The Week That Was

   May 19th - May 25th

* As of 9 am Sunday Sydney’s dry spell continued. As of Sunday morning, 20th May, no rain had been recorded at Observatory Hill, making this the driest start to May on record.

* The main weather feature for the week was a low-pressure cell that developed over northwest Victoria on Thursday 24th May that then moved southeast during Friday. An associated low-pressure trough extended north over Queensland and general rain resulted across eastern Australia and southeast areas of SA. Gales were also a feature of weather generated by the low with severe weather warnings resulting for large areas of Victoria and southern NSW.

* Particularly heavy rain fell along the north tropical coast of Queensland including May records for Mossman South (317 mm) and Cairns (93 mm). Dubbo in the Central West of NSW recorded 59 mm, the heaviest May rain since 1915.

* Heavy rain also fell across southern Victoria on Friday 25th May, including Melbourne itself and large areas of Gippsland. Major flooding developed along the Latrobe River. Melbourne recorded its heaviest May rain for 17 years with a total of 28 mm.

* St. Helens AP in northeast Tasmania recorded a 24-hour fall of 92.2 mm – a record for May. Launceston (67.6 mm) also recorded it highest 24 hour total for May.

* Widespread snowfalls of 15 to 20 cm were recorded across the alpine areas of Victoria and NSW on Friday and Saturday morning.

* On the morning of Friday 25th May, Perth recorded a minimum temperature of 1.3C, its lowest ever May temperature.


Dick Whitaker
Chief Meteorologist

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