Very Hot And Dry For Southern Australia

South Australia is once again being blasted by hot, dry northerly winds with temperatures soaring to the mid thirties over most of the state, up to 12 degrees above average.

The hot weather is another cruel blow to drought affected southern regions which missed out on last weeks widespread rain event. While arid northern regions of South Australia received up to about 25mm, totals in the south were closer to only 5mm.

Since the start of September Adelaide has recorded a paltry 29mm of rain, well short of their spring average of 142mm. If Adelaide does not receive another 5mm by the end of November, spring 2008 will become their driest since records began way back in 1839. It has been even drier to the northwest of Adelaide with Whyalla up to just 6mm, less than 10% of their spring average. The town needs another 7mm to avoid its driest spring on record.

Cooler southerly winds will develop by Thursday and early indications are cloud and rain will once again spread over Australia's southern interior by the weekend. Unfortunately agricultural parts of the state are once more likely to only catch only the southern fringe of the rain.