Product Code: IDCKGFWA00

Weekly Rainfall Update
for 7 days to 9am 22nd July 2008

Index

• commentary on recent rainfall
• weekly rainfall map
• impact of recent rains in deficits
• table of highest weekly totals
• some useful links
• external sites

Commentary on Recent Rainfall

For the week ending 22nd of July, rainfall was recorded over large parts of southern and eastern Australia.

The most widespread, moderate to heavy falls for the week were recorded in southwestern WA, with falls exceeding 50 mm covering a large area. Some small areas of falls greater than 50 mm also occurred in the northwest of Tasmania, alpine regions in Victoria into NSW and in eastern Queensland, inland to the southwest fromTownsville, and also on the coast to the south of Cairns.

Falls greater than 25 mm also occurred over relatively large areas in southwestern WA, alpine areas of Victoria extending into NSW, western and northern Tasmania and in Queensland, inland from around Mackay extending north to Cairns. Light to moderate falls of typically less than 25 mm were reported along coastal regions of SA, much of Victoria, and eastern parts of Tasmania, NSW and Queensland. Little to no rainfall fell elsewhere during the week.

Weekly Rainfall Map

larger colour map with place names | b/w map | larger b/w map with place names
WA | NT | Qld | NSW | Vic | Tas
map information | quality control information

The Drought Statement issued on the 3rd July 2008 discusses rainfall deficits over Australia for the 4 and 13-month periods ending 30th June 2008.
The rainfall deficit maps are available for the 4 month and 13 month periods, and are currently available for standard periods.

For the period from 1st March 2008 to 22nd July 2008, much of the rainfall deficiencies remain, though they have slightly eased in alpine regions of Victoria into NSW. The worst affected areas in the central NT, southeastern WA, central SA and central Queensland have had less than 20% of the mean for autumn and the first half of winter.

For the period from 1st June 2007 to 22nd July 2008, rainfall deficiencies remain similar to the previous week. Rainfall deficient areas in southeastern SA, western Victoria and northern Tasmania have recorded 70 to 90% of the estimated long-term mean for the period, whilst northern parts of SA, southern NT and far western Queensland have recorded less than 40% of average rainfall for the period.

Please Note: The Australian Bureau of Meteorology is not responsible for drought declarations. Drought declarations are the responsibility of the State Governments, and take account of other factors in addition to recent rainfall patterns. Some links to state government departmental web sites are given below.

Table of Highest Weekly Totals

The table below lists the highest rainfall totals for each state and territory for the past week. These are based on real-time rainfall reports, and only limited quality control has been performed on the data. Rainfall district names are given in parentheses. In creating the weekly rainfall map, the automated analysis technique averages the rainfall observations onto 25 km squares. Consequently entries in the table below may be higher than the rainfall ranges shown on the map for those locations.

Some Useful Links

• maps of recent rainfall ( month to date totals - issued daily )
• rainfall deficiencies statement ( archive ) - issued monthly
• three-month rainfall probabilities ( archive ) - issued monthly
• ENSO Wrap-Up

External Sites

• Drought Situation Reports for Queensland - issued by the State of Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Water
• Areas of NSW suffering drought conditions - maps produced by the State of New South Wales Department of Agriculture
• Drought Information for Victoria - information prepared by the State of Victoria Department of Primary Industries
• Dry Season information in WA - prepared by the State of Western Australia Department of Agriculture and Food