Surprisingly given its inland location, Mortlake was the region’s wettest town over the past three months with 123 millimetres falling over summer.

January was by far the wettest summer month and significantly improved the seasonal total. Port Fairy collected 121 millimetres, Warrnambool 118mm, Port Fairy 102mm and Hamilton gained 87mm during the three-month period.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Peter Blake said the Western District experienced an average summer although December was drier than usual.

He said the region, and Victoria more broadly, were fortunate not to be hit with too many days of extreme heat which generally coincide with large-scale bushfires.

“There was hardly a day above 40 degrees in southern Victoria over summer but there were a number of 30 degree-plus days,” Mr Blake said. “December was a dry month for the Western District; a reasonable amount of rainfall was seen in January and then it was a return to mostly dry conditions throughout February. The weekend just gone, heading from February into March, saw a few showers and humidity across the state although (yesterday) conditions improved.”

The 2014-15 summer in the south west was notable for its lack of extreme heat that has dominated New Year periods over the past decade. 

Summer heat reached its zenith on January 2 with all south-west centres sweltering through their hottest day for the season. Port Fairy holds the title for the warmest day during the past three months with the mercury peaking at 42.2 degrees.

Portland failed to have one day over 40 degrees with the city’s warmest day also falling on January 2 with a top of 39.9 degrees at its airport weather station.  The south-west is forecast to have a mild week with the mercury hovering between the high teens and low 20s with a medium chance of showers from tomorrow afternoon until Friday morning.

“There appears to be a westerly flow of showers heading across the south west of the state from Tuesday onwards,” Mr Blake said. “Tuesday and Wednesday are likely to be the peak of the showers although it won’t be heavy rain.”