Mount Gambier has finally received a decent drop of rain, with 11.4mm falling overnight on Monday, ending the city’s dry spell.

This came after the drier than usual weather continued through March, with the Blue Lake city receiving only a sprinkle of rain, coupled with warmer than usual temperatures.

Only 3.2mm of rain was recorded for the month, less than 10% of the long term average of 35.4mm.

This was only 0.6mm more than the previous driest March on record, when 2.6mm was recorded in 1994.

The wettest March on record was in 1983 when 159.4mm fell.

So far this year only 46mm of rain has been recorded in Mount Gambier, compared to the long term average of 
88.8mm.

This time last year the city had recorded 115.4mm.

Only 0.2mm of rain was recorded in the last five days.

Temperatures this month have also been slightly warmer than average, with the March average minimum temperature 11.2 degrees, compared with the long term average of 10.6 degrees.

The coldest temperature this month was registered on March 22 when the overnight temperature dropped to 4.8.

The coldest overnight temperature on record was 0.0 on March 27, 1953.

The average maximum temperature was 26.6, which was 3.4 degrees warmer than the long term average of 23.2.

The hottest day for the month was March 9 when the mercury reached 41.2, just shy of the record set on March 17, 2008 when it hit 41.3.