Summer cancelled due to the weather, The Australian, 1 March, 2002.

Summer cancelled due to the weather: [1 Edition]

Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 01 Mar 2002: 7.

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The most memorable images were of hot, dry westerlies fanning the NSW bushfires, while snow fell in the mountains, but for many parts of the country, summer ended with some of the wettest conditions on record.

In Sydney, rain fell on 21 out of 28 days in February, the second- highest frequency on record. Storms were also a feature, and the strongest wind gust ever recorded in NSW was measured in Richmond at 174 km/h during December.

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SUMMER is over. And what an odd summer it was.

The most memorable images were of hot, dry westerlies fanning the NSW bushfires, while snow fell in the mountains, but for many parts of the country, summer ended with some of the wettest conditions on record.

In Sydney, rain fell on 21 out of 28 days in February, the second- highest frequency on record. Storms were also a feature, and the strongest wind gust ever recorded in NSW was measured in Richmond at 174 km/h during December.

And Canberra finished summer with the wettest February in recorded history, exceeding 200mm for the first time.

In Adelaide, the average maximum temperature of 25.6C was its coldest summer on record, beating the previous summer of 1948-49.

While final figures were not available yet, Melbourne did not have a single day above 38C. It also looks like averaging 24C for summer, putting it in the bottom 10 per cent of coolest summers on record.

Don White, of consultancy firm Weatherwatch, said it was a very variable summer.

"The most unusual feature was the two weeks of westerly winds around Christmas to New Year," he said. "This was a rare type of event and contributed to thebushfires and a cool summer in the southern capitals.

"There was the coolest start to the summer for much of Victoria in more than a decade, due to the intense and extremely slow-moving low-pressure systems, which triggered the hot, dry westerlies in the eastern areas of the continent at the same time as providing cool conditions in the south."

Perth's summer maximum is likely to average 30C, the same as previous summers.