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Victoria has experienced its driest winter in more than 10 years, after some of the lowest June rainfalls on record.
A total of 123.6mm fell in Bendigo during the three months, 34.8mm below the average for winter.
Just 2.4mm fell at the Bendigo Airport in June, the smallest figure since records began in 1862. But July and August saw better than average rainfalls with 61.4mm and 59.8mm respectively.
Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Blair Trewin said Victoria had experienced its driest winter since 2006.
“Winter rainfall as a whole came in significantly below average,” he said.
“It was an exceptionally dry June, the driest June on record for the state. July and August rainfall was fairly close to average but with a very dry start.”
Castlemaine recorded its lowest winter total rainfall of 105.6mm in the records since 1982, when just 53.0mm fell on the town.
Elmore farmer Ged McCormick is feeling optimistic about the season despite the dry start to winter.
Just 2mm fell on the farm in the first month of the season, but rain began to fall in the days following.
“It’s all on track for a good harvest,” he said as spring began. “The biggest concern at the moment is the frost.”
Temperature-wise, the mercury at Redesdale dropped to its lowest winter temperature on record, with -5.6 degrees on July 2, smashing the previous record of -4.2 in 1994.
Further north, Swan Hill and Echuca residents shivered through a chilly winter, entering new low temperatures into the record books.
Echuca recorded its lowest winter mean temperature since 1997, with an average of 8.6 degrees, while Swan Hill’s average daily minimum temperature was the lowest in 20 years at 2.8 degrees.
Mr Trewin said northern Victoria experienced notably low temperatures around the start of July with a low run of frosts.
“Winter in Victoria has been a winter with overall temperatures fairly close to average,” he said.
“Days have been slightly warmer than average, nights have been slightly colder than average.”
Bendigo’s maximum daily temperatures were slightly warmer than average, with July 29 being the warmest day at 17.9 degrees. The coldest morning was July 1, when the mercury plummeted to -3.5 degrees.
“For maximum temperatures it was a pretty consistent picture – almost the whole state was between average and one-degree above average but for minimum temperatures it was a bit more of a mixed bag,” Mr Trewin said.