DISTRICT residents will be preparing for farming operations off the back of the driest year since 2006.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Kerang gauge recorded 228 millimetres of rainfall in 2015 – the first time since 2006 the figure has been below 300 millimetres.
The 2015 total was 145 millimetres below the long-term average of 373.4 millimetres, and well short of 2014’s figure of 354.6 millimetres.
Average monthly rainfall occurred three times last year, with June’s total of 44.2 millimetres the wettest month of the year.
This total benefitted from a 23.0 millimetre boost between 9am on June 15 and 9am on June 16, making it the wettest day of 2015.
Less than 10 millimetres of rainfall occurred in the months of February, March, October and December.
The lack of rainfall also led to above-average temperatures, especially late last month.
The hottest day and night of 2015 occurred in the space of 30 hours, with temperatures between 13 and 16 degrees above average.
The heat prevented sport from occurring on December 19, with the mercury soaring to 42.5 degrees – one of five days when 40-plus degree temperatures occurred.
The hottest December night on record occurred the next day, with the overnight temperature failing to drop below 30 degrees.
The hot conditions experienced last month were in stark contrast to the winter the district experienced, which saw 18 days with maximum temperatures below 13 degrees and six nights with sub-zero minimums.
The coldest day and night of 2015 occurred in July, with the temperature just reaching 10.0 degrees on July 15.
It was a different story on July 3, when the minimum temperature was -2.0 degrees.
