Storm rolling over Mooroopna in January. Photo: Kelly Mackay.
January was a record-breaking month for Shepparton weather.
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The thunderstorm on January 3 saw 78.4mm of rainfall detected at the Shepparton Airport weather station.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, it was the highest single-day rainfall figure ever recorded in Shepparton in January.
It was also the second-highest daily rainfall total recorded at this station.
“Previous daily rainfall this high at Shepparton Airport was 83mm on November 12, 1998, which is the highest daily rainfall on record,” the BOM climate team said.
“The previous January record was 31mm on January 1, 2003.”
However, that’s not where the record-breaking ends.
“With the 78.4mm on January 3, Shepparton Airport recorded a total of 139.2mm for the month,” BOM said.
“This is [the] highest total rainfall for January at this station, and second highest monthly rainfall total behind 151.6mm recorded in October 2022.”
Data is similar in other parts of the region, with Echuca’s monthly rainfall total for January 2024 being the fourth-highest amount in January since records began at the Echuca Aerodrome in 1859.
January 2024’s total was 119mm, which was only trumped by 1941, which had a January rainfall total of 126mm; 1974, which had a whopping 224.9mm; and most recently, 2011, which had 126.6mm.
Ardmona during early January storm. Photo: Natasha Commisso.
Benalla also saw high levels of rainfall, with its monthly total for January 2024, as recorded at the Benalla Airport, being 121.4mm.
This is the second-highest recorded monthly rainfall for January since records started in 2006, with January 2022 having 149.1mm.
In terms of temperatures, January in Shepparton had an average daytime maximum temperature of 29.5℃, which was 1.9℃ lower than January 2023 and 2.5℃ lower than the historical average.
The coolest daytime maximum temperature was 23.5℃ on Sunday, January 7.
The hottest day was Friday, January 12, which reached a high of 36℃, a two-degree drop on January 2023’s top temperature.
Shepparton’s January saw 16 days of daytime temperatures hitting above 30℃, which is less than the historical average of 19.8 days.
Looking at night-time temperatures, the month saw an average low of 16.3℃, which is higher than this time last year, with January 2023 night-time temperatures sitting at an average of 15.4℃.
The night-time lowest temperature was 10℃ on Saturday, January 27, and the highest minimum temperature was 22.1℃ on Saturday, January 13.
Thunderstorm over Kialla on January 3. Photo: Michelle Densworth.
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