The Big Dry: No sign Australian drought is ending
Pastor Dale Morgan
The Big Dry: No sign Australian drought is ending*
By Cathy Alexander
May 05, 2008 10:27am
Article from: AAP
DESPITE recent rain in some areas, the drought has not come to an end -
and it will take years of above-average rainfall to return the country
to normality, forecasters say.
The big dry has become worse in central Australia and is stubbornly
persisting across much of the country, the Bureau of Meteorology says.
Climate change was partly to blame, the bureau said in its latest
monthly drought statement.
"The combination of record heat and widespread drought during the past
five to 10 years over large parts of southern and eastern Australia is
without historical precedent and is, at least partly, a result of
climate change," the statement said.
The southern part of the Northern Territory, parts of far western
Queensland, and areas around Marree in South Australia were suffering
from serious rainfall deficiencies.
Long-term rainfall deficiencies persisted from the coast of South
Australia across much of Victoria and into southwest NSW, and also
covered southeast Queensland and northern South Australia.
"The pattern is very similar to that observed at the end of March, but
as April 2008 was drier than April 2006 in most areas, there was a
slight increase of these two-year deficits," said the statement, which
covered the period up until the end of April.
One bright spot was southwest Western Australia which had a wet April.
Record low rainfalls remained on South Australia's Eyre Peninsula, near
Melbourne and in parts of Tasmania. An area east of Alice Springs which
was recording lowest rainfalls on record had increased slightly.
The drought was so bad it would take years of decent rainfall to return
the country to normal, the bureau said.
"The worst of the long-term deficiencies are likely to remain for some
time," the statement said.
"The deficiencies (discussed) have occurred against a backdrop of
decade-long rainfall deficits and record high temperatures that have
severely stressed water supplies in the east and southwest of the country."
"Several years of above average rainfall are required to remove the very
long-term deficits."