Wettest May in seven years

Winter has only just begun but West Gippsland is already feeling the cold.

Temperatures did not come close to the 30degree mark for the whole month. 22.1 degrees was the top recorded temperature at the Bureau of Meteorology’s Nilma North weather station.

Last weekend snow fell at Mt Baw Baw for the first time this season, with the resort recording 20 centimetres of snow coverage.

The snow season officially kicks off over the Queen’s Birthday long weekend.

Lower down in altitude, much of the Gippsland region has received a large dumping of rain recently.

The Warragul area has seen the wettest May in seven years with 135.2mm falling at the Nilma North weather station in this last month.

That total is up significantly from last year when 93.6mm fell in the month of May.

Last Thursday was the wettest day in May for the Warragul area with a total recorded precipitation of 32mm. Warragul saw 29.2mm fall last year.

Rainfall for May was spread across 18 days, two days more than last year.

The last May to see a similar amount of rain was in 2012, when 168.8mm was recorded.

It brings the total rainfall for the year since January 1st to 286.2mm. It has rained on 46 days of 2019 so far.

Over the past four months, the Warragul area has seen 151mm of rain. The 115-year average for this point in the year is 69.7mm per month. The average rainfall for May in that same 115year period is 93.3mm.

The Bureau of Meteorology most of Victoria, including Gippsland, is likely to see below average rainfall for the month of June. The Bureau also says that temperatures for the rest of the winter are going to be warmer than usual. There is a 50 per cent possibility El Nino events will develop in 2019, which would typically bring reduced rainfall during winter-spring.

According to the Bureau, it is likely that this past autumn will be of the top five hottest autumn seasons on record.

Gippsland Water is reporting 73 per cent capacity in its Moondarra Reservoir this week, up from 72.8 per cent last week. Tarago Reservoir was a 0.3 per cent increase in water levels this week, with

57.6 per cent capacity. Last week it was at 57.3 per cent capacity.

West Gippsland is expected to receive more rain and thunderstorms over the next week. Snow is forecast to fall above 700m.