DURING the past week there were outstanding weather events in Western Australia which will have a significant effect on weather in Victoria and most of NSW in the coming weeks. Severe tropical cyclone Sean with central pressure of 953mbs delivered heavy rainfalls mainly along the Pilbara Coast. Karratha recorded 274.4mm on January 20, easily a daily record not only for January but also the highest on record for any other month . The month's total has reached 391mm at Karratha and this is also the highest on record for any month in 53 years of records. The previous wettest month at Karratha was 348mm in February 2011 which certainly set up very heavy rain after high temperatures in early February in North East Victoria. Fierce heatwave conditions invaded the Central West of WA . Geraldton recorded a record high temperature of 49.3 degrees Celsius on January 20 despite the closeness of tropical cyclone Sean. Previous highest January temperatures at Geraldton were 47.7C in 1954, 47.3C in 1969, 47.1C in 1979 and 46.1C in 2014. Each one of these very hot days certainly set up very hot days over all of Victoria and most of NSW up to the middle 40s about six days later. Near the end of January of 1954, 1969 and 2014 we had significant rainfalls with thunderstorms. but not much rainfall until late in March.
