THERE’S been plenty of fun in the sun over the final week in August, but it’s helped make the month one of the driest Augusts in recent times.
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August is usually the wettest month in the south-west but that was far from the case this year.
The weather station at Warrnambool airport recorded just 51.2mm of rain for the past month — almost half the mean rainfall of 100.2mm, according to Bureau of Meteorology figures from the past 17 years.
Despite the drier-than-average August, the 2014 winter has been on average in terms of rainfall, with a far-wetter-than-usual June making up for the dry August.
According to the airport weather station, there were only eight days where more than 1mm of rain fell in Warrnambool in August, compared with the average of 15.
Temperatures were as expected, with a mean of 14.4 degrees compared with the 17-year mean of 14.5 degrees.
Below-average rainfall was recorded around the region. Port Fairy recorded 54.4mm compared with the average of 92.8mm, Portland airport recorded 49mm compared with an average of 109.8mm, while Hamilton recorded 39.4mm compared with an average of 80mm. Mortlake had 39mm of rain.