Hot
in SE WA, SW SAStorms hit
central eastern Qld 
Sydney has
hottest spring on record as dry continuesDaytime temperatures were up to 20° above average in the far southeast of WA and along the SA west coast today. Eucla's top of 44°, a whopping 19.3 above normal, equalled the highest in the nation and was just one degree short of the station's December record. Nearby Forrest recorded 43.7 while Nullarbor, across the border in SA, recorded 42. A cooler change moved through during the evening, bringing wind gusts of 91km/h at Eucla and 95 at Forrest.
Storms caused damage around Queensland's Central Coast and Highlands this afternoon. At Mount Morgan, 50km SW of Rockhampton, the QN Hotel lost its tower in strong wind gusts, while trees were uprooted and many fruit trees ripped up. At Nagoorin, 50km S of Gladstone, a huge Moreton Bay Fig tree was uprooted.
 |
 Rainfall deficiencies for the 8 months ended 30 November 2002. Much of NSW and most of Queensland is experiencing severe deficiencies, with large areas recording their lowest April to November rainfall on record. BoM |
Sydney has recorded its warmest Spring in 144 years of record. The average maximum temperature was 24.2°, more than 2 above average, while the average minimum temperature was 14.9, the second highest on record. The warm Spring includes 27 days when the temperature exceeded 26, the second highest number of days ever recorded after 28 days in 1928. Sunny days and an absence of rain helped create the record. The season was the fifth driest Spring on record in Sydney with only 59mm compared with the long term average of 230mm. In the western suburbs, Badgerys Creek recorded only 19mm. The dry Spring conditions follow on from Sydney's third driest Winter on record. The period May - October has been the driest on record for that particular six-month period and the third driest on record for any six month period. Sunshine was well above average at 8.4 hours per day.
Across the rest of NSW, and also most of inland Queensland, the drought has continued to intensify as the map at right shows. Most of this area is now in "severe deficiency", meaning that the rain over the period is in the lowest 5% of historical falls. Large areas to the west and south of Sydney and in NW NSW and western Qld have experienced their driest April to November period on record. The situation is so bad that the NSW Government is considering the construction of emergency pipelines to supply water to some 30 towns whose normal water supplies have all but dried up. These include Gloucester and Coonabarabran, whilst water is already being carted into six small communities around the state. From SW Qld comes the news that Cubbie Station will not plant a cotton crop this season due to the drought. The station, near Dirrinbandi, normally accounts for 30,000 of the 40,000 acres planted in the region.