In Coonabarabran, the mean minimum temperature of 9.7 degrees was 3.6 degrees above normal and the highest in April since 1990.

In Wangaratta, the mean minimum temperature of 9.3 degrees for April was also the highest since 1990. Other Aprils with high mean minimum temperatures occurred in 1889, 1974, 1988 and 1989. There was a lot of above average rainfall for the last eight months of those years in the Albury-Wodonga region.

The latest date of the recorded first frost of the coming winter in Coonabarabran was on May 24 in both 1974 and 1989. In Moree, it was July 6 in both 1914 and 1991. In Forbes, it was June 30, 1950. In Wangaratta, it was on June 1, 1958 and 1974.

Rainfalls during April were generally above average at most places. The highest totals were Dubbo with 191mm - the wettest for April since 292mm in1990 - Forbes with 133mm, Peak Hill with 135mm and Coonabarabran 99.9mm.

Unseasonable, heavy rain fell last week in the Central West of outback Queensland. More than 130mm fell at Longreach, Winton, Barcaldine and Blackall. Barcaldine recorded a 24-hour rainfall of 114mm - the wettest in April since the 116.8mm in late April of 1918, which did lead to floods in Victoria and the Riverina at mid-month in May 1918.

Longreach's wettest April was in 1989. Winton's wettest April was in 1974 and Blackall's wettest April was in 1990. From these findings, there is really no escape from excessive rains at most places for the next six months.

Not all regions have been wetter than average this year. In the South East of South Australia, it has been very dry. At Robe, the total rainfall to the end of April this year is only 30.8mm and this is the driest there for 99 years. Other very dry January to April periods at Robe were in 1887, 1890, 1918, 1920,1953 and 1958. The first three cases, 1887, 1890 and 1918 did lead to excessive rains in the eastern states, which certainly occurred this year to date and looks set to continue for the rest of this year. The other three, 1920, 1953 and 1958, saw the arrival of heavy rain from mid-May, which continued sporadically up to November in North East Victoria. The driest January to April period on record at Robe in 1923 still led to excessive rains from June 1923 right up to early 1924 in North East Victoria, although the first four months of 1923 in North East Victoria were very dry.

The automatic rain gauge at Moree Airport failed to operate on April 3, unfortunately. Since then, the BOM has made no effort to fix this problem, which I think is disgraceful as I have a long list of records for Moree back to 1880. Automatic weather stations have proved to be my biggest headache over the past decade in trying to keep accurate records up to date.