In terms of temperature, this has been a record warm start to the year. Last year (2015) was the warmest year on record at Victoria Gonzales, and the first six months of 2015 were also the warmest ever recorded (10.8 degrees). In 2016, we have beat that record, with a mean temperature of 10.9 degrees for the first six months of the year. Every month so far in 2016 has been above normal temperatures. Will we beat 2015 the the whole year record? Probably not. July 2016 is so far looking to be much cooler than last July, and with La Nina looming, the end of the year may also be cooler.
The chart below compares daily high and low temperatures with the 30-year averages. You can clearly see that temperatures have been pretty consistently above average, although we've had a few short stretches of average or slightly below average temperatures in late May and into June.
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| Daily High and Low Temperatures, January to June 2016 |
Things are a bit closer to normal when we look at precipitation. In the first six months of 2016 we have had 261 mm of rain, compared with the normal of 296 mm. Incredibly, nearly one quarter of the year's rain so far this year fell on a single day - February 15 - when we had a record-breaking deluge of 62 mm. Without that one day, we would be under 200 mm for the year so far.
The chart below shows daily and cumulative rainfall at Victoria Gonzales for the first six months of 2016. You can see that we have generally trended below average for most of the year. You can also see that incredible deluge that we had on February 15.
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| Daily and Cumulative Rainfall, January to June 2016 |
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