Welcomed widespread weekend South Australia and Adelaide May rain

Widespread rainfall has soaked broad parts of South Australia and Adelaide, including over drought affected regions.

As seen in the satellite loop below, moist tropical air has been drawn south over central and southern Australia into the weekend, delivering welcomed rainfall to South Australia and Adelaide.

Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPE) and rainfall observations in the 24 hours to 9am ACST across South Australia on Saturday, 16 May 2026
Image: Satellite water vapour imagery on Saturday, 16 May 2026 showing the deep feed of tropical moisture streaming across the country into southern Australia. Source: Weatherzone

Notable rainfall observations to 9am Saturday, 16 May 2026 included:

36mm at Cape Borda (Kangaroo Island)

35mm at Neptune Island

33mm at Port Lincoln Ap (Eyre Peninsula)

32mm at Parndana (Kangaroo Island) and 32mm at Point Avoid (Coffin Bay)

30mm at Loxton (Riverland)

This rainfall also made it the wettest day (of any month) in:

7 years for Point Avoid (Coffin Bay, 32mm)

Nearly 5 years for Neptune Island (35mm)

Nearly 3 years for Cape Borda (36mm) and Stenhouse Bay (23mm)

Over 2 years for Cleve Ap (27mm) and Port Lincoln Ap (33mm)

The map below shows that much of this rainfall fell across northern and central parts of the state, with May rainfall typically originating from more southern latitudes, making this unseasonable rainfall. Parts of the Eyre, Yorke and Fleurieu peninsulas and Kangaroo Island that have long term multi-year rainfall deficiencies driving drought conditions have benefited from this rainfall.

Image: Quantitative Precipitation Estimates (QPE) and rainfall observations to 9am ACST on Saturday, 16 May 2026. Source: DTN

As a result, this was the wettest May day in:

33 years for Cleve Ap (27mm)

12 years for Yunta (14mm) and Port Lincoln Ap (29mm)

10 years for Port Augusta (17mm), Woomera (19mm), Oodnadatta (16mm), and Loxton (30mm)

9 years for Lameroo (16mm)

7 years for Point Avoid (Coffin Bay, 32mm), Cape Borda (36mm), and Whyalla (11mm)

5 years for Cummins (14mm)

The Adelaide region also received healthy rainfall, with widespread falls of 10 to 20mm across most of the metropolitan and hill areas. Adelaide’s official weather station recorded a rainfall total of 11.8mm in the 24 hours to 9am, marking the wettest day of the month yet. This brings the May rainfall total to 32mm for the city, which is nearly half the average May rainfall of 67.4mm.

Image: May 2026 to Date Temperatures and Rainfall for Adelaide, as seen on the Weatherzone app.

Most of the rainfall has fallen for South Australia, with rain over the east, and scattered showers and possible thunderstorms over the south and west gradually contracting eastwards on Sunday.