Record rainfall kicks off 2022 across NSW as several towns break monthly highs
/ By Hugh HoganJanuary saw a month of broken rainfall records across New South Wales as the La Niña weather system left its mark on the state's rain tallies.
Key points:
- January rainfall figures have been recorded across Australia.
- The Bureau of Meteorology says the La Nina is nearing its peak.
- Wet and stormy conditions likely to persist until early Autumn.
Rainfall was well above average on the Central Tablelands, Southern Highlands, Snowy Mountains, Riverina, South West Slopes, and the far north-west.
The above-average rainfall was experienced across the state except for parts of the Northern Tablelands and the Mid North Coast.
The Hume Reservoir near Albury recorded its wettest January in 101 years of records with 317 millimetres for the month.
Culcairn and Grong Grong near Narrandera also received their highest tallies in more than a century of records.
Weather stations in Thredbo, Nowra, Narrandera, Culcairn, Oberon, Goulburn, Orange, Bathurst, Wagga Wagga, Forbes, Bombala, Moss Vale, Gundagai, and Ivanhoe all set new January records, but many have only been recording data for 20-30 years.
As a whole, rainfall across the state was 41 per cent above the 1961-1990 average.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the climate driver known as the La Niña weather system was to blame for the record-breaking conditions.
Senior meteorologist Olenka Duma said many of the records were not just slightly overtaken but surpassed by a large margin.
"We have exceeded rainfall, particularly through the southern inland area, by quite a lot," she said.
Ms Duma said the La Niña climate driver was nearing its peak in intensity and would likely continue to bring wet and stormy conditions until early Autumn.
Dozens of other stations at places like Cootamundra, Eugowra, Grenfell, Tumbarumba, Wellington, Coleambally, Lake Cargelligo, Wagga Wagga, and Griffith recorded their wettest January since 1984.
The bureau said the month of January also saw coastal flooding from Noosa to Ballina, storms cutting off electricity in the Central and Northern Tablelands, damaging storms on the south coast, and even a tornado sighted near Bombala.
Farmers welcome rain
Jim Morgan, who runs a farm at Lockhart in the Riverina, said he can not remember a wetter January, although he had experienced wetter years as a whole.
"It's a great summer for weeds," he said.
Mr Morgan recorded 209mm at his farm for the month, a stark comparison to 2019 when he got 192mm for the entire year.
The whole summer has been record breaking for Mr Morgan, with 460mm falling at his farm since the start of November until the end of January — more than the average yearly rainfall for the area.
Mr Morgan said the wet conditions had made harvest difficult, but historically high prices for grain had helped offset most of the losses.
"The good thing about it is I haven't had to cart too much tucker out to the cattle," he said.
"It's a bit different to the drought years when it was every day."
Agronomist Peter Birch from P&W Rural in Moree, in the state's north-west, said stormy conditions had meant rainfall was patchy in his region.
"But in general it's been at least as wet as average and it's done a lot of good," he said.
Mr Birch said the wet conditions had made an already delayed harvest very challenging, and the conditions were making it hard to keep on top of weeds and spray paddocks ahead of this year's crops.
"But at the end of the day you've got a full [moisture] profile so you've got to be happy with that," Mr Birch said.