Late last week there were isolated heavy rainfalls at a few places in NSW which were very welcome indeed.
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Broken Hill had 34mm and Menindee 54mm, which was the heaviest October fall since 1938.
Dubbo recorded a total of 63mm on October 4 and 5, which was very isolated. Dubbo, which had two successive very dry Septembers, also had a wet October last year.
Successive very dry Septembers which previously happened in 1882-83 and again in 1901-02 in Dubbo were both followed by successive wet Octobers like the past two years.
These two previous cases did lead to useful moderate rainfalls the fourth week of October and heavy rain mid-December in our regions.
Maximum temperatures were well above normal with very hot weather late November, early December and very high temperatures, up to 46 degrees at some places, from about the end of December through to early February.
Coonabarabran has had below average every month this year ...
It was interesting to note Dubbo also had a wet October in 1938 like Broken Hill and Menindee and most places in our regions missed out on the October 1938 heavy rains, which also happened this month to date.
Maximum temperatures were well above normal the last five months of 1938 and this continued well into 1939 with record high temperatures mid-January 1939.
Much-needed heavy rain arrived late February 1939.
Coonabarabran has had below average every month this year to the end of September; nine successive months.
The longest period of below average monthly rainfall was 13 months from March 1888 to March 1889.
The period November 1888 to March 1889 in our regions was the hottest ever recorded over the last 140 years. Very heavy to flood rains set in April 1889 and this was the start of a five-year very wet period in our region.
The Goldfields of Western Australia had heavy thunderstorms in the past week.
Kalgoorlie recorded 54mm Friday, October 5 and this was the town's heaviest daily rainfall for October since 1982.
Another thunderstorm followed in Kalgoorlie.
The October 1982 heavy rain did not reach here at all. If we miss this rain event as well, it will be a very hot, dry summer in our regions like it was from late November 1982 to early March of 1983.
