By Peter Hannam
Feel like you’ve been under a cloud lately?
Sydney is just wrapping up its dreariest April in almost a quarter of a century, with an average of 5.3 hours of sunshine a day – an hour less than normal and shy even of a typical April in Melbourne.
“It was the cloudiest, gloomiest April since 1990,” said Brett Dutschke, senior meteorologist with Weatherzone.
Sydney also collected more than 1 millimetre of rain on 14 days compared with a typical run of nine such days at this time of year.
Temperatures were also on the muggy side, with maximum and minimum temperatures about 1 degree above normal.
However, that warmth will take a hit this weekend, with a pool of cool air and showers set to bring a chill not experienced by Sydneysiders since last August.
“There will be quite a sting in the wind,” Mr Dutschke said. While the maximum is forecast to be about 17 degrees, the winds will make it feel more like 11 or 12 degrees, he said.
Those seeking some relief might consider taking an ocean dip.
Sea-surface temperatures were about 1-2 degrees above average for waters off Sydney last week and as much as 4 degrees above average off south-coast beaches, Mr Dutschke said.
However, those warm waters might contribute to low-pressure systems forming off the coast, bringing further cloudy days and rain to Sydney for much of May, he said.
While April was more overcast than usual, rainfall totals were quite patchy.
Sydney’s total will fall marginally short of the long-term average of 127 millimetres, but Bankstown, with about 39 millimetres, got less than half the 87 millimetres typical for the month, Weatherzone said.
Statewide, though, rainfall levels were close to or above average, particularly in the south and east, but drier further to the north and west.
“Overall, the season has been a reasonably good one, rainfall wise,” Mr Dutschke said, with a “big percentage” of NSW likely to have average or above rainfall for autumn once May is over.
Conditions might start to dry out, though, if as expected an El Nino weather pattern forms over the Pacific. Such conditions typically see easterly tropical winds weaken and rainfall shift away from eastern Australia, sometimes bringing drought and greater bushfire activity.
“We might start to notice [El Nino conditions] from late winter,” Mr Dutschke said.
Weatherzone is owned by Fairfax Media, publisher of this website.