Issued 3 September 2003
August rain brings further relief to southern Australia
The Commonwealth Bureau of Meteorology announced today that August rainfall was above average across most of the country, and was heavy enough to remove the remaining short-term deficiencies that had developed in the southern half of the continent since March 2003. However, there are still large areas of eastern Australia that are deficient in their twelve-month rainfall totals.
6-month rainfall deficiencies
For the 6-month period from March to August 2003, the only areas of serious deficiencies that remained were situated in the southern Northern Territory, generally to the north and west of Alice Springs. August rainfall was sufficient to have removed deficiencies near Bairnsdale in Victoria, as well as through parts of central and western SA.
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12-month rainfall deficiencies
For the 12-month period from September 2002 to August 2003, longer-term serious to severe rainfall deficiencies continued over some large areas of eastern Australia, thereby re-emphasizing the severity of the dry conditions last year. However, the regions covered were not as extensive as those for the 12 months ending July. The largest regions were in central and northeast Queensland, and across southern and eastern Victoria together with the ACT and the western slopes in NSW. There were also patches in the southern NT as well as around Giles in eastern WA, and Carnarvon on the west coast of WA. Parts of East Gippsland near Bairnsdale have had their driest September to August period on record.
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