NSW Mid North Coast cops double the predicted rainfall
ABC meteorologist Tom Saunders says the Mid North Coast has received roughly double the rainfall predicted on the weekend.
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ABC News
an hour ago
- ABC News
South Australian drought sets low-rainfall records in farming areas
All of South Australia's agricultural areas are in a severe drought, with many locations receiving record-low rainfall over the past 12 months. The Mid North and the upper Eyre Peninsula have had the least rainfall and the majority of the record lows, although no place in the southern part of the state is unaffected, according to data from the Bureau of Meteorology. While farmers were able to harvest a good crop in 2024–25 because of sub-soil moisture from previous wet years, the ground is now bone dry. The Mid North town of Snowtown received a record-low amount of rain in 2024, and over the past 12 months the figure is even lower at 209 millimetres. Only 26mm has been recorded at the town's weather station since the start of the year. Snowtown sheep and mixed cropping farmer Andrew Michael has seeded in the hope of rain coming. "We have no sub-soil moisture left, which has got us through now for the last two-and-a-half [years] prior to this … but the loss if we don't get a grain year will be a massive impact," he said. His family also owns properties in Meningie and Willalooka, in the South East, which have also recorded extremely low rainfall. Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Jonathan Pollock said South Australia's drought was not particularly long-lasting or widespread like the 1997–2009 millennium drought, but it was quite deep. "It certainly is record-breaking in the sense that for a lot of the agricultural areas they have never seen a 16-month period from February to the following year's May with rainfall this low — and that's looking at data going all the way back to 1900," Mr Pollock said. He said it was caused by the atmosphere above the state being dominated by slow-moving high-pressure systems rather than cooler systems that brought rain with them. "Part of the reason why is we've seen a shift towards drier conditions across south-eastern Australia in recent decades and we're seeing more frequent periods of below-average rainfall and especially for the cool-season months from April through to October," he said. "This is due to a combination of natural variability on longer timescales but also changes in the large-scale atmospheric circulation largely driven by an increase in greenhouse gas emissions." The bureau's latest seasonal climate summary says the mean temperature across South Australia in autumn was 21.3 degrees Celsius, or 1.75C above the 1961–1990 average and the third warmest on record for all autumns since 1910. Better farming practices that make the most of sub-soil moisture led to a 5.2-million-tonne grain harvest in 2024–25. That was 40 per cent below the five-year average but 80 per cent above what was reaped in 2006–07 — another drought year. Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) general manager for industrial partnerships and intelligence Matthew Palmer said the productivity increase over the past 20 years was "quite remarkable and a testament to producers and the research and development that supports the grains industry". "It's certainly been a very challenging season and it continues to be, but the result overall is quite remarkable compared with what would have happened in droughts in years gone by," he told the South Australian Country Hour. Ninety-year-old Vic Smith has kept rainfall records in Nangwarry since 1985, when he moved to the town to work at the timber mill. He recorded 102mm of rain until the end of May — similar to last year but about half the normal amount. He said he was worried about the conditions of plantation forests. "It's dangerously dry," Mr Smith said. Mr Smith started calling into the ABC in 1999 to report his rainfall records while at the same time promoting the Nangwarry Forestry Museum where he volunteered until last year. He has not given up his habit despite retiring. "It's something you can look back on and compare year by year, which I do. And, if I hadn't have done that, I wouldn't have realised how much drier it was this year than other years," he said.
News.com.au
2 hours ago
- News.com.au
‘Smells like a toilet': Workers scramble to mop up mass sewage leak in Perth's inner suburbs
A creeping deluge of human waste sliding into Perth's Swan River has been stopped but authorities are having to custom-make pipes to fix the massive spill. The spill centred around the suburbs of Beaconsfield and Spearwood, just to the south of Fremantle, and began on Friday. On Monday night, pools of human waste were still sitting across soccer pitches in Beaconsfield, and had run down to the Fremantle commercial and recreational fishing boat harbour. 'Sewage has been identified at the stormwater drain at the southern end of Fremantle Fishing Boat Harbour,' a spokesperson for the City of Fremantle said on Monday night. 'As a result, the groyne in the Fishing Boat Harbour is closed until further notice.' Water Corporation has warned people not to fish in sections of the Swan River or at the Fremantle Sailing Club because of overflows. The government water authority also cautioned people that areas in Spearwood and Beaconsfield could smell bad. 'Went out to look and you could smell it,' a Beaconsfield resident told Channel 9. 'Smells like a toilet.' The issue started when a sewer main burst on Hamilton Road in Spearwood on Friday. Small and related overflows were sparked in the leafy, riverside suburbs of Alfred Cove, Applecross and seaside South Fremantle. These overflows, in and around the Swan River, have entered the major river. 'The repair in Spearwood is quite complex, instead of being able to weld a band around that pipeline, we're having to prefabricate a new section of pipeline,' a Water Corporation spokesman told media on Monday. The water authority was also forced to erect a sign near the stagnant pool of human waste at a Spearwood park, telling people not to jet ski or sail on the water, drink it or swim in it.
ABC News
4 hours ago
- ABC News
Inland Queensland shivers as cold snap settles in across most of state
The crunch of frost underfoot is matching the bone-dry cold conditions being felt across much of inland Queensland this week. In southern Queensland, Roma shivered through an icy -3.2 degrees Celsius early this morning, while Charleville, Miles, Dalby, Toowoomba and Kingaroy all recorded lows in the negatives. The Bureau of Meteorology's Livio Regano said a deep low weather system had parked off the southern New South Wales coast, drawing dry south-westerly winds across much of the Sunshine State. Mr Regano said even when the system did move on, a high would come in behind it, reinforcing winds and keeping temperatures 4–8C below average for the rest of the week. "If the wind drops in the days ahead, we're going to get widespread frost right across southern and the central interior of Queensland," he said. Mr Regano said frost was possible north almost to the Atherton Tablelands, through Channel Country and across the western border. "We're forecasting [inland] temperatures down to about zero in the next few days" he said. Not even the south-east has been able to escape to cold change. Brisbane is expecting tops of 19C this week, with overnight lows dipping into the single digits. The colder conditions are not expected to reach northern parts of the state, with Townsville and Cairns expecting top temperatures in the mid to high 20s for the rest of the week. However, with winds blowing in from the coast, Mr Regano said possible showers could ruin the fun for people trying to get some sun. "The midwinter average [low] for Cairns is about 16, so we're not even there and probably won't get below it," he said. "So, with the far north, it will probably just be average. Everywhere else will be below."
