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 Servicesuse the last 30 years composite data for the urban area which is 43.5mm.…
Author: Lindsay Smail
June 2008
RAINFALL “Disastrous” is the best word to describe Geelong’s six-monthly rainfall from January to June this year. With just 116mm recorded in the urban areaGeelong has had less than 50% of its 6-monthly average of 240mm. This is the worst start to a rainfall year since 1967, when only 98mm was received, andour second lowest January to June rainfall since…
April 2008
RAINFALL Geelong suffered a terribly disappointing rainfall result in April, with a total of only between 4 and 12 mm falling across the urban area.It was the driest April since 1997 when 4 mm fell. The lowest was zero in 1923 andthe current monthly average is 40 mm. The strange thing to notice however, is that rain was recorded on…
March 2008
RAINFALL Geelong urban area recorded around a disappointing 20mm for March compared to the average 30mm.Rain fell on an average 10 days – mainly in the final week – and the largest fall was 10.4mm by 9am on the 27th at Mt Duneed.The Otways catchments fared better with totals around the March average; Mt Sabine recording 80mm and West Barwon…
February 2008
RAINFALL Most of the Geelong district, except for the northwest from Ballarat to Melbourne CBD which was particularly dry, experienced around 80% ofaverage rainfall for February. Normally one of our driest months (average 32 mm),this one was no exception with urban Geelong recording just 29 mm.An exception was the district of Dereel, which, thanks to heavy thunderstorms, recorded 107 mm,…
January 2008
RAINFALL For most of the immediate Geelong region in the last month rainfall has been in the bottom 10% of all January rainfalls over the last 160 years. Geelong’s driest January was in 1878 when no rain fell.This January Geelong received around 8mm, and the January average is around 40mm. Further afield, to the south and west, the situation was…
October 2007
RAINFALL October was Geelong’s third driest month of the year to date, adding just 23 mm to the annual total. In what ought to be our wettest month, most areas within the districtonly registered around 40-50 % of normal rainfall. Geelong’s rain for the year now totals just 347 mm, which is only around 77% of the ten-month average. By…
September 2007
RAINFALL Poor rainfall totals across most of the Geelong region came as no surprise. Geelong only received 27.4mm which is 54% of the average for September. West Barwon Dam’s figure was much better, with 99mm which is around 85% of average. Geelong’s total rain for the year to date is only 350mm, which is about 43mm below normal for this…
August 2007
RAINFALL August’s rainfall across the region was generally well below the monthly average. The urban area received only around 27 mm compared to the long-term average 50 mm.The fairly regular falls of the first half of the month were replaced in the second fortnight by rain on only two days.The Otway catchments suffered as a result and the capacity has…
July 2007
RAINFALL A very welcome return to heavy rainfalls was experienced especially in the first half of July. The region’s monthly average of 50mm was doubled with figures of 96mm at Mt Duneed, 94mm at Belmont, 127mm at Clifton Springs and 154mm at Ocean Grove.It was Geelong’s wettest July since 1974 when 109mm was recorded. Most models are now predicting above…
May 2007
RAINFALL Yet another disappointing month for Geelong’s rainfall has ended. Despite many good falls elsewhere in the state preliminary figures show that the Geelong and Bellarine regionshave generally received below average totals for May and autumn as a whole. Geelong’s average rainfall for May is 51 mm, but only around 30-35 mm was recorded across the urban area. West Barwon…
April 2007
RAINFALL After a depressing first 3 weeks of the month during which less than 10 mm fell over most of the Geelong area, the final weekend saw between 15 and 25mm rain recorded when a low pressure system crossed the state. Geelong averaged from 22mm at Lara to 35mm in just one part of Hamlyn Heights, but this was still…
March 2007
RAINFALL Another dry month, varying around 50-60% of normal for March across the Geelong region, now sees Geelong in an invidious situation with only 16% capacity in its water catchments.Urban Geelong only received between 14 and 25mm, compared with the average 32mm, and the northern suburb of Lara fared better with up to 32 mm at Serendip.Rain fell on an…