2019 to be hottest and driest year ever as monsoons desert Australia
Without miraculous rainfall, 2019 is set to go down as the driest year in 117 years, breaking the record for the lowest average rainfall set back in 1902.
NSW
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW. Followed categories will be added to My News.
This year will go down as the country’s hottest and driest year ever – and there’s no relief on the radar.
Without miraculous rainfall, 2019 will go down as the driest year in 117 years.
The average amount of rain that has fallen across Australia so far this year has been 256.2mm, which is just 55 per cent of the long-term annual average of 465mm.
“The only way to prevent this record falling would be a rain miracle of 50mm across the entire country between Christmas and the New Year,” Sky News Weather Chief Meteorologist, Tom Saunders said.
“2019 will almost certainly break the record for the lowest average rainfall, a record set back in 1902 which averaged 314.5mm.”
There is very little rainfall forecast anywhere in Australia for the next fortnight, making it next to certain the record will tumble.
The monsoon season responsible for summer rain in northern Australia should have begun earlier this month but isn’t expected until next year, which will exacerbate the dry conditions.
Rainfall could return to normal by the second half of summer when the monsoon trough eventually builds, but it would take the single wettest year ever or three consecutive years of above-average rainfall to break the drought.
In the past three years, the worst drought in the state’s history has robbed parts of the NSW coast of more than a metre’s worth of rain.
How Aussie prehistoric beasts became extinct
Home delivery fuel: Drivers to order petrol to their doorsteps
Firefighters banned from Black Hawks
Climate change has pushed the mercury higher than ever, according to Mr Saunders, and there only been one year since 2001 that was colder than the normal.
So far in 2019, the average temperature across Australia has been 1.37C hotter than normal, which is .04 degrees hotter than the current record set in 2013.
“If the December mean temperature is 0.9C above average – a high likelihood given current weather patterns – then 2019 will be the hottest year on record,” Mr Saunders said.
“When comparing these calculations to high quality datasets dating back to 1900, the fact that Australia will break the record for the lowest annual rainfall and possibly the temperature record in the same year is quite remarkable.”
A heatwave will hit Sydney from tomorrow, which will see Penrith swelter in 44C heat on Tuesday.
The heat will be broken by thunderstorms due midweek, which will bring more lightning likely to spark more bushfires.
Originally published as 2019 to be hottest and driest year ever as monsoons desert Australia