Cowra has had a wet and cool summer with February looking much the same

It's the most rainfall the city has seen since January 1995, when the gauges recorded 137 millimetres.

It's also more than double the January rainfall average of 59 millimetres.

It rained on 10 of the 31 days of January, with the wettest day on January 8, when 44.8 millimetres fell.

January was cooler too, with a mean temperature of 30.4 degrees, 1.8 degrees cooler than the average of 32.2 degrees.

Sixteen January days cracked the 30 degree mark - two less than in 2021.

On just two days did the mercury climb above 35 degrees, a far cry from January 2021 when Cowra sweltered through eight days over 35.

Last month's highest temperature of 35.7 degrees, recorded on January 2, was well off the sweltering January 3, 1973 record high of 46.6 degrees.

The coolest day in Cowra last month was January 19, when the mercury only reached 23.8 degrees.

The lowest minimum temperature recorded was just 11.9 degrees on January 23, but that's still considerably warmer than the chilly 5 degree minimum recorded in on January13, 1975.

The wet start to the year followed Cowra's soggy spring in 2021 and a wet start to summer in December when 42.4mm fell, nearly twice the December 2020 reading when the district received 22.4mm.

December 2021 was also cooler than December 2020 with no days over 35 degrees and 15 over 30 degrees.

In December 2020 the temperature rose to above 30 on 16 days and over 35 on two days.

Our hottest December day in 2021 was 34.5 degrees on December 18, well short of the 41.3 degrees recorded on December 1, 2020.

Looking ahead, we've already seen a dry start to February which looks like it may be a little drier than January, as the effects of La Nina begin to weaken.

The Bureau of Meteorology says the La Nina event declared late last year is at or near its peak, and expected to come to an end in early Autumn.

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