Drought Statements for 2009 - Victoria and South West New South WalesDuring 2008, I researched the monthly droughts statements for the state of Victoria and inland New South Wales that showed that the drought afflicting areas of the two states did not properly break. The statements are found throughtout the General Weather Threads for New South Wales and Victoria. Given that this is still a serious and insidious weather event gripping parts of southern Australia, it may be appropriate to continue the topic as a separate heading for 2009 for as long as needed.
Victoria - January 2009 During the month of January 2009, much of the state of Victoria experienced exceptionally dry conditions, reversing any gains made in November and December. To show this:-
Melbourne experienced 0.8 mm of rain being the driest since 1932 when 0.3 mm fell. The long term average for the city is 48 mm. As at 30/1/2009, Melbourne had gone 27 days without rain, the longest dry spell since 1965 with a spell of 28 days.
(Source - Melbourne Sets Heatwave Record as Victoria Bakes, Bureau of Meteorology 30/1/2009)
Ballarat:- The city had 1 mm which is the lowest ever.
Much of western Victoria and North western Victoria had no rain. While January is usually a dry month for the state, average rainfalls were significantly below average:-
North West:- No rain received.
South west:- 1 - 10 mm averages.
Western Melbourne:- No rain received.
Eastern Melbourne:- 1 - 5 mm averages.
Gippsland:- 10 - 25 mm averages.
North east Victoria:- 50 - 100 mm strictly limited to the highlands.
Murray region 5 - 10 mm averages.
Deciles:
The west, south west and north west experienced very much below averages to a point of "Lowest on record" for some areas.
North east Victoria:- Below average falls.
North east highlands:- Average falls.
Anomalies:
Western 10 - 25 mm below average.
North west 10 - 25 mm below average.
Northern 25 - 50 mm below average.
Eastern Melbourne 50 - 100 mm below average.
North East Highlands 10 - 25 mm below average.
Far East Gippsland 50 - 100 mm below average.
South west 25 - 50 mm below average.
3 Monthly deficiencies:In terms of the 3 monthly deficiencies, Victoria seems to be holding well thanks to some improvements during November and December but during January 2009, the gains were largely reversed.
When analysing the 12 monthly rainfall deficiencies, the deficiencies become clear. Large swathes of the state continues to suffer "Serious Rainfall deficiencies" with significant deficiencies around Melbourne and Geelong.
The web site at
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/rain provides various maps and data can be manipulated to show the above.
In south west New South, also suffering drought, the situation has also not improved:-
Southern New South Wales suffered below average rainfall and the south west suffered very much below average rainfall. The far south west had no rain recorded and the Murray Riverina averaged 5 - 10 mm.
To highlight how dry January was in these regions, Narrandera had 0.8 mm of rain which is the lowest in 39 years of records (Weatherzone and BOM 31/1/2009).
Its interesting when overlying the daily temperature plots, now available at the same website "Click on Temperature" at:-
http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/rainThe Murray Darling Basin including North West Victoria, Northern Victoria, Southern New South Wales and South West New South Wales has suffered through a torrid January where:-
Maximum highest daily temperatures reached 42 to 45C where rainfall deficiencies were the highest.
Maximum anomalies of 3C above average temperature were recorded. They were recorded in the areas experiencing years of rainfall deficiencies.
In conclusion, the heat and low rainfall of January is clearly marked in the areas that has been in drought over recent years and the start of 2009 has also been dry for these regions.
Harley Pearman
