AN ominous forecast has been delivered by weather experts for the North West, with drier than expected conditions for the start of the wet season.
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After two failed wet seasons in Mount Isa, and the city’s main water supply at Lake Moondarra creeping to below 20 per cent full, the Bureau of Meteorology said drought conditions in the state’s west were likely to continue into the traditional wet season.
“We have had only 221 millimetres of rain so far this year after only 93 millimetres last year when the mean rainfall is 463 millimetres,” Mount Isa’s Bureau of Meteorology field office manager Scott Adams said.
“The seasonal rainfall outlook is not very promising for the early part of the wet season.”
Mr Adams said the temperature outlook was also a contributing factor for drought forecasting.
There is a 40 per cent chance of exceeding median rainfall for October to December in Mount Isa.
Responding to questions from Queensland senator James McGrath, bureau representatives told a Senate Environment and Communications Legislation Committee estimates hearing there was only a 40 per cent chance of above-median average rainfall in coming months.
“The drought has a firm grip on many western Queensland properties, and we have been looking forward with hope for some time that we would receive that heavy, soaking, life-giving rain,” Senator McGrath said.
“So, it’s been quite disheartening to hear the bureau reveal during the estimates hearing that those much-needed rains are unlikely to fall this summer wet season.”
The bureau clarified the wet season was not looking good for inland Queensland, according to forecasts.
“In central Queensland, in the areas that are drought affected, for the next three months we are forecasting about 35 per cent to 40 per cent of it being above the median, so that means drier,” Dr Rob Vertessy, the bureau’s chief executive and director of meteorology, said.
The bureau remains on El Nino watch with a 50 per cent chance of an El Nino developing during the severe weather season, which is double the normal likelihood.
Other weather experts have predicted it will be drier than normal in the months outside December and January next year, with most of the rain to come in a very short space of time in the middle of the wet season - from late December to early February.
