Despite average rainfall in many areas for December, the big wet continues into the new year with storms bringing widespread falls this week in mainly northern areas.
A wild storm hit power at Mungindi on the Queensland border while the main street of Tamworth saw flashflooding after 40 millimetres fell on Tuesday.
Many storms in the north have seen worthwhile falls, with not too many reports of hail or storm damage. More rain is expected this week in some areas. Moree had 56mm on Tuesday, Narrabri 36mm, and Warialda 37mm.
It's hard to believe that there was only average rainfall in December in NSW, according to the Department of Primary Industries' latest seasonal outlook.
"Average rainfall has been recorded across most of NSW during December and the state continues to experience a strong production outlook," it said.
"Most of NSW is currently in non-drought with the NSW DPI Combined Drought Indicator (CDI) showing 93 per cent of NSW in the recovery or non-drought categories at the end of December.
"The official rainfall outlook indicates that there is a 45pc to above 70pc chance of rainfall being above the median values for the next three months."
Most of the winter crop harvest was completed in December, it said despite rain in November hampering harvest.
The irrigated crop forecast for the 2021-22 season remains high due to high soil moisture levels and water availability in the state's reservoir and irrigation scheme, the DPI said.
"Pasture growth remains high across the state though in many districts the nutritional value of pasture for livestock is lower given the warmer temperatures. The seasonal conditions also create challenges for livestock producers, such as weed management."
The only parts of the state still struggling with the dry were parts of western NSW and western areas of the Riverina and Murray regions. The latest Bureau of Meteorology Seasonal Outlook indicates moderate to high chances of above median rainfall across NSW for the three months between February and April.
Rainfall during 2021 had been near or above average across NSW. Most of coastal NSW, alpine regions and parts of the central and northern tablelands have received more than 1000mm.
"Most of NSW experienced near average maximum temperatures during December (Figure 3a). Warmer than average anomalies (1-2°C) were recorded in parts of western NSW and cooler than average anomalies were recorded in parts of central and south-eastern NSW. The average December maximum temperatures ranged between 21°C to 30°C in eastern NSW. Areas west of the Great Dividing Range had maximum temperatures above 27°C, and above 36°C in the far north-west of NSW (Figure 3b).
"Minimum temperatures were near average across most of NSW in December (Figure 3c). The average December minimum temperatures were above 12°C across most of the state (Figure 3d). Tablelands and alpine regions at higher altitudes experienced cooler temperatures between 3 to 12°C."
Love agricultural news? Sign up for The Land's free daily newsletter.
John Ellicott
journalist and author
journalist and author
