BIG RAINS: La Niña to revive Rose City after dry spring
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WARWICK’S hottest and driest November in years has left residents desperately awaiting the summer wet season, with experts pinning hopes on a declared La Niña for heavy rains.
Spring data from the Bureau of Meteorology has revealed Queensland experienced its second-warmest November on record last month, with the Southern Downs falling well shy of its average rainfall totals.
Warwick residents saw only 6.8mm of its average 82mm November total, which dragged down spring rainfall totals despite nearly 150mm across September and October.
According to BOM meteorologist Rosa Hoff, Rose City residents will likely endure days and even weeks of scorching heat before the wet season kicks in at the end of December.
“The Darling Downs have been in extreme heatwave conditions for about the last four days, easing to severe heatwave temperatures tomorrow before rising again,” Ms Hoff said.
“There is potential over the region to see some thunderstorms ttomorrow which could bring some showers, but they’ll be very isolated and bring up to 5mm or 10mm at most.”
Warwick’s most recent dry spell could soon be broken, with the declared La Niña expected to heighten the summer’s more regular thunderstorm activity within the next few weeks.
“At the moment, we’re looking at an increase in storm activity and rainfall closer to the tropics in two or three weeks’ time, and that’ll likely make its way down to the southeast,” Ms Hoff said.
“The La Niña is hanging around, it is over us and driving the atmosphere towards higher rainfall totals, but unfortunately we haven’t seen any weather systems around to take advantage of that yet.
“There’s potential, we just need something to reach out and grab it – it’s like having the sparklers in your hand, but no way to light them.”
At this stage, predictions from both BOM and online forecaster Weatherzone indicate Warwick’s best chance of rain is today through to Thursday, with a 60 to 80 per cent chance of showers and storms.
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