March of drier days proceeds

GEELONG received below-average rain in March, continuing a long-term trend of drier weather for the month.
Geelong’s urban area averaged 28mm compared to the long-term average over 143 years of 36.9mm.
Geelong’s March average for the 30 years to March 2013 was 28.1mm, making the month our driest of the year.
The Bellarine Peninsula and Otways also recorded below-average rain for March.
So far this calendar year the Geelong urban area has recorded 73mm of rain compared to the 30-year average of 103.1mm. This does not mean drought but after last year’s below-average rain plus a possible El Nino arrival later we might be facing another drier year.
However, none of this is certain because El Ninos do not always mean drought for Geelong, either.
Regardless, our water catchments are still a healthy 75 per cent of capacity.
A noteworthy feature of the month was a breakdown at Breakwater’s automatic weather station at Breakwater on 21 March. Bureau of Meteorology will not record the 4mm of rain on the day by 9am owing to the way the organisation operates.
However, Geelong Weather Services has included the missing figures for accuracy.
Compared to the 30-year average, Geelong was .8C warmer than normal in March.
The top temperature was 34C on 11 March and six days were over 30C compared to the average of four.