Crystal Brook Weather Records

Introduction

Some of the more interesting aspects of the recent weather records in the Crystal Brook area are highlighted below. All data are from the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Further down the page is a table showing annual rainfalls for Crystal Brook from 1881 to 2000.
Off-page links are in italics, eg. Home

This page created 26th Dec. 2001.

A cool summer, 2001/02

The map on the right shows that temperatures at Crystal Brook were one to two degrees below the long-term average. Temperatures at Adelaide were two to three degrees lower than usual for the time of year; Adelaide had its coolest recorded summer.

This is especially remarkable because of the previous summer being possibly the hotest ever for some parts of the state, as shown below.

Cool Summer

A wet spring, 2001

The spring of 2001 was unusually wet. This map shows the 'rainfall anomaly' for the three months of spring.

The colour coding:

  • white, rainfalls from 0-25mm wetter than average;
  • cyan, 25-50mm wetter than average;
  • light blue, 50-100mm;
  • dark blue, 100-200mm wetter than average;
 Wet Spring



A hot summer, 2000/01

January of 2001 was exceptionally hot. This map shows the 'temperature anomaly' for the month.

The colour coding:

  • yellow, maximum daily temperatures 1-2 degrees above average;
  • orange, 2-3 degrees above average;
  • pink, 3-4 degrees;
  • red, 4-5 degrees;
  • dark red, 5-6 degrees;
  • brown, 6-7 degrees above average.
 Hot January
The whole summer of 2000/2001 had temperatures well above average. This map shows the 'temperature anomaly' for the three months of summer.

The colour coding is the same as above.

The centre of the red circle is a little north of Orroroo.

Hot summer

Recent annual rainfall

Recent annual rainfall record This graph shows annual rainfalls for Crystal Brook from 1980 to 2000. (While 1994 was a dry year, I don't believe that it was as dry as indicated by the Bureau record for Crystal Brook Post Office.)

The most interesting points are the exceptionally dry 1982 and the exceptionally wet 1992.







All annual rainfall records for Crystal Brook

Annual rainfall record All the annual rainfalls recorded for Crystal Brook are plotted on this graph.

The black line represents a five-year running average.

NOTE: I believe that there is at least one error (1994) in this graph.








Annual rainfall record 1881 onward for Crystal Brook

Year Rainfall (mm)
1881 279
1882 291
1883 428
1884 399
1885 260
1886 306
1887 417
1888 199
1889 635
1890 570
1891 242
1892 408
1893 540
1894 460
1895 330
1896 333
1897 280
1898 321
1899 318
1900 366
1901 346
1902 334
1903 483
1904 426
1905 422
1906 509
1907 439
1908 565
1909 462
1910 591
1911 366
1912 378
1913 313
1914 226
1915 389
1916 584
1917 584
1918 295
1919 345
1920 569
1921 584
1922 435
1923 462
1924 577
1925 367
1926 413
1927 226
1928 319
1929 384
1930 316
1931 366
1932 457
1933 348
1934 369
1935 443
1936 312
1937 503
1938 347
1939 402
1940 258
1941 478
1942 436
1943 355
1944 319
1945 383
1946 497
1947 539
1948 315
1949 441
1950 351
1951 495
1952 545
1953 432
1954 373
1955 518
1956 517
1957 275
1958 299
1959 213
1960 531
1961 421
1962 304
1963 404
1964 387
1965 319
1966 412
1967 199
1968 494
1969 449
1970 418
1971 525
1972 376
1973 598
1974 633
1975 Not known
1976 349
1977 235
1978 444
1979 476
1980 456
1981 422
1982 228
1983 366
1984 352
1985 447
1986 412
1987 325
1988 336
1989 486
1990 319
1991 330
1992 620
1993 445
1994 145 ERROR?
1995 403
1996 349
1997 418
1998 360
1999 347
2000 369

Flood

A steam train crossing the Crystal Brook Bridge A steam train crossing the old Crystal Brook bridge while the brook was in flood in the late 1980s.

The old bridge is still standing, but trains now cross on a new and higher one.


The second railway bridge over Crystal Brook didn't last long; it was washed out by a flood. This photo is dated 24th Oct. 1975. It seems that the foundations must have been undermined.

The source of this photo is unknown.

Crystal Brook Bridge Mark II

Flood, Clement Gap Two days after the flood of 28th Feb. 1939. Photo thanks to Bob Kirk of Clement's Gap.

Eyre Road in the township of Crystal Brook was prone to flooding following heavy downpours. This is one such event in 1981 Flood, Eyre Road, Crystal Brook



Lightning Strike

Horses struck by lightning. This happened on the Crystal Brook showgrounds, unfortunately the date was not recorded. Horses struck by lightning

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