Sydney records wettest year ever, with 3 months to go

SYDNEY — Australia’s largest city, Sydney, has been soaked by its wettest year on record with almost three months of expected above-average rain to spare.

The city of 5 million people beat its 1950 record of 86.4 inches at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday when 1.07 inches had fallen at the Observatory Hill rain gauge since morning, Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology said. Records at Observatory Hill go back to 1859.

Heavy rain is forecast to continue across Sydney and other parts of southeast Australia, peaking on Saturday.

The Bureau of Meteorology last month declared that a La Nina weather pattern, which is associated with above-average rainfall in eastern Australia, was underway in the Pacific.

The bureau forecast that the La Nina event may peak during the current Southern Hemisphere spring and return to neutral conditions early next year.

It is the third La Nina since 2019 became Australia’s hottest and driest year on record.