Summer weather was more wet than warm

By Djembe Archibald

Mar 1, 2024

Wet days: Did you find summer a bit too wet? You’re not wrong. Photo by Megan Fisher

Soon the green leaves will turn to shades of brown, orange and red as autumn takes hold, but until then, let’s look back at summer’s weather in Echuca.

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Looking at the start of summer, December saw total rainfall of 57.5mm, almost double the historical average of 30mm.

A wild storm lashed the region on Christmas Eve, with winds of up to 95km/h recorded at the Shepparton Airport weather station.

The storm toppled trees, left 5000 homes without power and damaged buildings.

In the 24 hours until 9am on Christmas Day, the Bureau of Meteorology recorded 48mm of rain a the Echuca Aerodome.

December saw the season’s warmest night with a minimum temperature of 26.1℃ on December 13.

January saw another wet month, with a total of 119mm of rainfall for the month.

The thunderstorm on January 3 saw 49.5mm of rainfall recorded at Echuca.

February was the first time the season felt like summer.

February’s warmest day was also summer’s highest daytime temperature of 39.8℃ on Sunday, February 4.

The month’s coldest daytime maximum temperature was 24.6℃ on Wednesday, February 14.

In terms of night-time temperatures, February was uneventful, matching the historical average night-time temperature of about 15℃.

In contrast to the first two months of the season, February was drier than usual, having 9.1mm of rainfall in total, 16.6mm less than the historical average of 25.7mm.

The highest rainfall in one day for February in Echuca was on February 14, with 6mm recorded.

Looking around the region, Kyabram recorded a scorching highest temperature of 39.7℃ on February 4.

It also had a wet summer, having a total of 79mm of rain in December 2023, more than double the historical average of 34.1mm.

In January, Echuca Aerodrome recorded 137.8mm in total for the month, which is significantly higher than the historical average of 36.7mm.

The Shepparton Airport had similar statistics, having a total of 47.2mm of rain in December and 139.2mm in January.

Shepparton recorded summer’s warmest day on February 4, hitting a hot 39℃.