By LINDSAY SMAIL, of Geelong Weather Services
ANOTHER month of questionable rain measurements has plagued the Bureau of Meteorology’s Geelong automatic weather station at Breakwater.
On 14 days in August the gauge registered nil rain but surrounding suburbs nearby totalled between 8mm and 12 mm.
Hopefully the bureau had fixed the problem later in the month.
Nevertheless, the region recorded a very poor 16mm across the urban area, or 30mm below the latest 30-year figures.
Locally, East Geelong was the driest suburb for the month, recording only 10.8mm.
Rain was registered on 20 days, with hail and wind gusts up to 72km/h on the second day of the month.
Below-average rain was recorded throughout the whole region from the Bellarine Peninsula, out to Golden Plains Shire and down into the Otways.
The region’s water storages were left at 62 per cent of capacity by the end of the month, although forecasts for spring look slightly more promising.
August also finished off a colder but drier winter than the 30-year average across the region.
August itself was colder than average. In fact, it was Geelong’s coldest August since 2010, with days colder than normal but nights slightly warmer.
The highest maximum was 18.7 C on both 20 and 21 August.
The lowest minimum was .6C on 19 August, which was also the only recorded frost day for the month.
Overall winter temperatures were colder than the 30-year average by .2C as the region recorded its coldest season since 2010.
