Record August rain and heavy hail hit Adelaide as cold front moves over South Australia

A cold front passed over Adelaide, the capital city of the state of South Australia, on August 6, 2018, dropping record August rainfall and heavy hail. 

From 09:00 local time, August 5 to 17:30, August 6, the town of Lenswood in Adelaide Hills received 81 mm (3.18 inches) of rain, setting a new August rainfall record for the town.

During the same period, 73 mm (2.87 inches) fell at Lobethal, 63 mm (2.48 inches) at Bridgewater, 50 mm (1.96 inches) at Belair and 23 mm (0.90 inches) at Adelaide.

BOM forecaster Matt Bass said the front had created perfect conditions for the hailstorm. "The upper atmosphere was very cold, so that caused the hail to form. But it was really cold down in Adelaide as well. Hail usually melts before it hits the ground but because it was so cold, it was solid all the way down."

The storm closed roads throughout Adelaide Hills, forcing the police to divert traffic. SES and CFS said they responded to numerous weather-related incidents across the state.

The temperatures in Adelaide reached up to 13 °C (55.4 °F) today while Mt Lofty had a maximum temperature of 5.5 °C (41.9 °F) at 16:00 local time, the coldest day so far this winter.

Another cold front is expected on August 7, followed by a brief warmup before another one on August 10.

Monday’s cold front brought substantial rain across the state but not enough to make a dent in the historically dry winter so far this year, Adelaide Now reports.

Featured image credit: News9