FOR the first time in almost 12 months, Bathurst has by far exceeded its long-term average rainfall figure.
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A massive downpour on Wednesday saw the rain that had been received for the month nearly double, with 40.4 millimetres recorded by 5pm that afternoon.
“At Bathurst Agricultural Research Station, we saw rain totalling nearly 89mm and that fell over 15 days,” Weatherzone meteorologist Kim Westcott said.
While the city just met the long-term average figure in September and April this year, the last time the city received significantly higher than normal rain was in December, 2017.
The long-term average for the month was 65.3mm, but the city received a whopping 94.2mm.
While the extra rain in November was welcomed, it wasn’t enough to get the annual rainfall figure close to what is normally seen in Bathurst.
“Because you did have quite a few dry months you are quite a way off the year to date rainfall figure,” Ms Westcott said.
As of Friday, Bathurst had received just 446.8mm across 2018, which is around 123mm less than the average for January to the end of November.
With such little rainfall, the level of Chifley Dam steadily fell until, on November 26, Bathurst Regional Council formally imposed level three (High) water restrictions.
As of council’s last recording, the day after restrictions came into effect, the dam sat at 57.6 per cent.
It needs to reach 75 per cent before council will lift the restrictions.
Although November’s rainfall was very different, both historically and in comparison to the rest of 2018, the temperature didn’t move too far from the averages.
The average daytime temperature only rose by 0.4 degrees Celsius, while the average minimum temperature was 1.3 degrees higher.
“Your hottest day was right at the beginning of the month, where you had a couple of 30-degree days. The highest was 31.7 degrees on November 2,” Ms Westcott said.
