Tuesday, March 04, 2008

So can we put to rest the drought?

I think we can

(although the ABOM can't - note the "decade-long rainfall deficits". See if you can find decade long deficits here.

6 comments:

Lank said...

Jonathan, The largest area of 12 month drought (SE portion of NT) shown on the Bureau of Met map does not include any stations! (click on ‘point data’ in ‘map type’ box). How are these maps contoured? – how many stations do they include? Am I missing something?

Jonathan Lowe said...

good work Lank you are right. The stations are shown here: http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/

I might look into that a little further unless others have information?

Anonymous said...

Interior NT is dry because of this years very quiet cyclone season (contrary to the BoM's forecast).

The Pilbara should be similarly dry. They get most of their rain from cyclones. The 12 month average probably reflects a late season cyclone last year.

Phil

Lank said...

Jonathan – Also, the Sydney Morning Herald has a regular ‘eco’ section and keeps a weekly update on the area of drought (by percent) in NSW. According to the SMH, this week it is at 47.1%. Presumable the SMH do not use the B of M figures as their map shows clearly that this stands at 0% over the last 12 months and at best 15% if you eyeball the data on the 36 month B of M map.

ChrisM said...

Jonathan, Looking at the anomaly graph on the ABOM site it would appear that rainfall has increased in the last few decades compared to the 1920's and 30's.

Jonathan Lowe said...

good pick up again Lank, and Chris, this post shows that post 1950 rain has been 9.5% greater than pre 1950