The first three weeks of November turned out to very dry - not only in the Albury-Wodonga region but over a greater part of the nation.
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Places like Moree and Roma have recorded only 0.2mm of rain to date.
This is the driest first 26 days in any November at Moree since 1897 and at Roma the driest there since 1876. Both the summers of 1897-98 and 1876-77 were very hot in the Albury-Wodonga region.
Temperatures reached 44 degrees in the December of 1897 and up to early February of 1898, with much-needed rainfall on about February 12. In December 1876, Melbourne and Bendigo recorded their highest ever December temperature of 43.7 and 44.1 respectively. Bourke on Wednesday, January 17, 1877, recorded a maximum temperature of 51.8 degrees and this remains as the highest temperature ever recorded in NSW. The summer of 1876-77 was also dry but a wet March to May then followed in the Albury-Wodonga region.
After the wettest October for 10 years at most places in the region, it looked like the La Nina situation was going to last through to next summer but it has seemed to collapse in the past three weeks. Perth has recorded its wettest ever November, with 83.6mm, in 145 years of records and this weather event may have upset "the apple cart" as far as La Nina is concerned.
Past cases of very wet Novembers in Perth have had a tendency to set up a dry summer in the Albury-Wodonga region.
One wet November in Perth in 1916, however, did set up above average rain in December 1916 and January of 1917 but there was an absence of very high temperatures during the spring of 1916 in northern Western Australia and across to inland Queensland.
Incidentally, Perth did not have a wet November in 1951 but narrowly missed out, when a record 80mm fell on December 3, 1951. The summer of 1951-52 was a dreadful one, with high temperatures up to 45 and bushfires in NSW, Victoria and even in Tasmania.
The past few days have seen isolated record daily falls for November, which certainly looks out of kilter considering the nationwide, excessive heat and very dry conditions this November.
Some Melbourne suburbs also recorded their wettest November day on record. Moorabbin recorded 63mm last Monday, November 23 and this beat the previous wettest November day of 61mm on November 29, 1983. Most of this 61mm fell on Monday, November 28 in the late afternoon.
Canberra has had its wettest August to November period, with 369.4mm, since 1974 and the fourth wettest using old rainfall records back to 1870.