TEMPERATURE
Except for the last week a warmer May resulted in temperatures around 1.4 degrees C above the latest 30-year average. Daily maximums averaged 18.2 C (compared to 17.1) and minimums averaged 9.9 C (compared with 8.3).
The warmest day saw a top of 26.4 C on the 7th and the coldest was the 26th with 12.5 C.
Overnight minimums fell to a low of 1.1 C on the 31st.
AUTUMN RESULTS:
It was Geelong’s warmest autumn since records began in 1903. Because of three months of above average temperatures, Geelong was 1.6 degrees C above the latest 30-year mean of 15.3 C. The previous warmest autumn was in 1988. This follows a recent small increasing temperature trend for autumn since the late 1990’s.
RAINFALL
Most of the Geelong region received up to around double the normal rain for May. Most of the urban area averaged 80-90 mm compared to the 30-year mean of 42 mm. As a result of this the autumn rainfall was around 132 mm which is much higher than the average 108 mm earlier predicted by the BoM.
Some of the northwest areas from Teesdale to Melton received average rain but not as much other areas. Mt Sabine topped the list with 363.8 mm and the Barwon water supplies stand at around 33% of capacity, growing only very slowly at present.
OTHER
There were 2 thunder days but no severe storms. One dust storm engulfed most of Geelong on the 3rd when strong winds picked up topsoil from the parched Golden Plains and deposited it over the urban area. There were 7 very windy days when strong northwesterly gusts over 60 kph buffeted the suburb; the strongest reached 72 kph at Breakwater on the 1st and again on the 3rd.