is not however the lowest June rainfall recorded in the district. In 116 years of rainfall collecting in the township of Meadows (less than 2km away) June totals have been recorded lower. On 9 occasions in actual fact! See the list to the left for the years and their monthly total. It is interesting that these extremely low monthly totals occur on semi-regular 10-20 year cycle, becoming more frequent in recent decades.

The same conditions (dominating powerful high pressure systems) affecting our rainfall also delivered below average temperatures. While not as pronounced as in other parts of the state the average max of 11.9 degC and average minimum of 4.28 is my coldest recorded June to date. See HERE for the full monthly rundown.

30-06-06 Typically 2006 rain distibutions!

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It certainly has been the year of the central and northern hills rain wise thus far. Overnight on the 30th June 2006 another front moved over and continued the pattern of falls.
See map below for a graphical representation of this particular front.

The radar image overlaid shows the classic movement of the SW airstream that occured. The red dot below Meadows shows my location. JUST on the edge of the falls. (See here for more information on why this happens). This combined with a very strong rain shadow in the initial N/westerlies saw relatively insignificant falls over the SE ranges with just 4.5mm at this location. Quite good falls up to 20mm at Ironstone Road (near Mt Crawford) were seen for those in these narrow streams in a distribution pattern that has been so very typical this year. Combined with the failure in recent years of wet westerly airstreams my decline in significant rainfall events continues as very narrow moisture streams prevail.

10-07-06 Wind!

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The approach of a vigorous front (see synoptic below) delivers a night of strong and constant wind gusts above 60km/h, regularly above 70km/h and a maximum gust of 80.9km/h in the early hours of the morning. The strong NNW winds also kept minimum temperatures much higher than in recent weeks with it dropping to 8.6 degrees. An overnight minimum which had not been seen for 62 days! The last time the minimums exceeded this temperature was the 9th may when the overnight low was 8.8 degrees Right - graph of the overnight winds Below - Synoptic Chart.

14-07-06 Statewide cold and localised wet

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Yes it certainly was cold on the 14th! Made only 4.9 degrees just before lunch at my location which is the second coldest daytime temperature I have recorded. The coldest was on the 10th August 2003 when it made just 4.7! Chilly indeed.

Whyalla, Coober Pedy, Tarcoola and Yunta reported their coldest July maximum on record.

It was a cold maximum of just 7 at a number of towns on the 14th including Clare, Yongala, Yunta and Mount Barker.

Causing this cold was a deep low centred near Marree on the 14th delivering some pretty good falls over northern South Australia most notably Ernabella which revieved 133.0mm in 3 hrs (not quality controlled AWS data). Southern Pastoral and Riverland areas also got decent falls notably Renmark with 24mm to 8:30am on the 15th and Paringa with 33mm to 9am.
Localised spots in the Mid North also accumulated good falls approaching 25mm, but this was not widespread with many areas needing good rains only recieveing light falls. The Eyre Peninsula got generally good falls mostly exceeding 10mm.
Locally I recieved 25.5mm to 9am on the 15th from a the lows super moist wrap around in strong ESE winds and pea soup fog that had visibility down to 10 metres at times.

See below for a continuation of this event...

14th to 17th July WET WET WET!

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The low mentioned above drenches the southern Ranges with over 120mm of rain in 72 hours! Read the report and see the pics - HERE

Record Cold morning!

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The morning of Thursday July 20th 2006 saw the rarest of occurrences. A frost at our place! Temperatures plummeted to be below zero reacing a low of -0.5 just before 7am in the morning. (see image to right for a snapshot of the WX screen) This was the coldest temperature I have recorded at this location. The previous record was 0.0 degrees on the 19/08/03. Such low temperatures are rare for this location due to location on a hilltop and exposure. What made this even more remarkable was the in Meadows township in the valley below (normally a cold spot) the frost was much thinner and the temps warmer. Topsy turvey! I captured this image below of a frozen puddle on our outdoor setting. Something I had not seen previously! (click on the pic for a larger version) FROST! click for larger version

 

30th July Local Flooding and Heavy Rain!

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A fast moving front delivers torrential rains and local flooding. Read the report and see the pics - HERE

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