THE arrival of heavy thunderstorms in North East Victoria on Sunday, November 17 effectively ended the long warm, very dry conditions which had persisted for many weeks.
And subsequent rains during last week have seen us endure very warm and humid conditions.
My ginger cat Lilly hasn't been the same since she was soaked during Sunday's storm when 33.8 mms was recorded in my gauge in an hour.
The rainfall was produced by a low pressure trough crossing our region.
A second low pressure trough crossed the Bight and interacted with two low pressure centers over inland Queensland, resulting in a period of unsettled conditions with thunderstorms which may continue into early this week.
Latest Stories
Heavy rain was recorded at both Renmark and Mildura.
Renmark recorded 36mms to Monday morning, November 25 - the wettest November day since 76mms on November 17, 1961.
Mildura's 42mms was also the wettest November day since 1961.
The period July 1961 to November 1961 was very similar to this year.
This will also mean the absence of very hot days of over 35 degrees in our regions until the second week of December.
The records for the period November 17, 1961 up to the beginning of December did show a lengthy spell of humid conditions with thunderstorms, with the first very hot day near 38 degrees finally arriving on Sunday, December 3.
Melbourne had successive days of dense fogs last week which is rare for November, with violent thunderstorms on Wednesday which caused much damage to properties.
Dew point temperatures of 17 to 22 degrees over most of Victoria, NSW and QLD last week were well above normal for November.
An in fact at 6pm last Tuesday, November 26, the dew point temperature reached 25.7 degrees at Rutherglen, which is the highest ever reading in Victoria and two degrees higher than the average of 23.5 degrees in November in Darwin.
Little change is expected from the very warm and humid conditions with thunderstorms into this week.
There will be large hail in some thunderstorms possibly larger than golf ball size.
Rainfalls up to November 29 have exceeded the November average in many North East towns, including Wangaratta 79mms, Rutherglen 99mms, Benalla, 75.6mms, Yarrawonga 53mms, Edi Upper 117mms, Falls Creek 174mms and Mt Buller 152 mms.
Lake Dartmouth had 70.8mms in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday - it's highest daily total in 106 years of records.
Previous wettest November days were in 1971 and 2021.
This month's total at Lake Dartmouth to date has reached 130mms and this is the fourth wettest November exceeding 100mms in succession.
