Several towns in SA saw on Monday their wettest day in months and the best January rainfall in decades.

Summer is really dry in South Australia. Most locations receive in January, on the long term average, between 10 and 25mm. 

A rain band resulted in significant falls on Monday across many districts of the state. Adelaide registered 30mm in the 24-hour period to 9am on Tuesday, which was the wettest day since June 2019 and wettest January day in 44 years. Adelaide Airport's 25mm was the highest daily total in January since 1997.

Image: Rain and thunderstorms in South Australia on Monday afternoon

Other notable totals included Arkaroola (46mm), Leigh Creek (43mm), and Mount Lofty (30mm). Yunta (30mm) and Kadina (15mm) saw their wettest January day in 11 and 9 years, respectively. Not too far from Yunta, Panaramitee picked up 109mm, the highest recorded total of this event.

A complex low pressure trough, fed with moisture from a tropical low that affected northern WA during the weekend, interacted with a cold front further south producing widespread rain with embedded thunderstorms during Monday. 

A high pressure system is developing south of the Bight that will bring settled conditions for the rest of the day and during Wednesday.