Ballarat has officially recorded its wettest spring since the weather bureau began keeping records in 1908. But anyone who has sloshed around the city under grey skies over the past three months probably already suspected that to be the case. Over the past three months the rain gauge at Ballarat Airport recorded 389.6mm of rain - more than twice the long term average for the season and just under 40mm higher than the state's average rainfall for spring. Bureau of Meterology senior climatologist Simon Grainger said rainfall totals could even be higher in some areas outside Ballarat, with the city's "official" tally recorded only at the airport. Through spring it seemed the grey skies and rain were constant, and weather bureau data backs that up. It rained on 60 of the 91 days of spring - just under double the average number of rainy days for the season. "October, with 204.8mm of rain, was the wettest October on record at Ballarat and the third highest total for any month dating back to when records began in Ballarat in 1908," Mr Grainger said. The 24 hours to 9am on October 14 recorded the highest daily rainfall in Ballarat with 51.6mm of rain leading to widespread flooding across the region and dozens of road closures. In November Ballarat recorded 112mm of rain across 18 days on to already sodden ground, double the long term average. Adding to the gloom were temperatures up to two degrees cooler than average, with the warmest day on November 9 topping the mercury at 25.2C when in many other years November has delivered at least one or two days above 30C. While the first weekend of summer finally brings sunny skies and warmth, with a forecast top of 28C on Saturday and 30C on Sunday it drops back to below 20C and rain early next week. Mr Grainger said major climate influences were at play in driving Ballarat's soggy spring. "Two major factors driving rain across eastern Australia including Ballarat were a strong negative Indian Ocean Dipole in combination with a third successive La Nina in the Pacific Ocean," he said. IN OTHER NEWS The Indian Ocean Dipole measures the difference in sea surface temperatures between the Arabian Sea (western Indian Ocean) and the eastern Indian Ocean south of Indonesia while La Nina is a cooling of the waters of the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. "The Indian Ocean Dipole in particular brings warm water to the north west coast of Australia which really sets up weather patterns to move moisture down from the tropics and La Nina brings warm water to the Coral Sea to the north west coast of Australia and that combination also helps allow cold fronts to pass further north in to Australia than they normally do," he said. But in some positive news, the Indian Ocean Dipole has started to weaken and models predict La Nina may start to ease in early 2023. For now though the bureau is predicting a wetter than usual summer for Ballarat and right across Victoria, with a 60 per cent chance of above average rainfall, with daytime temperatures likely to be cooler than usual and night-time temperatures warmer than average thanks to more cloud cover. Have you tried The Courier's app? It can be downloaded here.