RAINFALL
Average and above average rains in February were received across the Geelong region, except for a couple of areas southwest of Ballarat and the southern Otways. Those areas form much of the water catchment areas, but catchments are still healthy for this time of year with 65% of capacity. The Geelong 30-year rainfall average is 35.7 mm and this figure was exceeded in most of the urban area and Bellarine Peninsula (see figures below). This has resulted in a higher than forecast rainfall for summer, around 115% of the average. So summer has been wetter than normal, owing largely to the several thunderstorm events during the period as well as a lot of moist tropical air which also provided more cloud than normal.
TEMPERATURE
Geelong was warmer than the 30-year average for February. Daily minimums averaged 15.8 degrees C and maximums 25.8 degrees C, compared to 14.0 C and 25.1 C respectively. There were 7 days over 30 degrees and the maximum reached 36.6 C on the 7th. Coolest day was the 1st with 18.3 C maximum and the warmest night was the 22-23rd with a low of 19.6 C. Summer temperatures overall were 1.1 degrees C warmer than the latest 30-year average, but there were fewer very hot days, none over 40 C and 14 days over 30 degrees – the average for summer is 15.4 days over 30. Warmer nights explain most of this result.
OTHER FEATURES
There were 5 thunder days and several thunderstorms but none were severe. On the 21st most northern suburbs received thunderstorms, and on the 22nd only areas south of Grovedale had rain, but on the 23rd storms were more widespread across the urban area. Even so, no storms were heavy or created flash flooding or other damage. Only one strong wind day was recorded with a gust of 63 kph at Breakwater on the 22nd.
RAINFALL DATA
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