Press Release

Adelaide endures wettest, coldest June in 56 years

02/07/2012: June has been Adelaide's wettest in seven years and coldest in five years, but it hasn't been this wet and also this cold in half a century, according to weatherzone.com.au.

During the month, the city recorded 124mm and an average maximum of 15.3 degrees. This made it the wettest June since 2005, when 142mm fell, and also the coldest June since 2007, when the maximum temperature averaged 14.6 degrees.

However, the last time June was wetter and colder was in 1956, when there was 126mm of rain and the maximum temperature averaged 14.2 degrees.

"In a typical wet June, Adelaide is also relatively warm. This one has been both damp and cold, not giving residents much relief at all," Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.

During the last 50 years, wetter Junes have been more than a degree warmer than this most recent one.

"Typically in June, the main source of rain is fast-moving cold fronts, which mostly bring less than five millimetres each. The main source this June was from two slow-moving low pressure systems, which brought a few big downpours to the city," Dutschke said.

These slow-moving lows resulted in more than 15mm falling on three different days, which is very unusual for June. As much as 18mm fell on the 4th, 35mm on the 21st and 28mm on the 22nd. The last time June had more days this wet was in 1916, when there were five.

The very wet days this month contributed to cold days then cold nights.

Overall, the city's average maximum temperature of 15.3 degrees is almost a degree below the long-term norm of 16. The overnight minimum averaged 7.9 degrees, just below the long-term norm of eight.

"Looking ahead to the rest of winter, rainfall should trend to near-or-just-below average, which should allow daytime temperatures to be near-or-just-above average. Nights should turn out close to the long-term norm," Dutschke said.

Media Inquiries:

Brett Dutschke
media@weatherzone.com.au
02 9965 9269

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