RAINFALL Geelong’s six-monthly rainfall from January to June this year rivals last year’s disastrous result. With just 30 mm recorded in the urban area Geelong has had only around 50% of its 6-monthly average of 240mm, namely 123 mm. This is the second worst start to a rainfall year since 1967, when only 98mm was received. Last year, 2008, was…
Author: Lindsay Smail
May 2009
RAINFALL “A disappointing result for May and for autumn in general” was how Geelong Weather Services’ Director Lindsay Smail described Geelong’s latest rainfall figures. Only 20mm fell across the urban area in May (average 48mm), and a total of 90mm for autumn (average 125mm). “This continues the long run of depleted autumn rainfalls in this region, a feature of nine…
April 2009
RAINFALL With around 40 mm falling across the urban area Geelong has continued to enjoy average rainfall for two months running after a dry start to the year. Otway catchment areas were patchy, with Mt Sabine receiving 154mm and West Barwon only 69mm. Very dry subsoils have ensured that runoff has unfortunately been minimal. In Geelong rain fell on 13…
March 2009
RAINFALL For just the third time in the last 15 months Geelong has recorded above average rain. March is normally Geelong’s driest month with an average of 30 mm but this time we managed to get 35.2mm, said Lindsay Smail of Geelong Weather Services. It was a welcome return after our driest January-February since 1891. Rain fell on 14 days…
February 2009
RAINFALL A miserable 2.2mm was recorded at the Mt Duneed Airport AWS in February. This was not Geelong’s driest ever February, but, added to the 1mm in Januaryit marked the driest start to the year since 1891, almost an all-time record. There were only 4 rain days, but thunder / lightning was experienced ontwo days. Much of the precipitation received…
January 2009
RAINFALL Despite some popular opinion this has not quite been Geelong’s driest January. The Weather Station at Mt Duneed has only been operating since 1983 and it has certainly been the driest one since then. Only 0.4 mm was recorded this time, but in 1878 the North Geelong station received no January rain at all. So it is true to…
Summary of 2008 Weather
(Most figures are from the Bureau of Meteorology station at Mount Duneed – called “Geelong AP AWS”, and averages from 1983-2007) Month Weather Conditions Temps (deg C) Rainfall (mm) Cumulative Rainfall Comments JAN Hotter by 1.8 deg. Highest 40.6C on 10th. 6 days >30C. 2 very windy days >60kph. Highest 70kph at Mt D on 11th. No severe storms.…
December 2008
RAINFALL Heavy rains on the 12th-13th brought up the monthly totals to well above average for most of the Geelong-Bellarine-Otways region.Rainfalls ranged from 60 mm to 95 mm through Geelong (long-term average 39) to over 213 mm at Weeaproinah (average 113) and 115 mm at the West Barwon Dam (average 73), but only maintaining catchment levels at a fairly meagre…
November 2008
RAINFALL The drought continues. Geelong has this year only received 62% of its normal 11-monthly rainfall. Just 280 mm has fallen in the city since Januaryand the situation is similar across most of the region, including the Otways water catchment which now stands at 27% of capacity, indicating aperilous summer ahead. Rain fell on 11 days despite promising forecasts and…
October 2008
RAINFALL October was Geelong’s third driest month of a very dry year to date, adding just 11 mm to the progressive total. In what ought to be our wettest month, most areas within the district only registered around 20-30% of normal rainfall. Urban Geelong’s rain for the year now totals just 251 mm, which is less than half of the…
September 2008
RAINFALL “Another disappointing rainfall result for Geelong,” was how Geelong Weather Services’ Lindsay Smail described September’s poor result. “Geelong received only around 30 mm which is 60% of the average”, he commented, adding that Otway catchments also suffered with a similar proportion of rain falling there. Across the urban area totals varied from 13.5 mm at Lara to 34.2 mm…
August 2008
RAINFALL August’s rainfall across the region generally ranged between 85-110% of the long term average. The urban area received around 40 mm compared to the long-term average 43.5 mm. The Otway catchments received almost average rain and the capacity has marginally risen to 31%, from 26% at the start of the month. Despite the higher rainfalls in July, winter as…
July 2008
RAINFALL Rainfall was about 25-30% above average for July. But published rainfall averages for Geelong are very misleading. The Bureau of Meteorology publishes at least two different average figures for Geelong: 41.9mm in the daily paper and 52.9mm on the internet, so we at Geelong Weather Services use the last 30 years composite data for the urban area which is…