Weather: May’s dry days

A disappointing month for rain delivered the Geelong region only half to three-quarters of its normal totals for May.
The latest 30-year average for May rain in Geelong is 41.5mm but last month we only received around 30mm.
Even the usually-wet Otway towns from Beech Forest to Lavers Hill only recorded 75 to 80 per cent of their normal falls.
The Moorabool catchment and Golden Plains were even less fortunate with below half the average.
Despite all this, the region’s water storages still finished the month at a healthy 70 per cent of capacity.
Autumn’s rain overall was almost identical to the most recent 30-year average of 109mm.
This year’s autumn total for the Geelong urban area was 108mm, owing to well-above average rain in April.
In the past 30 years autumn rain has been declining but this year bucked the trend.
The month also posted a temperature record with 10 consecutive days over 20C from 13 to 22 May. The previous record was nine days in 1904.
The new record was the result of a large blocking high pressure system parked over the New South Wales coast, which diverted several rain-bearing fronts and low-pressure systems southward toward Tasmania.
Only two other May days were over 20C.
With an average daily maximum of 19C and a minimum of 9.2C, Geelong was around 1.5C warmer than its May 30-year mean of 12.6C.
The warmest day reached 25.3C on 16 May and the lowest maximum was 14.3C on 7 May. The lowest minimum was 2C on 8 May.
It was Geelong’s third warmest May on record.
As for autumn, its 16.2C mean was 1C higher than the 30-year average of 15.2C but certainly not a record. Our warmest autumn was in 1988 with a mean of 16.6C.
It was Geelong’s sixth warmest autumn.