Rainfall Patterns in Adelaide & Brisbane
 

Okay, hopefully you can help me settle a brewing argument with my husband.

My husband has made his mind up that he wants to go to Adelaide because of the drier climate there. I'm not so sure. I like a bit of rain every now and then. Anyway, I was trying to get my point across by comparing the average annual rainfall for Adelaide, Brisbane and the UK. According to my research, Adelaide comes in at 18"/yr, Brisbane at 49"/yr and the UK at 29"/yr.

Now, 18" doesn't sound like a lot to me but 49" compared to the UK's 29" does. From this information alone, my Husband has instantly decided that Adelaide is the best place for us. What he doesn't seem to grasp though (as I've tried to explain to him) is that rain falls very differently in different places. For example, it's quite grey and drizzly for the most part in the UK so that 29" could be 300 days of drizzle, compared to Brisbane's 49" which could potentially be only 7 days of heavy rain.

Anyway, what I'm getting at is - could somebody please tell me what the rainfall patterns actually are in both Adelaide and Brisbane??? And seriously, how dry is it really in Adelaide?

Re: Rainfall Patterns in Adelaide & Brisbane
 

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_Adelaide

I log the rainfall down here near Goolwa, which gets about the same number of rain days as Adelaide. Since this time last year we've had rain on 56 days. So far in 2007, just 5 days.

When the rains come in the winter months they are welcomed. The rain tends to come hard in short showers and then pass - few long drizzly days.

Re: Rainfall Patterns in Adelaide & Brisbane
 

I've not seen any substantial rain in Adelaide since about October. But it rained quite heavily in July/August last year.

We have had a bit since October, but it's more that the sky's open up for about 10 - 15 minutes and it really pee's down, then there's nothing for ages.

It's dryer here than in Brisbane, but at least it's not the humid sort of heat you get up there (so not as sweaty ;) ) .

Re: Rainfall Patterns in Adelaide & Brisbane
 

You are right, rainfall patterns do differ by region. For example, Sydney has double the average annual rainfall of Melbourne but has on average 10 less rainy days per year (a rain day can be as little as 1mm of rain).

Have a look at the Bureau of Meteorology site, from the 'Climate Averages' page you can generate maps on climate elements such as rainfall, temperature, humidity, rain days, etc.

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/

The following website has data in table form, you just need to get your calculator out and add up the monthly averages, from my quick calculation there was only a days difference in the average rain days of Adelaide and Brisbane, but Brisbane has over twice the average annual rainfall and gets two thirds of that annual during their wet season.

http://www.australiatravelsearch.com...c/climate.html


As all the above figures are averages you might also be interested in reading the recent climate summaries:-

http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/current/



Hope that helps you. :)

Re: Rainfall Patterns in Adelaide & Brisbane
 

i wish brisbane would get 49 inches of rain - lucky if we have had 4 in the last year!!!

when it does rain in rains very hard and not for long. As said nearly all the rain falls in the summer months through storms.

only had a handful of days in a year which have been overcast all day, the rest sunshine / sunshine and showers.

Re: Rainfall Patterns in Adelaide & Brisbane
 

Like Wendy said, it hasn't rained a decent rain here in months. It's been so dry that the houses are starting to crack. We have a lovely crack in our kitchen just above the fridge and the people who came out to look at it said it was due to the dryness.