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Sunday, February 15, 2009

Its Raining in Robertson

It is raining in Robertson. This is not very unusual, except for this season.

We have been stuck between the wet weather of points further north (in NSW), and of course, the far distant downpours of Ingham, etc - and the dry, dessicating and destructive weather of Victoria. Normally, Robertson has its highest rainfall of the year in February (with March a close second).
My Blogging colleague, David of "Focus on Nature" has written about just this problem, recently.

Until the last few days, there has been little but mist.
Now Robertson has remembered how to rain again. The locals are greatly relieved.

Rainfall last 7 days:
1.0mm; 4.0mm; 3.0mm; 10.0mm; 8.0mm; 2.0mm; 34.0mm
And since 9:00am today, 11:00mm

If anything, these figures are understated. I was told today by a local farmer that he had had "3 inches" in the last few days, and I know he keeps good records, for his wife records the rainfall for him!

Interestingly, there is a lot of rain over central-west Western Australia - coming from a tropical low just off the coast. If that rain washes across the mainland, that would be good news for South Australia. We shall see.

Normally this would not be anything to write about, except for the massive drying off which has occurred in the last 3 weeks. The locals were getting worried.

This map shows the cumulative total rainfall for February 2009.
Tyto Tony lives in the purple patch.But look at the white, brown and yellow coloured areas.That's where the rain is needed.

As a side-note, some (but relatively little) of the Queensland rains has fallen west of the Divide, but it was too far north to make any impact on the Murray-Darling System. But Longreach (on the Thomson River) and other points further west, have received some floodwaters from points further north. It is not a huge flood, I would point out. (Click on the map to make the labels legible).Apology. My label over-printed in red on the map is wrongly spelled - Thomson River (no P).

These waters flow into the Cooper Creek and Diamantina River systems, in far south-western Queensland. This means flooding in the iconic "Channel Country". It is expected to make its way down to Lake Eyre, (in South Australia) in about a month's time.
  • "The first floodwaters from western Queensland have arrived at Goyder's Lagoon, in the far north-east corner of South Australia, raising hopes the water will flow into Lake Eyre.
  • "Water from the Diamantina and Georgina systems is slowly making its way towards the lake, about 300 kilometres away, but it could be a month before it arrives."
  • Source: ABC News Website
I remember hearing, as a child that the Pelicans of Lakes Entrance, and other points in Gippsland, leave, in order to fly to Lake Eyre whenever a flood occurs in western Queensland. How they know to do that was always regarded as a great mystery. After all, they cannot dial up the ABC News on the Web.

I would like to put Duncan and Gouldiae on notice to tell us if their Pelicans start to disappear from down in the far south-east of the country. Clearly there were some there this weekend.

6 comments:

Gouldiae said...

G'day Denis,
We'll keep an eye out for you and see if they disappear.
One of my lifetime dreams is to see the Channel Country and Lake Eyre in flood. It'd be great to fly over there in a short while.
Regards,
Gouldiae

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Gouldiae
Thanks for that.
It might turn out to be an "Urban Myth", but if they do disappear - it would be fascinating to know.
Denis

DBS Young Photography said...

Hi Denis,
Good to see you got some rain at last.
I happened to capture some radar images from that downpour, captured over a 3 hour period.
I will post them in relation to the idea that an interchange of weather patterns exists around Batemans Bay as a follow up to my previous post.

Cheers,

David

Gaye said...

hi Denis,

I am pleased you have had rain. After our unusually dry January, we have also had our share of the rain - 165mm:

http://huntervalleyjournal.blogspot.com/2009/02/53-rain-in-hunter-valley.html

Like Gouldiae, it is also a dream of mine to see the inland after rain. What a sight it would be.

Cheers
Gaye

Denis Wilson said...

Hi Gaye.
I would love to fly over the Channel Country and Lake Eyre myself. I wish.... We all wish...
Lets hope there is enough rain to actually arrive there.
Interestingly there is a good wash going down the Darling, as we speak, from rains around Bourke. That will help fill the Menindee Lakes, but not do much more, unless the Authorities order them to open the weirs for the sake of the South Australians, and the Lower Lakes.
Cheers
Denis

Anonymous said...

Hi Denis
Plenty of rain here at Port Stephens - 211 mm in 24 hrs on Sat. Correspondingly, the pelicans here remain here .....
Lynn