January weather wrap

By Djembe Archibald

Jan 31, 2024

Splish splash: Kai Dryden, 6, outside his home in McEwen St, Shepparton.

January was a record-breaking month for Shepparton weather.

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The thunderstorm on January 3 saw 78.4mm of rainfall detected at the Shepparton Airport weather station.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, it was the highest single-day rainfall figure ever recorded in Shepparton in January.

Deluge: Kialla West after the January 3 storm. Photo: Chelsea Jack.

“Shepparton Airport recorded 78.4mm on January 3, 2024. This is a highest daily rainfall record for January at this station, and second-highest daily rainfall total recorded at this station,” the BOM climate team said.

“Previous daily rainfall this high at Shepparton Airport was 83.0mm on November 12, 1998, which is the highest daily rainfall on record.

“The previous January record was 31.0mm on January 1, 2003.”

Rushing through: McLennan St, Mooroopna, during January’s storm. Photo: Chach Petnamkhang.

However, that is not where the record-breaking ends, the BOM said.

“With the 78.4mm on January 3, Shepparton Airport recorded a total of 139.2mm for the month. This is [the] highest total rainfall for January at this station, and second highest monthly rainfall total behind 151.6mm recorded in October 2022.”

Data is similar in other parts of the region, with Echuca’s monthly rainfall total for January 2024 being the fourth-highest amount in January since records began at the Echuca Aerodrome in 1859.

January 2024’s total was 119mm, which was only trumped by 1941, which had a January rainfall total of 126mm; 1974, which had a whopping 224.9mm; and most recently, 2011, which had 126.6mm.

Benalla also saw high levels of rainfall, with its monthly total for January 2024, as recorded at the Benalla Airport, being 121.4mm.

This is the second-highest recorded monthly rainfall for January since records started in 2006, with January 2022 having 149.1mm.

In terms of temperatures, January in Shepparton had an average daytime maximum temperature of 29.5℃, which was 1.9℃ lower than January 2023 and 2.5℃ lower than the historical average.

The coolest daytime maximum temperature was 23.5℃ on Sunday, January 7.

Rolling in: Turnbull Rd, Ardmona, before the storm hit on January 3. Photo: Shelli Sinc.

The hottest day was Friday, January 12, which reached a high of 36℃, a two-degree drop on January 2023’s top temperature.

Shepparton’s January saw 16 days of daytime temperatures hitting above 30℃, which is less than the historical average of 19.8 days.

Looking at night-time temperatures, the month saw an average low of 16.3℃, which is higher than this time last year, with January 2023 night-time temperatures sitting at an average of 15.4℃.

The night-time lowest temperature was 10℃ on Saturday, January 27, and the highest minimum temperature was 22.1℃ on Saturday, January 13.