January rainfall: Fickle month for rain in southeast Australia

January has been a fickle month for rain across southeast Australia with some centres recording five times their normal monthly rain but others measuring just a fraction.

January was a tale of two seasons across southeast Australia with some centres recording five times their normal monthly rain and others measuring just a fraction, amid predictions of a weakening La Nina weather pattern,.

The biggest rain totals for the month were in northern Victoria, the North East and southern NSW while areas of the Wimmera and Gippsland almost missed out entirely.

Of the 33 weather stations monitored by The Weekly Times, 21 recorded a drier-than-average January.

Albury in southern NSW was the wettest centre with its 201mm for the month five times what it would normally expect in January. Albury Airport measured 132mm of rain on Sunday but other parts of the North East received almost double that, causing flooding.

The Brewer family near Bullioh have registered 180mm of rain in 10 hours, the biggest rainfall event they have ever seen in their time on the farm.

David Brewer from Brewer Beef at Bullioh recorded 180mm of rain in 10 hours which caused problems ahead of an on-farm field day.

Mr Brewer said the rain started at 10.30pm on Sunday and they had measured 160mm until 6am on Monday, with another 20mm by mid-morning.

“Our workman was meant to be coming down from Koetong (on Monday) morning and he can’t get here because there is two feet (60cm) of water over the road,” Mr Brewer said.

“There are other reports around here of up to 200mm overnight. It was not storms but just heavy rain.”

There were other handy falls across northern Victoria and the NSW Riverina with Echuca almost doubling its normal January total with 55mm for the month and Wagga Wagga’s 75mm representing 192 per cent of its average.

Other centres recording a significantly wetter-than-average January included Shepparton (46mm), Balranald NSW (34mm), Swan Hill (38mm), Hay NSW (39mm), Omeo (84mm) and Deniliquin NSW (33mm).

At the other end of the scale, Horsham picked up just 1mm of rain during January, or 3 per cent of its normally January total while Stawell, Charlton and Warracknabeal measured just 3mm (8-10 per cent), Sale 5mm (10 per cent), Ararat 6mm (15 per cent) while the Latrobe Valley and Ballarat each picked up 9mm (19 per cent and 21 per cent respectively).