DESPITE a drier, warmer than average February, Wangaratta’s mild summer was still our eighth wettest in the past century.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology weather station at Wangaratta airport, the city had just 37.2mm of rainfall last month, which was below the 35 year average of 41.2mm.

However, above average rainfall of 76.8mm in December (mean 44.2mm) and 138.8mm in January (mean 44.6mm) took Wangaratta’s overall summer rainfall to 252.8mm.

It was our eighth highest summer rainfall total in the past century, eclipsed only by:

• 403.9mm (117.7 Dec, 226.7 Jan, 59.5 Feb) in 1933/34;

• 323.3mm (171.4 Dec, 34.8 Jan, 117.1 Feb) in 1954/55;

• 296.2mm (44.8 Dec, 70.0 Jan, 181.4 Feb) in 2010/11;

• 283.7mm (68.0 Dec, 173.4 Jan, 42.3 Feb) in 1973/74;

• 268.8mm (87.0 Dec, 32.2 Jan, 149.6 Feb) in 2004/05;

• 265.2mm (105.8 Dec, 99.2 Jan, 60.2 Feb) in 1992/93; and

• 261.2mm (95.0 Dec, 29.8 Jan, 136.4 Feb) in 1993/94.

Last month’s rainfall was only recorded on three days, with the heaviest fall of 26mm coming on February 6.

The month’s maximum temperature of 37.7 degrees was recorded on February 4, and it was our maximum for the entire summer.

February saw 20 of the 29 days surpass 30 degrees, while the lowest temperature of nine degrees recorded on the morning of February 7.

The month’s mean maximum temperature of 31.5 degrees was above the 35 year average of 30.9 degrees, while the mean minimum of 13.7 was equal to the 35 year average.

Wangaratta’s mild summer was also consistently reflected in December and January temperatures.

December’s top temperature was 36.8 degrees on December 13, with 15 of the 31 days seeing the mercury surpass 30 degrees, while January’s top of 36.1 degrees on January 12 was one of 19 days in the month exceeding 30 degrees.

The past summer will also be remembered for its spells of high humidity, more accustomed to Australia’s north than south, while thunderstorm and lightning activity, together with intense downfalls causing flash flooding, also punctuated each of the summer months.

Nationwide, Australia is on track to have the third-warmest summer on record, after 2018-19 and 2019-20.

Wangaratta’s outlook for autumn, according to the bureau’s forecast, is a 40 per cent chance of above median (110.76mm rainfall), a 30 per cent chance of being unusually dry (below 76mm), and only a 13 per cent chance of an unusually wet autumn with rainfall above 166.6mm.

The bureau says Wangaratta, like most of Australia, has about an 80 per cent chance of above average temperatures this autumn, with warmer days and nights.