Weather News

Splendour in the mud

Anthony Sharwood, Thursday July 21, 2022 - 12:16 AEST

Not such great news for those attending the Splendour in the Grass music festival at Byron Bay from Friday, July 22 to Sunday July 24: expect rain.

Weatherzone does not anticipate a deluge of the type the NSW North Coast – and indeed most of the east coast of Australia – has experienced at times this year – but we can promise significant wetness.

How much rain, and when?

We're expecting something in the vicinity of 10-20 mm today (Thursday), so good luck getting your tent set up if you're camping.

On Friday, a rainfall range of 5-10 mm looks likely, so expect frequent showers but nothing too steady or intense.

Saturday looks slightly drier, with the chance of around 1-5 mm of rain, so you might just get away without getting too soggy.

And Sunday looks like the pick of a damp-but-not-totally-saturated festival with just a 20% chance of a light shower.

Please check Weatherzone's complete Byron Bay forecast here:

Whilst our mates @glassanimals might sing about Heat Waves, it's bloody freezing at night here! Please wear a jacket, bring gumboots or waterproof shoes and stay warm. Granny Splendour doesn't want you catching a cold ok. pic.twitter.com/syxRAsBWwY

— SplendourintheGrass (@SITG) July 20, 2022

What about temperatures?

It's going to be cool by local standards, even for July. The northeast corner of NSW is generally the warmest spot in the state during winter, with an average July maximum of 19.3°C up at Cape Byron Lighthouse.

Even places where the average summer maximums are 10-15 degrees hotter in summer than the state's northeast corner have slightly cooler average maximums in winter. For example, Tibooburra in the state's far northwest has an average max of 17.9°C in July.

But this week, as mentioned, Byron Bay will be chilly. Expect maximums of just 17°C today and Friday, with tops around 18°C across the weekend. It'll also be pretty windy, with easterlies blowing at between about 20 km/h and 35 km/h.

So it won't the greatest weekend, we're afraid, but it could be worse. And it'll be pretty gloomy elsewhere too, with the whole of the NSW coast staying showery and cool right through until at least Sunday, with the exception of the far South Coast, where the weather should clear on Sunday.

Fun fact about the title "Splendour in the Grass"

It's believed that the festival founders named it after the 1961 Oscar-winning film of the same name. But the phrase actually predates that movie by the best part of two centuries.

It originates from the William Wordsworth poem "Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood", and the full stanza in which it appears reads:

Though nothing can bring back the hour

Of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;

We will grieve not, rather find

Strength in what remains behind;

In essence, the poem is nostalgically talking about youthfulness, about the idea of your early years as a time of clarity, when the world seems more vivid, more clear than it will in the future as you age and life kind of gets in the way.

And the whole thing about the key image of the grass is that grass is probably the most ordinary thing in the world, but seen through youthful eyes, it is splendid! Because everything is splendid at that age!

We realise you definitely weren't expecting literary analysis of an early 19th century poem in your weather news feed today, but there it is.

And there's a message in there for all you youthful mudlarks at the festival. Get amongst it. Enjoy yourselves and don't let a little rain stop you, because nothing will ever be this good ever again.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2022

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