A month’s average rainfall in a week
Rainfall across West Gippsland last week has seen dams and tanks overflowing as the weekly rainfall was almost as high as the average monthly rainfall.
While October rainfall was below average, rainfall recorded for Warragul olast week was 88mm, just short of the 115 year average of 90.2mm.
October fell well short of the average annual rainfall for the month, with just 69.3 millimetres hitting the ground in the region over the past 31 days.
With a 104.8-millimetre average, this month saw that fall some 30 millimetres short, and over 50 millimetres short of last year’s 122.6 total for October.
Only 13 of the 31 days saw rainfall, with the most falling on October 17, where the area saw 16.8 millimetres fall on a wet Thursday afternoon. That kick started a run of five successive days of rain, which accounted for almost half of the monthly total.
The rain seemed to come through in a cycle, with rainfall falling for five days in a row before a dry week, followed by another five day stretch of wet weather. This mostly fell across the Saturday and Sunday, knocking out many of the weekend sporting competitions throughout the region in back to back weeks.
November is traditionally dryer, with an average rainfall of 79.5 millimetres, but the first weekend saw a deluge which has started the month off in a wet manner. With the warmer months approaching, rainfall may start to become more isolated to storm activity which will see higher totals across less days.
Farmers and contractors who began their silage during October were faced with unpredictable conditions as well. Duncan McNiel of McNiel Contracting said it’s been one of the most tedious starts to a season in a long time.
“It’s been difficult with the short periods of good weather and the spring inconsistency. We’ve been going off the forecast and backing our judgement, but it’s definitely been one of the most difficult starts to the season we’ve had in a long while.” He said.
The inconsistent weather looks to be sticking around for a few more weeks yet, as rain has continued to fall on and off to start November.