It was lovely to see the rain and hear the thunder of a huge storm on Tuesday night.
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It was the first storm of this summer’s season and produced over 30mm of rain in town with heavier falls elsewhere.
Apart from the cooling temperatures that came with the rain and the prospect of an easier night’s sleep, it was great to see water pour down the catchment into the Leichhardt River and other rivers, creeks, and streams also got a dunking.
Let’s hope it’s the first of many for the summer months ahead, though remember to be safe outdoors and heed the message “if it is flooded, forget it”.
Sadly Cloncurry only got 8mm and while the shire is not drought declared a lot more rain is needed.
A lot of shires in our region are officially drought declared: Boulia, Diamantina, Winton, Flinders, McKinlay and Richmond and from early observations it doesn’t appear that much of that Tuesday rain got to any of those shires.
In the Bureau of Meteorology’s latest summer outlook it is predicting a 70% chance of El Niño occurring in the coming months; about triple the normal likelihood.
El Niño effects in Australia over summer include higher fire risk, greater chance of heatwaves, and fewer tropical cyclones.
That means another dry summer could be on the cards, bad news for shires already doing it tough.
Enjoy those early season storms while we have them.
***
And by the time you read this I’ll be away on a few weeks’ leave.
I’m away Thursday November 15 returning to the office Tuesday December 4 with a week in the South East Corner.
The highlight of my time away will be attending a concert by David Byrne, lead singer of top 1980s band Talking Heads and then I’ll be taking a leisurely week driving home along the coast.
Liz Langdale (liz.langdale@fairfaxmedia.com.au) will be up from our Northern New South Wales office to act as editor in my absence and she will be ably supported by Melissa North.
Contact them for any news tips in my absence.
Catch you all soon.
– Derek Barry