April was a very dry month across much of Victoria and NSW with no rainfall for the last half of April. In Wangaratta 23.4mms fell during April, 29.6mms at Rutherglen, 30.6mms at Benalla, 19.8mms at Albury and only 3.2mms at Yarrawonga - the driest in April since 2018. Mean maximum temperatures for April were 22.8 degrees at Wangaratta, 22 degrees at Rutherglen, 23.9 degrees at Benalla, 22.3 degrees at Albury and 24.3 degrees at Yarrawonga - which were all about half a degree above the April normal. Mean minimum temperatures for April were 6.2 degrees at Wangaratta, 6.6 degrees at Rutherglen, 7.4 degrees at Benalla, 9.7 degrees at both Albury and Yarrawonga - all half a degree below normal except at Yarrawonga. The warmest days were around 29 to 31 degrees occurring on Wednesday, 1 April. The coldest night was just below zero degrees on 19 April while the coldest day of around 16 degrees on 12 April. The warmest nights were around 17 degrees on 10 April when a heavy fall of rain of 90.8mms occurred at Falls Creek. Unseasonably warm days occurred during the first three days of May with many temperature records set. On Friday, 1 May Geelong recorded 29.3 degrees which broke the 1905 May record of 28.1 degrees. Many record high minimum temperatures for May were set on Saturday, 2 May and Sunday, 3 May. Mildura recorded an overnight minimum temperature of 19.2 degrees breaking the 1988 record of 18 degrees while Renmark recorded a overnight of 20.1 degrees breaking the May 1997 record of 19.4 degrees. Many places in the Riverina had their hottest night for May on record. Shepparton had its hottest night with 16.6 degrees, breaking previous records in 1997 and 1942. Closer to home Rutherglen had its hottest May night in 113 years of records whilst Melbourne also had it's hottest ever May night in 166 years of record with a reading of 19.1 degrees, surpassing the 1942 and 1997 May records. These earlier records did lead to much needed rainfalls just a few days later and then heavier rainfalls during the third week of May in our region. Sunday, 3 May also saw good rainfalls across much of Victoria, including the North East, with Wangaratta recording more than 30mm - more than the entire April rainfall.
