Wettest summer in four years
PETER KER AND DEWI COOKE
February 13, 2010.the AGE
MELBOURNE has enjoyed its wettest summer in four years, with this week's storm adding to an encouraging six months of rain.
Thursday's downpour delivered up to 50 millimetres to some parts of Melbourne and cut off power to about 40,000 customers in the city's west.
About 11,000 customers were still without power yesterday and more wild weather is expected in coming days.
Weatherzone analysis shows that about 132 millimetres has fallen since the start of December - easily the most rain since late 2005 and early 2006.
The combined rainfall for the past six months of spring and summer also shows the best result in four years, with 329 millimetres.
Those results, taken from the Melbourne city gauge, are even more encouraging as there are still more than two weeks remaining in February.
The results are a remarkable turnaround from the first half of last year, when Melbourne recorded its driest first six months to a year on record.
Despite the improvement, the falls are not remarkable in a historical context - the 329 millimetres over the past six months is still below the long-term average for that period. ... <cont>
