After 46 days without rain, and a heatwave that felt as if it might never end, the skies have finally opened over Adelaide.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) duty forecaster Hannah Marsh said Adelaide had experienced five days over 35 degrees Celsius, but the cool change had now arrived.
“We’ve seen a mid-level cloud band move over us resulting in 0.4 mm to 9am this morning and 1.2 mm since 9am up to 11am,” she said.
Showers were also recorded across agricultural areas, with 5 mm up to 9am at Coffin Bay, 3.4 mm at Finniss and 2.4 mm at Kingscote, and further rainfall of about 1-2 mm after 9am.
“This is a 46-day dry spell, the last significant dry spell was 54 days and that was back from December 2018 to February 2019,” Ms Marsh said.
Severe heatwave cancelled
Severe heatwave warnings were cancelled on Wednesday, with conditions easing.
“Low-intensity heatwave conditions may persist for a few days, but are generally easing across the state,” the BOM said.
The BOM also issued a road weather warning and urged road users to drive to the conditions.
“Light showers after a prolonged dry period may lead to slippery roads which will make driving conditions dangerous during Thursday morning in the Adelaide and Adelaide Hills Area,” the warning read.
SA Police advised drivers to slow down and take extra care, maintain a safe distance between vehicles and turn on headlights.
Temperature set to climb back up
The BOM has forecast possible showers with temperatures about 31 to 32 C from tomorrow.
“We’ll see the cloud clearing tomorrow, and we’ll see temperatures increasing up to 30C,” Ms Marsh said.
WOMADelaide and Fringe festival-goers sweltered through temperatures in the high 30s over the weekend and there was little reprieve in the evenings.
“The last time it was this hot was when we had a heatwave back in 2008, and we saw 15 days above 35,” Ms Marsh said.
BOM senior forecaster Mark Anolak said he believed Adelaide had also experienced its three warmest consecutive overnight temperatures in almost four decades.
“Three consecutive days above 25 [degrees Celsius] overnight, first time that has happened since 1985,” he said.
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