Australian Weather News -- 11 SEP 2002

Australian Weather News

Wednesday, 11 SEP 2002

NEWSBITS: Cold night in SE SA, W Victoria, S NSW; snow reported on NSW Northern Tablelands; bushfires threaten homes on Qld Gold Coast

DROUGHTWATCH: 98% of NSW now in drought or marginal drought; Feed and water in short supply

Clear skies and calm conditions made for a cold start to the day in southeastern SA, western Victoria and southern NSW. Following yesterday's southwesterly cold outbreak, overnight minima were 7 to 9 below normal, with Nhill in western Victoria recording its coldest September morning in 45 years of computerised observations. ABC Rural Radio reported snow falling at Wongwibinda during the morning. Wongwibinda is about 50km east of Guyra at an elevation of 1200m. Several bushfires in the Gold Coast hinterland threatened homes as they were fanned by strong winds with and ahead of the front.

DROUGHTWATCH

Drought conditions continue to worsen in NSW with figures issued today showing increases in both the drought-affected and marginally-affected areas of the state. The figures, issued by NSW Agriculture Minister Richard Avery show that the drought-affected area has increased from 82 to 86% of the state in the past month, while the marginal area has expanded from 10 to 12%. "It basically means that we only have about 2 per cent of the land mass of the state now regarded as satisfactory," the Minister said. Only Sydney and areas to the south, including the ACT, are not yet drought-declared, though Braidwood and parts of the Goulburn and Moss Vale rural protection areas are freshly drought-declared for September.

Both stock feed and water are in short supply in parts of the eastern states. United Dairy Farmers of Victoria President Peter Owen says that it has become nearly impossible for dairy farmers in northern Victoria to find hay or grain for their stock. "Hay, particularly good quality hay, is almost impossible to [find] anywhere up the eastern seaboard," he said, adding that many dairy farmers are having to send stock to slaughter as a result of the shortage. Meanwhile, in southwestern NSW, temporary water transfer prices, which averaged $40/megalitre a year ago, have hit $200/megalitre. Dairy farmers and irrigators, desperate for more water to keep fodder and winter crops going, pushed the price of Murray Irrigation Limited Water Exchange to the new high yesterday.

National weather extremes for today Data provided by the Bureau of Meteorology Last updated at 21:27 EST on 12/09/02
Quality control note: Data is complete, and has been visually checked by AWN for gross errors. Less obvious errors may remain. See Explanation of Extremes Pages for more information
Records set this day (previous record and years of computerised record shown in brackets): Lowest daily minimum temperature for September: Goolwa Hindmarsh Island Marina SA: 3.4 (3.5, 13) Nhill Vic: -3.7 (-3.6, 45)
Todays highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am. It includes the top 5 totals received, and/or all reported falls of 50mm or more. 39.0 NEWCASTLE NOBBYS SIGNAL STATION Hunter Valley NSW 33.0 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 33.0 WHITEFORD'S ALERT Central Coast E QLD 29.0 MIRANI WEIR TM Central Coast E QLD 29.0 MIRANI WEIR ALERT Central Coast E QLD *QUEENSLAND* Central Coast E 33.0 WHITEFORD'S ALERT 29.0 MIRANI WEIR TM 29.0 MIRANI WEIR ALERT *NEW SOUTH WALES* Hunter Valley 39.0 NEWCASTLE NOBBYS SIGNAL STATION *TASMANIA* W Coast 33.0 MOUNT READ	High rainfall for periods of 6 hours or less. None reported
Todays highest & lowest temperatures
Maximum	Minimum
39.0 WYNDHAM AERO N Kimberley WA 39.0 WARMUN E Kimberley WA 39.0 FITZROY CROSSING AERO W Kimberley WA 39.0 BRADSHAW Darwin-Daly NT 38.5 KIMBERLEY RES.STATION E Kimberley WA 38.5 KIDMAN SPRINGS Victoria NT	26.0 NORTHERN ENDEAVOUR Islands 25.0 DELAMERE WEAPONS RANGE Darwin-Daly NT 24.9 SWEERS ISLAND Gulf Country QLD 24.7 TROUGHTON ISLAND N Kimberley WA 24.4 CENTRE ISLAND Roper-McArthur NT
-0.6 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC 2.0 MOUNT BULLER Upper NE VIC 3.1 MOUNT READ W Coast TAS 4.0 PERISHER VALLEY SKI CENTRE Snowy Mtns NSW 5.3 HARTZ MOUNTAIN(KEOGHS PIMPLE) Southeast TAS	-7.0 PERISHER VALLEY SKI CENTRE Snowy Mtns NSW -6.6 MT HOTHAM Upper NE VIC -6.5 COOMA AIRPORT AWS Goulburn/Monaro NSW -6.5 CHARLOTTE PASS (KOSCIUSKO CHALET) Snowy Mtns NSW -5.8 COOMA VISITORS CENTRE Goulburn/Monaro NSW
Todays greatest temperature variations from normal
Maximum	Minimum
+7.9 30.1 KALGOORLIE-BOULDER AIRPORT Goldfields WA +7.3 27.4 HYDEN Gt Southern WA +6.6 31.4 LEONORA Goldfields WA +6.6 34.0 WARBURTON AIRFIELD Interior WA +6.2 26.5 NAREMBEEN Gt Southern WA +6.2 30.4 BALGAIR Eucla WA	+8.8 16.7 PAYNES FIND Murchison WA +8.2 15.0 MERREDIN Cent Wheatbelt WA +7.9 15.0 BENCUBBIN Cent Wheatbelt WA +7.9 14.4 SOUTHERN CROSS Goldfields WA
-8.8 12.5 NELSON BAY (NELSON HEAD) Hunter Valley NSW -6.4 19.0 CUNNAMULLA POST OFFICE Warrego QLD -6.2 16.0 ALSTONVILLE TROPICAL FRUIT RESEARCH STAT North Coast NSW -6.0 19.5 BOLLON MARY ST Warrego QLD -6.0 16.1 BYRON BAY (CAPE BYRON LIGHTHOUSE) North Coast NSW -6.0 17.0 YARRAS (MOUNT SEAVIEW) MidNorth Coast S NSW	-9.1 -3.7 NHILL Wimmera N VIC -8.6 -5.0 NERRIGA COMPOSITE South Coast NSW -8.5 -1.3 MURRAY BRIDGE Lower Murray SA -8.4 -0.7 KADINA Yorke Peninsula SA -8.2 -1.5 POLDA (GUM VIEW) W Agricultural SA -8.2 -5.0 TARALGA POST OFFICE Goulburn/Monaro NSW
Highest wind gusts above 89km/h or mean wind above 62km/h (gale force). Wind direction and mean windspeed shown in brackets. CAPE MORETON LIGHTHOUSE Brisbane/SE Coast QLD: 87 (150/ 69 ) at 19:27 DOUBLE ISLAND POINT LIGHTHOUSE Brisbane/SE Coast QLD: 80 (170/ 63 ) at 22:00 MAATSUYKER ISLAND LIGHTHOUSE Southeast TAS: 91 (300/ 83 ) at 21:34	Other extremes ..