Weather News

Outback spring soaking looms

Ben Domensino, Wednesday September 27, 2017 - 12:24 AEST

Parts of central Australia could receive an entire season's worth of rain during the next week.

A pair of upper level troughs being fed by moisture from the Indian Ocean will produce a string of rainy days in central Australia between now and Saturday.

Parts of the nation's interior could receive more than 50mm of rain during the next four days, which would exceed the long-term average spring rainfall in the desert region.

Oodnadatta usually receives 36mm of rain between the start of September and the end of November. The outback town could receive this entire amount by Sunday.

Some of the highest multi-day totals could occur in the region near the SA/NT border around Ernabella. Some computer models indicate that four-day rainfall totals will be in the range of 40-80mm for this area. Ernabella's average monthly rainfall during September is 12mm.

Some of this rain is likely to fall on and around Uluru, potentially causing streams of water to cascade down the monolith's ribbed surface.

This week's rain may also lead to flooding on outback roads, possibly isolating communities in central Australia.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

Generation gone with the wind

13:20 AEST A weeklong stretch of low wind power was broken on Wednesday evening, as a weak cold front marched across southern Australia. The chart below shows that the National Electricity Market (NEM) has endured a weeklong stretch of low wind generation, with wind power providing around 6% of the NEM’s electricity, down from last year’s average of 13.1% (Mon, April 15 to Wed, April 17).