Drought Statement


drought_text.html

MEDIA RELEASE - ISSUED 6th JUNE 2001
Statement on Drought for the 3 & 6-month periods ending 31st May 2001

Dry autumn in southern W.A.

The Bureau of Meteorology announced today that rainfall deficiencies have developed in southern Western Australia during autumn. Although totals were closer to average in May, they did not compensate for the very poor rains in March and April. For the past six months, deficiencies are now evident in some areas of western NSW and southern Queensland.

The first map below shows the regions around Albany and Esperance extending northwards to the Goldfields, have serious to severe deficiencies for the three-month period from March to May. Much of this area also experienced rainfall deficiencies during the 2000 growing season as well.

Over the six-month period from December to May, patches of rainfall deficiencies have developed in a line extending from the far northwest of New South Wales to the Queensland coastal region between Rockhampton and Bundaberg (see second map below).

The deficiency periods beginning in February and April 2000 (i.e. last year) will no longer be monitored.


Rainfall deficiency maps for standard periods (3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 36 months) are updated monthly on the Bureau's web site, at http://www.bom.gov.au/cgi-bin/silo/rain_maps.cgi .


Note: The terms used to describe rainfall in these Drought Statements have the following meanings -

Well below average - rainfalls in the lowest 10% of historical totals
Below average - rainfalls in the lowest 30% of historical totals, but not in the lowest 10%
Average - rainfalls in the middle 40% of historical totals
Above average - rainfalls in the highest 30% of historical totals, but not in the highest 10%
Well above average - rainfalls in the highest 10% of historical totals
Serious deficiency - rainfalls in the lowest 10% of historical totals, but not in the lowest 5%
Severe deficiency - rainfalls in the lowest 5% of historical totals
Lowest on record - lowest since at least 1900 when the data analysed begin


For more information regarding this rainfall deficiencies statement, please contact the following climate meteorologists during normal business hours (EST) Monday to Friday:

Grant Beard on (03) 9669 4527
Robert Fawcett on (03) 9669 4603


Click on the map for full resolution.
Click on the map for full resolution.
A black and white version is also available.

Click on the map for full resolution.
Click on the map for full resolution.
A black and white version is also available.