The usual April rains did not arrive in 2018 and May is off to a dry start so the Peninsula continues to be on track for another year of below-average rainfall.
According to rainfall data collected by Mr Jim Morrison of Umina, only 43.6mm were recorded for the whole of April, 73.7 per cent below the monthly average of 166mm for the past 13 years. During the years that Mr Morrison has been collecting data, April is one of the Peninsula’s wettest months, second behind June, which has an average rainfall of 174mm compared to Aprils 166mm.
January, February, March and November are the other months when Peninsula residents expect over 100mm of rain. May’s average is 81mm, making it, traditionally, one of the Peninsula’s drier months. Thus far for 2018, the Peninsula has only received 47 per cent of its expected cumulative average for the first four months of the year. The average rainfall for the first four months of the year, according to Mr Morrison’s data, is 598mm. This year the Peninsula recorded only 316mm between January 1 and April 30.
SOURCE: Spreadsheet, 4 May 2018 Jim Morrison, Umina