RAINFALL
April was a very satisfying rainfall month for the Geelong region, according to Lindsay Smail of Geelong Weather Services yesterday. Not only did the totals exceed averages in most places, but rains fell in good time for autumn growth to occur, and resulted in a resumption of water supply runoff in the Otways without excessive erosion, he said.
The Geelong urban area received totals of between 72 mm at Leopold South and 40 mm at Lara, compared to Geelong’s April average which is normally 38 mm. Rain fell on up to 13 days in Geelong and eased many fears of a continuation of the drought. Light drizzle fell on several occasions but was not sufficient to register in rain gauges. In the region, the falls were more varied, as expected, from 85 mm at Queenscliff down to 37 mm at Inverleigh. Full details are listed below.
THE RAINFALL OUTLOOK
There is a 65% probability that the Geelong region will receive above average rainfalls in the next three months. Although the El Nino signs are still strongly negative, the Indian Ocean surface temperatures are warmer, and at this time of the year it usually means that there will be good autumn-winter rains in this region.
TEMPERATURE
April was significantly cooler than average. The average maximum was 18.4 degrees, compared to the average 20.3. The average minimum was 8.7 degrees, compared to 10.4. Geelong had one day where the maximum temperature passed 30 degrees. This was 31 degrees on the 7th, but on every other day the temperature did not exceed 23. The major reason for the cooler conditions was the thick cloud cover experienced on quite a few days.
FOGS
Several fogs were experienced in the early morning periods. The heaviest was probably that on the 7th, when thick fog blanketed the city and southern suburbs until about 8 am. Dew was so heavy it registered as 0.2 mm of rainfall on that day.
RAINFALL DATA
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