Adelaide weather: Almost double February’s rainfall in 24 hours
ADELAIDE’S drenching beat the average rainfall for February in just 24 hours. But summer is returning with a vengeance for the rest of the week.
ADELAIDE’S drenching beat the average rainfall for February in just 24 hours. But summer is returning with a vengeance for the rest of the week.
More than 28mm fell in the CBD between 9am Sunday and 9am Monday, beating the entire average for February in just 24 hours.
Yet despite the wet weather, heat is on the horizon as South Australia prepares for another stretch of sweltering weather.
The mercury will begin to climb on Tuesday, with temperatures forecast to reach 31C, before 40C on Wednesday.
Adelaide will then have three consecutive days of 37C on Thursday, Friday and Saturday before temperatures dip below 30C again on Sunday.
Country Fire Service spokeswoman Alison Martin said that despite the recent rains, the fire season dates would not be shortened because the Bureau of Meteorology outlook predicted the rest of the season would be warmer and drier than average.
“Until we get those winter seasonal rains, we are not out of danger yet,” she said.
She said rain has lead to a lot of growth, and once that dried over the next few months, there would be a lot of fuel around.
“It would just take that one hot afternoon with wind to do some damage,” she said.
The CFS encouraged people to consistently clear new growth and stay informed about days of high fire danger.
As the mercury soars from Wednesday, the fire danger is also expected to increase — especially if a change with storms passes through the state.
Weather bureau forecaster Matt Bass said Monday’s “persistent” rainfall had been highest at Mt Lofty, which had 38mm of rainfall since 9am Sunday.
And it was a similar story for the rest of the state.
“The February average is not really hard to break — one rain event will do it,” he said.
“We’re probably going to double the average by the end of the day.”
Meanwhile, the same rain band that lashed South Australia over the weekend forced a plane to be diverted from Melbourne to Adelaide on Monday morning.
Emirates had to divert a flight from Auckland, which was due to land at Melbourne Airport at 8.50pm, to Adelaide due to the torrential downpour.
One person waiting for the plane to arrive took to social media to vent her confusion, saying: “I’m waiting for Aisea’s flight from Auckland to arrive in Melbourne and I check the status online and it says it was diverted in-flight and is now in Adelaide.”