By Lindsay Smail
THE Geelong region’s water storages have reached 91.2 per cent of capacity after generally average or higher rain during October.
Most of the Geelong urban area enjoyed average to above average rain but the Bellarine Peninsula’s totals were generally 10 per cent below.
The situation was better in the Moorabool and Otways catchments with above-average results. Rain in Geelong varied from over 70mm in the city’s south and southwest to little over 40mm in the eastern suburbs.
Geelong’s average for October is 54.7mm. The city’s wettest October was in 1949 with 163.5mm and the driest was in 1967 when only 5.5mm was recorded.
Geelong was also .3 degrees Celsius warmer than the long-term average for 1903 to 2012.
Daily minimums averaged 9 degrees Celsius and maximums were 19 degrees, giving Geelong a mean for October of 14 degrees compared to the average of 13.7 degrees Celsius.
The hottest day was 20 October when the mercury touched 31.7 degrees Celsius. The lowest overnight was on October 4 when 4.7 degrees Celsius was recorded.
Interestingly, October’s average minimum, 9 degrees Celsius, was the same as that of September, which is normally a colder month.
October was also typically windy, with gusts over 60 kilometres per hour recorded on six days.
On three days winds gusted to 80km/h at Breakwater, leaving a small amount of structural and vegetation damage across the city.
Small hail was reported to have fallen amid wintry conditions in some suburbs on 1 October and 18 October.
