Issued on 8 January 2001
Rainfall deficits persist in W.A. and Queensland
The Bureau of Meteorology announced today that much of the southwest and west of Western Australia, together with the southeast corner of Queensland, continue to experience rainfall deficiencies following a month of generally below average rainfall in December.
9-month rainfall deficiencies
For the nine months from April to December 2000, 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. The pattern changed very little in December despite some above average falls in northern areas. There have been some record low nine-month totals in the south of the affected region.
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11-month rainfall deficiencies
The 11 months from February to December 2000 have been deficient in rainfall over southeast Queensland and the far northeast corner of NSW. December rainfall was mainly below the long-term average in this area resulting in a slight expansion of the area of deficiencies. The affected region covers parts of the Darling Downs in Queensland, together with some of the Northern Tablelands and Northern Rivers districts in NSW.
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