RAINFALL Another month of below average rain has created a dry spell which, if it had occurred in winter, would have been classed as a serious regional drought. The latest signs are that this has come to an end owing to the effects of a large northwest cloud band which brought heavy rain to most of Victoria on the last…
Category: Articles
April 2013
RAINFALL Another disappointing rainfall month has resulted right across the region, with most places receiving well below average rainfall. Most of Geelong averaged 10-12 mm, ranging from 5 mm at the You Yangs to 23 mm at Leopold East. There were 11 rain days. Breakwater’s 9.6 mm falls within the lowest 10% of all Geelong’s historic April rains, since 1903.…
March 2013
RAINFALL Disastrous rainfall totals were reported around Geelong in March. All areas were below average: Geelong urban area and the Bellarine received a little over 50% (eg, Breakwater 17 mm), the Golden Plains area and Anakie district around 10-20% (eg, Durdidwarrah 6 mm), Avalon 4 mm, the Colac to Cressy district less than 10 mm, and the Otways catchment below…
February 2013
RAINFALL There were several interesting features of the Geelong region’s February rainfall. Firstly, the urban area averaged 30 mm, close to the long-term February normal 31.5 mm. But the geographical distribution was far from uniform. Most of the Otways region received less than 80% of normal February rainfall, and some partsless than 50%. But north of Geelong, from Lara right…
January 2013
RAINFALL Dry spells are not uncommon in the Geelong region in January. In January 1878 no rain at all fell, and very small 1 to 3 or 4 mm totals have peppered the historical record ever since. This January Geelong had 4.2 mm which fell on two days. In 2009 we had 1.2 mm. So the only special feature of…
Summary of 2012 Weather
(Most figures are from the Bureau of Meteorology station at Breakwater “Geelong Racecourse AWS”, with all temperature and rainfall averages from 1992-2010 at Geelong Airport (Mount Duneed). * – In order to facilitate some sort of comparison between the old and new AWS sites, the factor of 0.6 degrees C is subtracted. Month Weather Conditions Temps (deg C) Rainfall…
Summary of 2013 Weather
(Current figures are from the Bureau of Meteorology station at Breakwater “Geelong Racecourse AWS”, with all temperature and rainfall averages from several official Geelong BoM sites from 1903 to 2012) Month Weather Conditions Temps (deg C) Rainfall (mm) Cumulative Rainfall Comments JAN Warmer by 0.7 C. 5 days >30 deg. Hottest 42.2 on 4th. Lowest max 20.1 on 13th, highest…
December 2012
RAINFALL A disappointing month’s rain ended an above average rainfall year for much of the Geelong-Otways region. Only a few places along the Otways coast received above average falls. Rain only fell on eight days (average 9) in Geelong.Geelong’s urban area total was around 28 mm, some 12 mm below normal. TEMPERATURE & OTHER FEATURES Temperatures were above normal. Minimums…
November 2012
RAINFALL November was looking like Geelong’s driest month for the year, until the final four days which produced over 27 mm. We had an average across the urban area of 34 mm, compared with the long-term average of 52 mm. There were only 7 rain days, compared to the average 10. Despite three thunder-days which accompanied the late rain, there…
October 2012
RAINFALL Very low rainfall characterised Geelong in October. The Breakwater Racecourse station only recorded 16.2 mm for the month, in contrast to the long-term average of 51.3 mm. Most of the Bellarine to Otways Region had below 70% of normal rainfall, a state-wide phenomenon. Only Birregurra (60 mm) had close to its average 65 mm. Rain fell on only ten…
September 2012
RAINFALL Geelong again recorded average to above average rain for September. The average across the urban area, from Lara to Waurn Ponds, was 52 mm. Long-term average for Geelong is 49.7 mm. The wettest suburb was Drumcondra (66.3 mm) and the driest was Connewarre (36.1 mm). For the sixth consecutive month average rainfall or above was received across Geelong. The…
August 2012
OVERALL “A colder and much wetter than average winter in Geelong,” was Lindsay Smail’s expected summary of recent weather. It surprised no-one in the region, except perhaps the Bureau of Meteorology which had predicted warmer and drier conditions once again. RAINFALL Yet another month of above average rainfall for most of the Geelong-Otways Region, except for some areas to the…
July 2012
RAINFALL Another month of above average rain! For the last 4 months most of the region beat the average. In fact this has been the 5th month out of 7 for the year that Geelong has had above average rain – we have scored 408 mm so far, compared to the average 284 mm for this time of the year.…