The drought hasn't broken but there is good news for some

Two maps succinctly sum up the vast contrast in rainfall between September and October.
The maps show the percentage of rain that has fallen on Australia compared to an average month. In September, vast areas of Australia are coloured brown on the graph meaning not a drop of rain fell at all. Orange areas saw between 10 and 40 per cent less rain that a standard September.
“In September, the rain was less than 20 per cent of the average while the average amount of rain across the whole country was just 5mm,” said Sky News weather channel meteorologist Tom Saunders on Tuesday.
But what a change a few weeks can make.
“Last month was Australia’s driest September on record but now it’s rapidly becoming Australia’s wettest October,” Mr Saunders said.

A look at the October rain percentage map shows much of the country had at least the average rainfall for the month while purple patches show where four times the usual has so far fallen. And it’s only half way through the month.
Broken Hill, in far west NSW, has gone from zero rain in September to 35mm, above the October average of 25mm. Kalgoorlie has received 10 times the precipitation it got in all September in just the past two weeks.
Gympie can usually expect 66mm of rain in October. The Queensland town has gone from 13mm last month to an extraordinary 223mm since 1 October.
Tewantin on the Sunshine Coast has seen a huge month-on-month increase in moisture from 74mm to 393mm. That means the area is now officially seeing its wettest October ever recorded.



MORE RAIN NEEDED
But Mr Saunders said remarkable though the rain may seem, it was not a sign of things to come.
“There is no global climate driver leading to heavier rain this month. It’s just a wet month in what has otherwise been a very dry year,” he told news.com.au.
Indeed, there is now an increased likelihood of the El Nino and positive Indian Ocean Dipole climate systems moving out of neutral and that means the risk of less, rather than more, rain during late spring over most of Australia.
That’s bad news because despite a bumper October rainfall many inland areas are still hundreds of millimetres below their average annual moisture. One good month doesn’t make up for a baking year.

More at
https://www.news.com.au/technology/environment/australias-driest-ever-september-could-become-its-wettest-ever-october/news-story/c29f22209e2ffab576cfcda16c8b631c

veya_victaous wrote:

Two maps succinctly sum up the vast contrast in rainfall between September and October. . . . . .

nicko wrote:Vaya,   just wondering,   why is "Alice Springs" so called ?

Wiki wrote:The area is known as Mparntwe to its original inhabitants, the Arrernte, who have lived in the Central Australian desert in and around what is now Alice Springs for tens of thousands of years.

The name Alice Springs was given by surveyor William Whitfield Mills after Alice, Lady Todd (née Alice Gillam Bell), wife of the telegraph pioneer Sir Charles Todd.

eddie wrote:Speaking of droughts, I read that Yemen was seeing one of the worst droughts in over 100 years.

*THE Ben Reilly* wrote:

eddie wrote:Speaking of droughts, I read that Yemen was seeing one of the worst droughts in over 100 years.

Is that true?

eddie wrote:

*THE Ben Reilly* wrote:

eddie wrote:Speaking of droughts, I read that Yemen was seeing one of the worst droughts in over 100 years.

Is that true?

Yeh man.

*THE Ben Reilly* wrote:

eddie wrote:

*THE Ben Reilly* wrote:

eddie wrote:Speaking of droughts, I read that Yemen was seeing one of the worst droughts in over 100 years.

Is that true?

Yeh man.

Actually, I was setting edds up to deliver the punchline to the joke I made up earlier yesterday, but whatever.

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

"It never rains, but it pours..."

Rain guage committed hari kari during a storm a few days ago, so don't know how much rain we've had around here last week, but it's definitely over 100 mm so far for October..

Lord Foul wrote:

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

"It never rains, but it pours..."

Rain guage committed hari kari during a storm a few days ago, so don't know how much rain we've had around here last week, but it's definitely over 100 mm so far for October..

It will take more than that to stop you two being shriveled and bitter

Lord Foul wrote:

WhoseYourWolfie wrote:

"It never rains, but it pours..."

Rain guage committed hari kari during a storm a few days ago, so don't know how much rain we've had around here last week, but it's definitely over 100 mm so far for October..

It will take more than that to stop you two being shriveled and bitter

Jules wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:

I wonder what could be causing such huge swings in the climate.    Hmmmm.
Any ideas?