Get ready for a wet September

THE weekend’s warm weather is likely to fade, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, as one of Geelong’s wettest winters in decades draws to a close.

In a welcome taste of spring yesterday, the city peaked at a sunny top of 19.3C, with the mercury expected to match that figure today.

But Bureau senior forecaster Scott Williams said 10mm of rain forecast between Tuesday and Wednesday was a sign of things to come next month.

“The expectation is that at least in September, the odds are favouring being wetter than average,” he said.

“It really hasn’t got consistent spring weather about it yet, so it may take perhaps a little bit longer than some years to start to get that consistent warmer weather.”

Rainfall data over the past three months shows a total of 46.2mm fell in June, 82.8mm in July and 49.6mm to date in August, with the wetter than average spell attributed to the Indian Ocean Dipole: very warm water off the coast of Western Australia.

Mr Williams said the phenomenon was predicted to break down around October, resulting in September being “at least average if not wetter” for Geelong.

“We had wet summers in 2011/12, but it looks like it could be the wettest (winter) for quite a while, back to 1996 possibly,” he said.

Picture: GLENN FERGUSON Melbourne siblings Frances and Noah McDonald didn’t care that it was winter yesterday, they were up for some summer beach fun in the spring-like sun at Torquay.