Lightning at Bannockburn on the 5th. Photo courtesy Doug Lindsay.
SUMMARY
A much warmer January saw temperatures averaging around 2.0 C above the most recent 30-year (1992-2001) figures, and much more than normal rainfall for Geelong by around 36 mm.
TEMPERATURE
Maximum temperatures averaged 27.2 C and minimums averaged 16.5 C for the month. These figures were above the normals for the month (25.8 C and 13.9 C) but certainly not as hot as the highest for January.
Storm on Torquay Road on 27th. Photo Anthony Whelan.
There were ten days with temperatures over 30 C; the hottest day was the 1st with a maximum of 35.0 C, but most hot days were high in humidity, quite unpleasant for the population.
RAINFALL
Much heavier rainfall for most of the region was experienced for the month. Urban Geelong averaged around 76 mm; this was above by around 35 mm of the 41 mm normally received in January.
A violent severe storm was experienced over most of the urban area on the evening of the 27th. (See photos above and at left.) Between 7.30 pm to 8.30 pm there were absolute downpours of over 40 mm which led to widespread flooding, roof damage, some sewage and power problems and a large volume of SES calls, but only a few casualties dealt with by the hospitals. Combined with these problems there were strong wind gusts of 67 km/h at Breakwater and 83 km/h at Avalon.
OTHER FEATURES
In the period from the 3rd to the 5th the BoM predicted a 90% chance of rainfall exceeding around 80 mm of rain for the Geelong area. This was a dismal failure for most of the Geelong urban area although a similar occurrence happened in the Werribee area and brought about widespread flash flooding there. Only 6 mm fell in Geelong in that period although heavier rain occurred in the Otway Ranges (Colac 25 mm, Benwerrin 110 mm, Lorne 50 mm, Mt Sabine 71 mm), the Bellarine Peninsula (Portarlington 50 mm, Bellarine 40 mm) and some rural areas to Geelong’s northwest, eg, Teesdale 50 mm, Bannockburn 30 mm, Ballarat 50 mm and Buninyong 30 mm. Some of these results can be seen in the total rainfall data below.
There were three days of extreme wind gusts on the 13th, the 19th and the 27th, and seven days of thunder and lightning spread throughout the month on the 5th, 6th, 7th, 11th, 26th, 27th and 28th.
RAINFALL DATA
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