By Paul Homewood
Just a couple more comments on the NSW drought.
I have worked out the YTD rainfall in NSW, although this is a pretty artificial measure. This year is the fourth lowest on record, behind 1902, 1965 and 1940 (in that order).
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/index.shtml#tabs=Tracker&tracker=timeseries
If we look at the 12 month figures, this year ranks as 8th driest, behind 1901, 1902, 1919, 1927, 1929, 1940 and 1965.
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/change/index.shtml#tabs=Tracker&tracker=timeseries
It is easy to see why how farmers say this is the worst drought in memory, because it is exactly that. Whereas these sort of severe droughts used to come along every decade on average, there has been nothing like it since 1965.
This year the drought has been largely confined to parts of NSW and South Australia:
This certainly was not the case in some of those earlier droughts, which were far more extensive:
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August 19, 2018 at 06:12AM
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