Issued on 7 December 2000
Little change in W.A. rainfall deficits, but some easing in Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology announced today that much of the southwest and west of Western Australia continues to experience severe rainfall deficiencies following a month of generally below average rainfall in November. On the other hand, near-average November rainfall helped to ease deficiencies in the southeast of Queensland and the northeast of New South Wales.
8-month rainfall deficiencies
Below average November rainfall in the west and southwest of W.A. caused both a marginal intensification and slight expansion in the rainfall deficiencies that have developed since April. For the eight months from April to November, a large region of western W.A. from Exmouth in the north to Albany and Esperance in the south, has experienced generally severe rainfall deficits. There have been some record low totals in the south of the affected area. Deficiencies that were evident on the central NSW coast for the period beginning April, were eliminated by heavy November rains.
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10-month rainfall deficiencies
The ten months from February to November 2000 have been deficient in rainfall over southeast Queensland and northeast NSW, but the deficiencies have eased and contracted in the past few months in response to increased rainfall. The affected region covers the East Darling Downs in Queensland, together with parts of the Northern Tablelands and Northern Rivers districts in NSW.
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