A year’s rain already for parts of Victoria, BoM figures show

PARTS of Victoria have recorded more than their annual average rain, with five months of the year still remaining.

Wet: Benalla had 56mm of rain in the past week. Picture: Greg Scullin

PARTS of Victoria have recorded more than their annual average rain, with five months of the year still remaining.

Figures from the Bureau of Meteorology show rain over the past week at Yarrawonga, in the state’s North East, has pushed its running total to 477mm — 10mm more than its 467mm long-term calendar year average.

And, in what could be bad news for farmers struggling with waterlogged or wet crops, more rain is on the way, with 10-25mm forecast for parts of the North East over the next week.

Yarrawonga farmer Adam Inchbold said some crops were looking good but others had “suffered quite badly” from waterlogging.

“There’s areas where the crops didn’t come up while in others it has definitely affected yield potential,” he said. “The crops that were sown late are really struggling.”

The BOM figures show several areas are close to their average annual totals. Griffith in southern NSW is 24.6mm off, Shepparton 61mm and Deniliquin in NSW 80mm shy.

West Wyalong wool broker Marty Moses said much of the northern Riverina was wet and looking for a sunny break.

“I think we have probably had too much rain if there is such a thing,” Mr Moses said. “I really can’t remember when we had so many wet days at this time of year.”

The best rain in the past week was in the North East, with Violet Town picking up 92mm in the seven days to 9am yesterday followed by Strathbogie (75mm), Myrtleford (73mm), Mitta Mitta (69mm), Taggerty (64mm), Benalla (56mm) and Wangaratta (48mm).

The Mallee and Wimmera grain belts also had handy falls, with 22mm at St Arnaud, 20mm at Ultima, 19mm at Swan Hill and 16mm at Ouyen. In northern Victoria, Rochester had 34mm and Echuca 32mm.