Veteran farmer can’t remember a drought ‘when there’s this much snow’

THE Antarctic blast that hit the eastern states a fortnight ago has the Charlton locals a bit excited.

NEWS: Hay Market

IT’S not snowing in Charlton, but the Antarctic blast that hit the eastern states a fortnight ago has the locals a bit excited.

Farmer Murray McLean, who at 76 has seen his fair share of good and bad seasons, believes good snowfalls across the Victorian and NSW alps and even parts of Queensland were cause for optimism.

“From my memory, I’m pretty sure that we’ve never seen a drought when there is this much snow about,” Mr McLean said.

“It has gone right through this time (to Queensland) and it looks as though it’s a bit of a change in the pattern.

“With those signs I just feel that we could be looking at better rain later in the year.”

The weather bureau said there had been recent reports of snow in Stanthorpe, Queensland, with falls of more than 5cm.

Snow has also been reported as far north as Braeside, 28km south of Warwick.

The bureau said the Stanthorpe area had not seen falls like that since 1984.

Looking back at the bureau’s rainfall data for Charlton that year, the town recorded a mix of good and average falls up to December, with 71.5mm recorded in August, 27.8mm in September, 11.1mm in October, 42.4mm in November and 7.3mm in December.

After a disastrous cropping season last year and average falls so far this year, hay grower David Cossar said he had taken some heart from Mr McLean’s comments.

“It gives me a bit of confidence in what might happen for the rest of the season,” Mr Cossar said.

“We have a bit of faith the season will deliver something for us.”