Awash

We have heard about heavy snowfalls in Britain and sympathise with those affected. But spare a thought for Australia's farmers. Some places have had a decade of dry conditions and even the worst on record. But 2010 was shaping up as one of the best years in last 35 with ample rainfall in the growing season. Now that is turning to disaster in some cropping regions as 2010 is now shaping as Australia's wettest year on record. In our part, we have to go back to 1917 to find a wetter season.

It's great news for Armidale because this district has little cropping and livestock are not in danger of drowning in flood-waters because of the hilly nature of the terrain. On the plains 200 km west of here, however, the water ponds up disastrously after very heavy rain and the land is so flat that flood events may take 3-4 months to reach the sea through the Murray-Darling system.

It might be surprising to those in Britain to find that our part of the driest continent makes much of your country look a bit like Saudi Arabia. Just south of here had about 120 mm of rain yesterday - that's nearly 5 inches. Armidale had getting on 50 mm over the same period and lots more is forecast today.  Over the month of November parts of the Northern Tablelands had over 200 mm, or c. 8 inches. The downside of all this is lack of warmth. My British readers would probably rejoice at temperatures in the low 20s, but that is something like 6 degrees below normal for the start of summer (officially the 1st December).

I guess we should head out to the gorge country and have a look at the massive waterfalls out there. For overseas readers, this region is about 50 x 50 km of dramatic scenery as water tumbles over the edge of the Tablelands into steep-sided valleys up to 300-400 mm deep.

AS