January 2001

TEMPERATURE

“The warmest January for twenty years,” said Lindsay Smail, Director of Geelong Weather Services. “The Geelong region had just experienced the hottest January since 1981,” he said. Geelong’s average maximum this year was 26.7 degrees compared to the normal 25.2. Average minimum was 15.1 compared to 13.6. This meant that, overall, the average January temperature was 1.5 degrees greater than normal. Nine days reached over 30 degrees – a fifty percent greater figure than usual. The hottest day was the 11th when the mercury reached 40.4 degrees. High humidity was also a feature of many of the hot days, according to Mr Smail.

RAINFALL

Although four thunder days were reported, the urban area only received around 15 mm of rainfall, about one third of normal. Most of the rain fell in the 3-day period 24th to 26th, and there were only six rain days anyway. The whole region at the moment is suffering from a summer drought, which although is not as serious as a drought during the growing months, is a continuing bugbear for water supply managers and bushfire fighters. Smoke from serious bushfires at Winchelsea and King Island blanketed Geelong on the 11th and 12th, creating an inversion which limited visibility and maintained high temperatures and humidity.

RAINFALL DATA