Weather: Rain, cold snap due in Sydney on Monday
Farmers say forecast rains across NSW are not ideal, with the predicted deluge smack bang in the middle of harvest season set to damage crops.
NSW
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Farmers hoping to pay down debt and rebuild their lives with a bumper crop after years of drought face losing it all to flooding rains in the middle of harvest time.
Heavy falls are forecast to impact much of NSW in the coming week, a welcome change to the crippling dry of previous seasons, but “bad timing” for farmers in the middle of harvesting crops.
A low-pressure trough moving through the state, smaller inland troughs and a south-easterly onshore wind are responsible – even bringing snow to alpine regions.
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National Farmers Federation chief executive Tony Maher told The Daily Telegraph heavy rain after years of “extremely tough times” would be hard on many grain growers if they’re unlucky enough to cop a drenching at the “wrong time”.
“For the grain it needs to be dry, the moisture content is important right at the end stage of the crop … the weight can also lay down the crop, making it hard to harvest,” he said.
“That can all impact quality and therefore value. So needless to say some farmers don’t want the rain right at the moment.”
Mr Maher said cut hay in paddocks, ready to be bundled, could also be ruined, but the rain would be good for farmers with cattle and other livestock.
“Farmers can’t order the rain when they want and in the amount they want, they’ve got to try and make do with what happens,” he said.
One of the heaviest falls on Sunday was at Lindsay Station, northwest of Tamworth, which received 97mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am, while 84mm of rain fell at Scone in the Upper Hunter over the same period.
Along with the rain, a cold snap will hit much of the state on Monday with greater Sydney only set to record a top of 15C, seven degrees below average. It will warm up as the week wears on, but showers will continue.