Rainfall 2022: Where the rain has fallen across Australia this year

Floods may have caused devastation in NSW and Queensland, but other parts of the nation haven’t recorded a drop of rain in 2022.

SOME parts of Australia are yet to receive a drop of rain for the year just weeks out from farmers finalising their winter cropping plans.

Anzac Day – now a month away – is considered the ideal start date for the planting of winter crops into moisture in southern Australia.

An analysis of Bureau of Meteorology weather data by The Weekly Times shows some centres, particularly in Western Australia, have recorded just a fraction of the rain it would normally expect by mid-March with farmers pinning their hopes on forecast rain later this week to boost soil-moisture profiles.

Geraldton, a major grain growing district and home to one of the biggest grain ports in the nation, has not recorded a drop of rain since December 7, when it measured just 1mm. Geraldton has received just 2.4mm of rain since the start of November last year.

Similarly, Cunderdin – in Western Australia’s famed wheat belt – has recorded just 1mm of rain for the year and 1.4mm since the start of last November. Nearby Narrogin has recorded just 7mm since the start of December.

The dry in parts of the west comes despite record rain and flooding in parts of NSW and Queensland, which has seen several centres already exceed their average annual rainfall total within 10 weeks.

Nowra, on the NSW south coast, has recorded 1007mm during the past two and a half months – representing 155 per cent of its annual average. The flood ravaged NSW Northern Rivers township of Lismore had recorded 535mm up until the end of February – the last time BOM updated its figures for the town.

Other centres to record a significantly wetter start to the year include Moss Vale in NSW, which has recorded 613mm so far or 90 per cent of its long-term calendar-year average, followed by Alice Springs in the Northern Territory (251mm or 89 per cent), Casino NSW (869mm or 84 per cent), Tibooburra NSW (152mm or 83 per cent) and Broken Hill NSW (197mm or 80 per cent).

In Victoria, the best rain for the year has been recorded in the High Country with 278mm at Omeo equalling 43 per cent of its long-term calendar year average. Gelantipy has recorded 303mm (39 per cent), followed by Mildura with 107mm (37 per cent) and Bairnsdale with 220mm (34 per cent).