It is official, Port Elizabeth received the lowest total rainfall for August, on record. This is from records that date back to 1900.
Garth Sampson at the PE Branch of the SA Weather Service reports that the 3.0 mm measured during August broke the 1985 record of 4.7 mm for the month.
Similar records were recorded over other areas of the Eastern Cape for winter which is considered as June, July and August.
For Komani it is the second winter in a row that records low rainfall has been measured. In 2018 a mere 2.6 mm was measured with 2.8 mm being measured in 2019. This is well below the average of 30.6 mm
For Mthatha, it is the driest winter on record. The 11.8 mm measured broke the 2014 record of 12.4 mm. It is well below the winter average of 58.5 mm.
For Cradock, it is also the driest winter on record. A mere 0.8 mm was measured this winter which is well below the average of 28.4 mm.
In Port Elizabeth, the 98.3 mm for winter was not a record due to some good falls in July but it was well below the winter norm of 174.6 mm.
It was not a major record for East London either, but the 34.4 mm was considerably lower than the norm of 145.5 mm for winter.
Most weather stations also experienced the warmest average day time temperatures on record for the three winter months:
Cradock: 23.7 C
Komani: 20.9 C
Mthatha: 23.6 C
Cradock: 22.3 C
Port Elizabeth: 21.9 C
Minimum temperatures were a mixed bag with some areas being above norm and others below. However in general most were close to norm not making it necessary to give individual figures.
