Record cold, wet month in central Australia
Brett Dutschke
Much of central Australia, including Uluru, is in the midst of its coldest and wettest Septembers on record.
This week has been particularly cold and wet.
Rain on Wednesday brought 20 millimetres to Uluru and kept the temperature below 13 degrees all day, making it the coldest September day on record. It's more than four degrees colder than the previous record, set a little over a week ago.
Uluru is averaging a maximum of only 23 degrees so far this month, more than six degrees below the long-term September average.
With several more cold days to come this will almost certainly turn out to be the coldest September on record, colder than the previous coldest in 1984 when the maximum averaged 25.9.
The 68 millimetres of rain this month so far is 29mm more than the previous wettest September.
This comes after the wettest August on record and a wetter than normal July.
Nearby, Alice Springs and Yuendumu are in the middle of a cold, wet week too. It's unlikely to exceed 15 degrees for the next few days as 20 to 40mm of rain falls.
Today was one of their coldest September days on record. Alice struggled to 12 degrees, 15 below average, whilst Yuendumu only reached 13, 17 below.
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