Dryness increasing in eastern Australia
Ben Domensino,
Thursday August 2, 2018 - 16:11 AEST
Australia's driest July in 16 years has caused rainfall deficiencies to increase across a large area of eastern Australia.
Nationwide, rainfall was more than 50 percent below the long-term average last month, making it Australia's driest July since 2002. At the state level, it was the 5th driest July on record in NSW.
It was also a notably warm month, with the nationwide mean maximum temperature a whopping 2.22 degrees above the long term average. Behind 2017, this was the second highest on record. It was among the top four warmest Julys on record in WA, NSW, Queensland and the NT, based on maximum temperatures.
The lack of rainfall last month, combined with enhanced evaporation due to higher than normal temperatures, has caused rainfall deficiencies to increase in many areas of eastern Australia.
Severe rainfall deficiencies have now been seen across most of NSW and large swathes of southwest, eastern SA and northern Victoria so far during 2018. Some places in Australia's southeastern inland have even experienced their driest January to July period on record.
The dry start to 2018 has exacerbated longer-term rainfall deficiencies across eastern Australia. Parts of NSW and Queensland are now experiencing severe deficiencies at the 16-month timescale, with some areas registering their lowest rainfall on record for the 16-month period from April to July.
Unfortunately, the latest seasonal outlook from the Bureau of Meteorology indicates that conditions are expected to be warmer and drier than usual during August and the start of spring across most of Australia.
- Weatherzone
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2018