Orange has recorded its wettest Spring in over 70 years, with November's almost monsoonal-like rain ensuring 2021 will go down in the record books.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Last month's official total of 317mm is the wettest November on record, and combined with totals from September (79.2mm) and then October (61.4mm) makes for the city's wettest Spring time since 1950.
Seventy-one years ago 522mm was recorded over the three months of Spring, and coincided with a declared La Nina event.
Another La Nina was confirmed for 2021, too, which wouldn't surprise the guys at the Wentworth Golf Club.
Their course has been inundated with rain and the club's dam has spilled a number of times in the last month as a result of November's deluge and the wet 2021 we've already experienced.
Wentworth pro Todd Brakenridge said his rain gauge had 344mm poured out of it come the end of the month.
That figure would make for the city's wettest month on record, surpassing the 342mm that fell in April, 1990, but the Bureau of Meteorology takes its official reading from the airport.
Out there, where records date back to 1996, Orange has only officially passed the 300mm-in-a-month mark once - in 2010, also another La Nina year period - while extended records that date back to 1890 indicate there's been three other months where the 300mm has been eclipsed.
They were in June, 1916, February 1973 and then April, 1990. The former two dates in 1916 and 1973 also align with declared La Nina events.
As of December 4, Orange had recorded 1391mm of rain and there's more on the way this week, with up to an 80 per cent chance of rain on Wednesday with as much as 20mm on the radar, according to weatherzone.
The BoM's head of operational climate services, Dr Andrew Watkins said several climate drivers are likely to continue to create wet conditions for large parts of NSW.
"The big driver looking at the months ahead is La Nina, which ... drives increased atmospheric moisture and rainfall, including heavy rainfall. This pattern is likely to continue through until at least the end of January," he said.
There's a chance of rain every day next week and while Wednesday's forecast looks to most grim, showers will likely linger for the entire working week.
On top of the 20mm on the radar for Wednesday, there's a 70 per cent chance of rain on Thursday and those follow-up falls could bring around 10mm of rain.
We'll reach a top of 18 degrees Celsius on Monday - almost 7 degrees cooler than the December average.
While the average rainfall for the final month of the year is around 86mm.
Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:
- Bookmark www.centralwesterndaily.com.au
- Make sure you are signed up for our breaking and regular headlines newsletters
- Follow us on Twitter
- Follow us on Instagram
- Catch up on our news headlines at Google News
HAVE YOUR SAY
- Send us a letter to the editor using the form below ...