Rain and strong winds sweep across SA as Coober Pedy secures July weather record

Australia Broadcast Center

4 days ago

A blast of wet and blustery weather is moving across South Australia, causing downpours, chilly temperatures and strong winds, as well as record rainfall in one outback township.
Coober Pedy in the state's far north had more than 13 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am, which the Bureau of Meteorology said was the highest July total in 32 years of record-keeping at the site.
"That's actually their wettest July day on record even though it doesn't sound like too much — their previous was only 12mm," meteorologist Daniel Sherwin-Simpson told ABC Radio Adelaide.
The remote community of Pukatja in the APY Lands, just below the state's northern border, received 22mm overnight, but the wet weather is also expected to be more widespread.
A severe weather warning for damaging winds has been issued for much of the state, with rain followed by showers expected over the agricultural area and southern parts of the pastoral districts.
A top temperature of just 8 degrees Celsius has been forecast for Stirling in the Adelaide Hills, while the city itself is expected to reach 13C.
"Today's probably going to be the wettest day for the Adelaide area, today we'll be seeing more real sort of rain that's a bit more persistent," Mr Sherwin-Simpson said.
"Tomorrow could be a bit more showery so it could be a bit intermittent — there may be a couple of clear patches for a few hours here or there followed by some more showers coming through and that's probably going to be similar to what we see on Sunday.
"Things will wrap up on Sunday though, by the evening we should see it mostly dry in the Adelaide area."
The latest wet weather is associated with a cold front that is moving eastwards across the state, as well as a low pressure system in the Bight.
Swathes of South Australia have been crying out for rain after a very dry start to the year caused drought conditions in some areas.
Warmer temperatures have also been blamed for the state's devastating algal bloom.
The bureau said rainfall totals across the Adelaide area could reach 40 millimetres by the end of Sunday, with even higher falls in the Adelaide Hills.
The deluges mean Adelaide is on track, at this stage, to record near-average rainfall for July.
"By the end of Saturday we could be looking at some totals in excess of 50 millimetres up in the Hills locally, end of Sunday possibly even reaching 80 in some places if they get repeated showers," Mr Sherwin-Simpson said.
On the all-important question of what conditions fans heading to Saturday night's Showdown should prepare for, Mr Sherwin-Simpson said wet weather gear was advised — and he also offered a non-weather forecast.
"I would be stunned if there weren't some showers throughout the game … so raincoats, ponchos are definitely what I'm going to be recommending," he said.
"There could be a few lopsided kicks.
"Based on how Port Adelaide did in Tasmania when it was wet, it's probably not looking too good for them so I'm going to have to side with the Crows on this one."