Australia's Drought Finally Easing But Far From Over, Forecasters Say - AFP

[hatrack]

Australia's worst drought in a century is finally showing signs of easing, giving devastated farmers reason for hope as the southern hemisphere autumn begins, forecasters said.
The National Climate Centre (NCC) said Australia enjoyed its wettest summer in about seven years, effectively ending the drought in some areas, although many more remain parched by the phenomenon known locally as "The Big Dry". "The outlook is reasonably promising, it's one of the more encouraging summers we've seen for a while," NCC climatologist Blair Trewin told AFP.

Trewin said much of the rainfall has been localised, causing flooding in areas of Queensland and New South Wales states during January and February.

He said Australia had experienced two droughts in recent years, a short-term one affecting much of the country's south-east which began in 2006 and a longer-term one that has impacted on some areas for up to a decade.

Trewin said the worst-hit areas over the long term were south east Queensland state, southern Victoria and south west Western Australia, as well as the Murray-Darling river basin, the country's agricultural heartland. "That short-term drought is essentially behind us now," he said. "However, we've had in many areas a period of five to 10 years where there has consistently been low rainfall over sustained periods."

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Australian_drought_easing_but_not_over_experts_999.html

[depakid]

1. "much of the rainfall has been localised..."

and impressively so.

For example, around the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney- it had been just pouring for weeks. The towns of Blackheath and Lithgow were as soggy as anything you'd see in Oregon in February. Just south and east of there- in a town called Oberon 60Km's away, everything was dry- they'd had all of 8mm during that time!

Driving toward further south toward Goulburn reminded me of parts of the intermountain west in North America, where the BLM used to "chain down" pinon pine and juniper forests and pile them up in heaps to "make room" for subsidized cattle.

My first reaction was "poor range practices" (which, unfortunately, seem all too common in Oz). Only later when I saw all the ones still standing in other paddocks did I realize that those huge piles of gum trees had simply died off from the drought.

It takes a LOT to kill of those kinds of gum trees.

Meanwhile, in the Hunter region (not all that far north and east)- record rains have been damaging the wine harvest all season long.

Bizarre, even for a La Nina....