SUMMARY
May was a much wetter month, wetter than the previous 5 months combined and fractionally warmer than the 30-year average.
Cloudy sky looking southwards over Geelong on the 27th. Photo courtesy Bay FM.
TEMPERATURE
Temperatures were slightly above average in May. Geelong’s daily minimums were 8.7 degrees C (0.4 C above average) and maximums were 17.8 C or 0.6 C above average. The warmest day was on the 1st (24.2 C) and on the coldest day the 29th the mercury only reached 9.6 C.
RAINFALL
May was much wetter than normal. Urban Geelong received an average of 100.0 mm for the month which is wetter than the previous 5 months combined and well over double the May average of 38.8 mm. It was the wettest May since 1997.
On the wettest day (30.4 mm to 9 am on the 10th) most of the rain fell lightly overnight, causing joy for farmers and gardeners, but having little effect on runoff for water managers owing to the dry catchment.
The Beech Forest Otway Fly recorded an amazing 301.8 mm over the period. But at the end of the month the Barwon Water catchments reported levels of only 33% of capacity. This is likely to increase if follow-up rains continue into June.
OTHER FEATURES
There were 3 thunder-lightning days on the 1st, 2nd and 24th and one severe storm at Lake Purrumbete on the 1st when a suspected tornado struck in the evening and destroyed most of the caravan park causing around $1 million of damage. No lives were lost.
Geelong had at least two foggy days when the sun was invisible until afternoon on the 18th and 19th and four strong wind days with gusts over 60 km/h on the 26th, 27th, 28th and 29th. The strongest gust was 72 km/h on the 26th.
In the early hours of the 22nd, a bright meteorite flashed over the eastern sky lighting up much of southwestern Victoria for a few seconds before it disappeared from view.
AUTUMN SUMMARY
Although every month in Autumn was warmer than normal, it can be seen that Autumn overall was 6.7 mm WETTER than average owing to the very wet May.
| MAX TEMPS | MIN TEMPS | MEAN TEMPS | PRECIPITATION | |||||
| 2019 | 30-yr av | 2019 | 30-yr av | 2019 | 30-yr av | 2019 | 30-yr av | |
| MARCH | 25.1 | 23.5 | 13.6 | 12.5 | 19.35 | 18.00 | 12.0 | 26.4 |
| APRIL | 22.1 | 20.4 | 10.5 | 9.9 | 16.30 | 15.10 | 5.0 | 43.3 |
| MAY | 17.7 | 17.1 | 8.7 | 8.3 | 13.25 | 12.70 | 98.0 | 42.1 |
| AUTUMN | 21.70 | 20.23 | 10.90 | 10.17 | 16.30 | 15.20 | 115.0 | 108.3 |
RAINFALL DATA
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