Storm warning for Orange issued, region passes 1000mm of rain mark for 2020

Orange's annual rainfall total for 2020 has passed the 1000 millimetre mark, the 13mm recorded at the Bureau of Meteorology's main weather station at the Orange Airport nudging our calendar year total to 1006.2mm by Friday morning.

That figure grew slightly on the back of Friday's mid-day storm, too, with hail recorded in different parts of the city following a storm warning issued by the BOM.

It's just the fourth time in the last 25 years Orange's rainfall total has surpassed the 1000mm barrier.

The last time was 2016 when 1261.4mm was recorded at the airport, and before that 2010 (1580.4mm) and 1998 (1187.4mm) are the only other years to reach the mark in the last quarter century.

Our total to November 13 last year was less than half, with 463.4mm in gauges across the city as the region battled with the impact of drought.

The record mark comes in the wake of the release of the State of the Climate report, issued by the BOM and CSIRO.

The BOM's Manager of Climate Environmental Prediction Services, Dr Karl Braganza, said the report finds the warming trend in Australia is contributing to increases in extreme fire weather while changing rainfall patterns across the east seaboard can be expected.

"In the southwest and southeast of Australia we are seeing drier conditions, particularly in the cool season months of April to October," he said.

"In southwest Australia, for example, cool season rainfall has decreased by around 16 per cent since 1970. These trends are projected to lead to more time spent in drought in the coming decades.

"In contrast, rainfall has increased across most of northern Australia since the 1970s. While highly variable from year to year, there have been more 'wetter than average' years in recent decades."

There's minimal rainfall expected across Orange in the next seven days, with a top of 29 degrees forecast for Monday following a sunny weekend.

The Central Western Daily relies on your support to keep doing what we do. If you're not already a subscriber, please consider coming on board. For as little as $3 a week for full digital access, a subscription represents great value.