Cooler ocean temperatures on the other side of Australia led to Geelong recording less than half its average rain last month, according to a local weather service.
Geelong Weather Services reported a “very poor” 24mm in October as a natural process called the Indian Ocean Dipole affected waters off Western Australia.
The dipole is an irregular oscillation of water temperatures across the Indian Ocean, making the western side warmer and eastern waters cooler.
The colder ocean off Australia was “incapable of providing sufficient moisture to condense and form northwest cloud bands”, which usually produced rain over Victoria, Geelong Weather Services said.
“As a consequence, urban Geelong only had 24mm of rain spread over 14 rain days.”
The city’s 30-year October rain average was 50.8mm, Geelong Weather Services said.
The cooler ocean off Western Australia coincided with October weather warmer than average in Geelong.
The city was 1.1C warmer than usual with daily maximums averaging 21.1C and minimums 8.8C, Geelong Weather Services said.
“Daily maximums and minimums both averaged above the expected figures.”
Geelong Weather Services recorded three days with temperatures over 30C, including 34.4C on 24 October.
The coldest daytime was 14.1C on 8 October, while the coldest overnight minimum was 2.2C on the first day of the month. The warmest overnight figure was 14.9C on 25 October.
Geelong Weather Services also recorded five days of “very strong wind gusts” at the city’s official weather station within Geelong Showgrounds. The strongest gust reached 76km/h on the sixth day of October.
The month included one day of thunder and lightning day but none with storms, Geelong Weather Service said.
