January
It was an anxious start to the year for Campaspe as heavy rains fell across the region.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
In Rochester, the Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that 125mm of rain fell over 24 hours on January 7, 2024 and January 8, 2024 — a daily rainfall record for any month over 120 years of records.
Although flood levels did not reach those of the 2022 floods, Rochy did not escape undamaged after the Campaspe River peaked at 114.62m AHD on January 9, 2024.
Much of the damage was limited to streets, gutters and backyards with a few homes damaged by over-floor flooding.
In Echuca the wet weather started just as the new year’s celebrations were finishing up with 49.5mm of rain falling in Echuca on January 3, 2024.
Heavy rains continued over the following week, with an extra 46.3mm of rainfall causing flash flooding and fallen trees across Echuca.
However, the heavy rain subsided after January 9, 2024 with only an extra 23.2mm recorded over two non-consecutive days for the remainder of the month.
Despite the wet weather, the heat was still present, with the hottest day reaching a high of 36.4ºC on January 12, 2024.
Although the majority of the month’s highest temperatures were above 30ºC, the mean temperature for the month was 30ºC.
In comparison to the past 10 years, it was the lowest monthly mean recorded.
February
After a wet January, the heat turned up in February with much hotter temperatures throughout.
The highest temperature recorded was 39.8ºC on February 4, 2024.
A total of 21 days recorded temperatures over 30ºC, eight of which were above 35ºC.
It was a much drier month with 9.1mm of rainfall recorded overall.
In comparison to all years of data, February was below the rainfall mean of 25.6mm and median of 13.6mm.
On the temperature front, February had a mean of 32.8ºC, higher than both the median and mean of all recorded temperatures for the month of February.
March
The heat continued in March with the highest recorded temperature reaching 38.5ºC, almost surpassing February’s highest of 39.8ºC.
The first half of the month remained consistently warm as majority of the days sat above 30ºC.
Temperatures then began to drop from March 20, 2024 ranging from 22.3 to 28.3.
Days also began to get colder with the minimum temperatures dropping below 10ºC over six days near the end of the month.
The lowest recorded temperature was 5.9ºC on March 21, 2024.
Overall, it was a dry month with a total of 2.8mm of rainfall.
April
As autumn settled in, the colder days became more regular.
The highest temperature recorded was 32.5ºC on the first day of April before temperatures dropped below 30ºC for the remainder of the month.
The lowest minimum temperature was recorded at 1.3ºC.
Despite the cold, the month was dry, with a total rainfall of 6.2 mm recorded over three days.
May
Heavy rains returned in May with a total of 56.7mm of rain recorded over four days.
The wet weather began on May 9, 2024 with 0.8mm recorded and 1.3 mm recorded for the following day.
On May 11, 2024 the wet weather peaked as it poured, with a huge 32mm recorded followed by 0.4mm the next day as it subsided.
The month continued with no more wet weather until the final day of the month, which recorded 22.2mm of rain.
In comparison to data dating back to 1881, the total monthly rainfall was higher than the 40.4mm average and the 35mm median.
As expected, it was much cooler in May with the month's lowest temperature reaching -0.5ºC and the highest sitting at 22.8ºC.
June
Temperatures continued to drop over the month of June as winter settled in.
June had the lowest recorded temperature of the year, with a low of -5.0ºC on June 19, 2024.
Locals felt the worst of the cold between June 18, 2024 to June 24, 2024 as temperatures dropped into the negatives and the highest temperatures remained below 15ºC.
The first and last day of the month were marked with rainfalls of 6.8mm on June 1, 2024 and 8.6mm on June 30, 2024.
Overall, there was 23.5mm of rainfall recorded for the month.
July
July had the most days of rain in 2024 as 19.9mm of rain fell across eight days.
The cold days also continued in July with temperatures peaking at 18.2ºC while the lowest recorded temperature was -1.0.
In comparison to previous records, July’s temperatures and rainfall were normal for the time of the year.
August
August was a welcome change after the continuous cold as temperatures began to creep above 20ºC again.
The highest temperature recorded was 24.1ºC on August 25, 2024.
August’s mean maximum temperature of 18.2ºC exceeded the historical mean of 15.3ºC.
The month's mean minimum temperature of 5.4ºC also sat just above the mean of 4.7ºC of all past data.
August also recorded a total of 22.1mm of rain, well below the 42mm mean of past recordings.
However in comparison to the past decade, six years including 2024 recorded rainfall totals between 22.1mm and 26.8mm.
September
After four months of cool weather, September cracked the 30s on September 6, 2024 with a high of 30.7ºC.
The temperatures ranged widely, with a low of 1.5ºC recorded twice in the month and the highest low only reaching 14.1ºC.
It was dry for most of the month with only three days of rainfall recorded, totalling 14.1mm.
According to all previous data, the month's total was well below the collective mean of 39.4mm.
However in the past decade, only the years of 2014, 2016 and 2022 have surpassed the monthly mean.
October
October saw a definite rise in temperatures as the majority of the month reached above 20ºC, with highs of 32ºC and 30.2ºC in the second half of the month.
The cold also slowly began to retreat with only six days recording lows below 5ºC and the lowest of the month recorded at 3.1ºC.
Both the month's highest and lowest temperatures were about average in comparison to all data.
The wet weather returned in October with a total of 37.1mm recorded overall.
Most of the month's rain fell between October 17, 2024 to October 19, 2024, peaking at 23.5mm on October 18, 2024.
Although it was below 42.7mm, the month’s mean for all past data, it sat above the collective median of 33.2mm.
November
The heat returned in full force throughout November with days above 30ºC happening more frequently, with the highest temperature reaching 37ºC on November 23, 2024.
There were also no more days below 5ºC, with the lowest low of the month recorded at 6.4ºC on the first day of the month.
A week of wet weather followed the month's hottest day as 0.4mm fell on November 24, 2024.
In the following four days, a total of 40.8mm of rain fell before pausing on November 29, 2024.
The break was brief however as 27.4mm of rain fell on November 30, 2024, bringing the total month's rainfall to 69mm.
In comparison to all previous records, it was more than double the month's average of 33.3mm.
December
December officially marked the beginning of summer with hot days and very little rain.
It was the only month to record a temperature above 40ºC, with the month’s highest temperature peaking at 43ºC on December 15, 2024.
The majority of the month recorded highs above 30ºC, bringing the month’s mean of its maximum temperature to 31.1ºC, higher than the mean of all years, which is 29.1ºC.
On Christmas Day, the temperature reached a high of 35ºC and a recorded a low of 14.5ºC.
Boxing Day was marked by sweltering heat as it reached 39.8ºC, only 0.02ºC shy of 40ºC.
However, temperatures dropped in the month’s final days, slowly creeping up to a high of 34ºC on December 31.
Across the whole month, there were only two days of rain with 3.2mm falling on the first day and 13.2mm on December 3, 2024.