RAINFALL
Owing to several thunderstorms most of urban Geelong received some good falls from the 9th to the 11th, although the BoM gauge at Mt Duneed was a little too far south to benefit greatly. Most of the storms propagated from the north and northwest and did not reach coasstal areas. Certainly the Otways missed out on most of the activity although the Moorabool catchment fared very well for a change, with Lal Lal receiving over 60mm in several days.
Totals for the month were generally below average across the urban area, on the Bellarine Peninsula and to the west, but sections of both catchments were more fortunate. Catchment levels now stand at around 71%.
TEMPERATURE and OTHER FEATURES
Possibly the outstanding feature of the month was the large low pressure trough which became dominant over eastern Australia in the second weeek. Blocked by a high over the Tasman Sea and cradled by another high south of Tasmania and the Bight, this low pressure system produced many storms and heavy rainfall events, but only a few over Geelong.
Between the 6th and the 13th (eight days) thunder was heard on 7 days. The pattern was usually that of a build up of humidity during the morning and afternoon, then thunderstorms later.
December was slightly cooler than normal by around half a degree. There were three days over 30 degrees; the top was 36.6 on the 18th and the lowest overnight minimum was 6.1 on the 3rd. There were six very windy days on which gusts exceeded 60kph at Geelong, and one hail day (28th).
RAINFALL DATA
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