| The upper cold pool that moved
southeast across NSW yesterday crossed the eastern Victorian coast
this morning, producing a surface low near Gabo Island. Moist winds circulating
around the south of this low arrived on the East Gippsland coast late morning,
giving several hours of heavy rain before the system moved away to the southeast.
Orbost recorded 36mm and Lakes Entrance 26mm, all falling
between 9am and 3pm.
In southern and central NSW, the
cold pool left a legacy of cold surface air below cloud on and west of
the ranges. Oberon reported light snow grains falling through the
day with a top temperature of only 3°, 7 below normal. Moderate snow also
fell through the day on the Snowy Mountains.
Water restrictions are to be introduced
in Ballarat, Victoria, for the first time in 17 years as the city
experiences its fourth consecutive drier than average winter. The failure
of winter rains has produced two areas -- the state's far southwest
and West Gippsland -- where rainfall between October 1996 and
July this year is the lowest on record. A shorter term but serious rainfall
deficiency is also developing in SE Queensland and far northeastern
NSW. Falls over the past 6 months have only produced about 50% of
normal rainfall in the NSW Tweed Valley, Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Darling
Downs and a band stretching northwest to between Gayndah and Roma, as
well as in the Bundaberg area. Meanwhile, NSW is expecting a near
record winter grain harvest thanks to excellent seasonal conditions across
the state. Graincorp is forecasting the delivery of around 7.4 million
tonnes, the fourth largest on record, with only the Warren and Nyngan
areas below average due to heavy autumn rain.
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as
new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined