South Australia’s drought receiving slight break? Rain moths think so

NATURE is making its own weather forecasts in the parched South East of South Australia, where the so-called giant rain moth has arrived ahead of predicted falls.

Positive sign: The giant rain moth has a wingspan of up to 160mm across.

NATURE is making its own weather forecasts in the parched South East of South Australia, where the so-called giant rain moth has arrived ahead of predicted falls.

Large numbers of the trictena atripalpis moth, which has a wingspan up to 16cm, have been reported in Keith, Kingston, Penola and Mount Gambier and farming mythology has it that the insects bring rain.

Science backs this to some extent, as the creatures grow from ground-dwelling “bardi grubs” and are most likely to emerge from the earth when autumn rain is in the air.

Bureau forecaster Hannah Marsh said a series of fronts were expected to move across the South-East over the next few days, which would bring gradual shower activity for the next six days – with falls of 1-2mm in the upper South-East and 2-5mm set to fall on the southern coasts until Monday.