Dozens of heat and rain records were broken across south-east Australia over the past two months as the nation experienced its wettest summer in a decade, and one of the hottest ever – 1.1C above the 1961-1990 average.
Some areas that recorded temperatures approaching 50C in January heatwaves received more rain in one week in February than all of last year.
We looked at the Bureau of Meteorology’s climate data and found at least six weather stations across three states that set records for their hottest January day, and then again in February for their rainiest day:
Swan Hill in the north-west of Victoria and Horsham in the west both hit 47C on 27 January, and then saw deluges almost exactly a month later. Ceduna on the South Australian coast and Wudinna on the Eyre Peninsula had similar stories, except even hotter.
We are comparing these records to the averages for the respective months, as there can be a lot of seasonal variability – these may not be the rainiest or hottest days ever for these locations.
There were more stations that saw their highest rain totals in decades, even if they aren’t all-time records.
Even then, most of these stations recorded four and five times their average monthly rain totals in just a single day. Some parts of the country saw floods as a result of the “lingering monsoon low”.
