Wettest Canberra March since 1993
Wettest Canberra March since 1993
01 April 2010
published by www.canberratimes.com.au
Australia — Canberra has had the wettest March in 17 years, according to weatherzone.com.au.
Maximum temperatures have also been the coolest in five years.
Weatherzone put Canberra’s rainfall for the month at 89mm; the Bureau of Meteorology has the total rainfall at Canberra Airport at 93.2mm.
Either way, the total is almost double the 50mm average March rainfall at Canberra Airport.
Weatherzone meteorologist Samuel Terry said it was the wettest March since 1993 when 101mm was recorded.
And it was the second-wettest March since 1979 when 130mm fell.
Mr Terry said the March total was given a good boost by the 37mm received at the airport in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday. A wetter March day had not been seen in Canberra for seven years.
Tuggeranong had received 112.8mm for the month.
Mr Terry said maximum temperatures in March had been the coolest in five years, with an average of about 25 degrees.
”Throughout the month, cloud cover has been more widespread not just over Canberra, but over much of the eastern interior,” he said. ”This meant that the winds that normally push heat in over Canberra from the outback weren’t as hot as they could have been due to lack of sun.”
However, rainfall was now likely to drop off, with April one of Canberra’s driest months.
The ACT Rural Fire Service welcomed the wet weather in March, which helped close a quiet bushfire season and allowed volunteers to conduct several fuel reduction burns to help prepare for next season. The service responded to nearly 200 bush and scrub fires between October 1 and the end of March, with little property threatened or destroyed.
