Anthony Duke, 08 Feb 2011, 7:00 AM UTC
Broken Hill cools off after heatwave
The heatwave, which brought temperature records tumbling in the east, came to an abruptly cold and wet end for Broken Hill this weekend.
The first place in NSW to feel the change was the southwest, as Broken Hill's daytime temperature tumbled from 32 on Saturday 5th to just 17 degrees on Sunday 6th. Most February hot spells end with a significant cool change, but this was the Hill's coldest February day in at least 25 years and 15 degrees below the February average.
The cool temperatures was a combination of a strong southerly change on Saturday afternoon, along with huge amounts of rain. The arrival of Ex-tropical Cyclone Yasi to the country's interior earlier in the week, allowed large amounts of moisture to feed into a trough over the area.
Broken Hill recorded nearly 63mm in 24 hours to 9am on Saturday, the wettest February day in at least 25 years. The downpour already takes this month's rainfall total to 116mm, nearly 100 more than the long term average. This comes after Broken Hill's wettest January since 1974.
La Nina is certainly having its way with much of the country and typically dry places like Broken Hill seem to be no exception.
Note to media: You are welcome to republish text from the above news article as direct quotes from Weatherzone. When doing so, please reference www.weatherzone.com.au in the credit.