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Statement on Drought for the 5 and 12-month
periods ending 31st December 2006
Driest year on record in parts of southern Australia
December rainfall totals were generally below average across the
drought-affected parts of eastern and southern Australia, with
rainfall deficits therefore
remaining widespread over Tasmania, Victoria, South Australia, New South
Wales and southern Queensland. It was the driest year on record (back
to 1900) across parts of the south, most notably in northern and parts
of eastern Tasmania, northeast Victoria and adjacent parts of southern
NSW and the ACT.
The period from August to December was especially warm and dry across
the southern half of the country. Averaged over the Murray-Darling Basin
it was the driest such period on record as well as being the second warmest,
with much of the central-west and southwest slopes of NSW having mean
maximum temperatures more than 3°C above the long-term average. SA and
Victoria had their second driest August to December period, while in
area-average terms it was the warmest last five months of the year for
the country as a whole, as well as for WA, SA and Victoria.
A poor start to the northern wet season has also caused short-term rainfall
deficiencies to develop across some parts of tropical Australia.
For the 5-month period from August to December,
generally severe rainfall deficiencies covered most of SA apart from the
northeast quarter, all of Victoria, northern and eastern Tasmania, most of
NSW west of a line from Bega to Tamworth to Bourke, southern inland
Queensland, parts of northwest and northern Queensland, areas in the
northern NT and the coastal zone between Albany and Esperance in southern
WA. Record low falls were widely scattered about all these areas.
For the 2006 calendar year, serious to severe rainfall
deficiencies affected a large part of southeast Queensland centred on about
Charleville, much of the southern half of NSW west of the ranges, Victoria
(apart from far East Gippsland), northern and eastern Tasmania, southeastern
SA and a coastal strip in WA from Carnarvon to Albany. In addition, areas
near Bourke and from Alice Springs to south of Tarcoola also have deficiencies
for this period. Record low falls are analysed along Tasmania’s north coast
as well as in parts of the southeast of that State. Records were also broken
in the mountainous regions of northeast Victoria and southeast NSW extending
into parts of the southwest slopes, central tablelands and central-west, on
the SA/Victoria border near Bordertown and in a few patches along the southwest
coast of WA. It was also the driest year on record in a small region just to
the south of Oodnadatta.
The deficiencies discussed above have occurred against a backdrop of
multi-year rainfall deficits that have severely stressed water supplies
in the east and southwest of the country.
Rainfall
deficiency maps for standard periods out to three years are
available.
Note: The terms used to describe rainfall in these
Drought Statements have the following meanings -
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
Very much 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%
Very much above average
- rainfalls in the highest 10% of historical totals
For more information regarding this rainfall
deficiencies statement, please contact the following
climate meteorologists in the National Climate Centre:
Grant Beard on (03) 9669 4527
Blair Trewin on (03) 9669 4623
David Jones on (03) 9669 4085
External Sites Relating to Drought
The Bureau of Meteorology does not make formal drought declarations
as these are done by either the relevant State Governments or by the
Australian Government. The Australian Government Program is called
Exceptional Circumstances
and it is administered by the Federal Department of Agriculture,
Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF). General information about Australian
Government drought assistance is available at
http://www.daff.gov.au/droughtassist.
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