Issued on 15 March 2000
Rainfall deficiencies contract in Queensland, expand in Victoria
The Bureau of Meteorology's Assistant Director (Services), Bruce Neal, said today that areas of serious to severe rainfall deficiencies in parts of southern Victoria have expanded, but the area of serious rainfall deficiency in the central highlands of Queensland has contracted. The existing deficiencies in Tasmania remain.
11-month rainfall deficiencies
The serious to severe deficiencies in Victoria west of Melbourne for the eleven months April 1999 to February 2000 (see first map below) have expanded as a result of average to below average February rainfall and now cover most of the coast between Melbourne and the border. The existing deficiencies east of Melbourne show little change. The same can be said for the serious to severe deficiencies in Tasmania's southeast (around Hobart) and northwest (south of Burnie). Average to above average rainfall in February for the central Queensland highlands between Rockhampton and Longreach has caused the area of existing serious rainfall deficiency to contract, although some parts remain affected.
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41-month rainfall deficiencies
The 41 months from October 1996 to February 2000 have been very dry in an area extending from the southern Eyre Peninsula in South Australia to Sale in eastern Victoria, and also into the north-east of Tasmania (see second map below). In some of these regions the rainfall has been lowest on record for the period.
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