The State is set for a wet winter with the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) predicting more rain for South Australia in the coming months as a slowly weakening La Niña influences above average winter rainfall.
Updating its Winter 2022 Climate Outlook, the Bureau said the Outlook reflected a developing negative Indian Ocean Dipole, a slowly declining La Niña in the Pacific Ocean and warmer than average waters around northern Australia.
“Parts of south-western Australia and south-western Tasmania are likely to have below average rainfall this winter,” BoM said.
“The Outlook predicts the unusually wet conditions for inland parts of New South Wales, South Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory are likely to be in the top 20 per cent of wettest winters,” it said.
“With Northern Australia’s dry season starting in May, it only takes a small amount of extra rain to be above average at this time of year.”
The Bureau said that with already saturated catchments in south-eastern Australia, the winter rain extended the flood risk for those regions.
It said the flood waters in low lying areas in Queensland and New South Wales would slowly move inland towards South Australia over the coming months.
“There is an above 80 per cent chance of unusually high winter temperatures in coastal, south-western and northern parts of Western Australia; coastal northern areas of the Northern Territory and Queensland; south-eastern New South Wales; southern and eastern Victoria; and all of Tasmania,” it said.
“A large section of central Australia has an increased chance of unusually low winter daytime temperatures, in the coolest 20 per cent of past winters.”
BoM said this extended from Western Australia’s eastern area, through central Australia and into the eastern States.
In positive news it said warmer than average nights were likely almost everywhere – with at least an 80 per cent chance of higher minimum temperatures for most of the country.
BoM’s Winter 2022 Outlook can be accessed at this PS News link.
