WA Rainfall Records - How has your town gone this year?

Widespread rain across the State’s agricultural region this season has put a smile on many farmers’ faces after a tough few years battling some of the driest conditions Western Australia has ever experienced. It has seen one of the State’s biggest plantings in history, with early predictions pointing to a record-breaking 20 million tonne harvest off the back of last year’s 16 million tonne bumper crop. It comes after years of dry seeding, water carting and destocking with 2018, 2019 and 2020 throwing some of the driest conditions in decades at growers. Twelve areas were officially declared water deficient by the State Government, which has spent $4 million carting emergency livestock water to towns in the Wheatbelt, Esperance and Great Southern in the past two years. However, this year has brought some of the heaviest falls and wettest months some towns have ever seen and just two of those declarations remain in place. It has been dubbed “unreal”, “amazing”, and “unheard of”, and some farmers have declared the rainfall to be “the best start” they have “ever seen”. And a look through the Bureau of Meteorology’s rainfall records justifies the superlatives — with 100-year records broken and some of the wettest starts some farming communities have experienced in several decades. The most significant records were broken in the State’s South West, Great Southern and Wheatbelt, with the Mid West not far behind. In the heart of cattle and dairy country, Brunswick Junction recorded its wettest January to May in more than a century, with the whopping 488.3mm that fell in the first five months the most the area has seen in that timeframe since records began in 1909. Margaret River almost broke a longstanding record, with its wettest February since 1928, when records began the region. A number of areas also saw some of their wettest weather since the 1940s, including Pemberton, which had its wettest February (121.7mm) on record — since 1941, Toodyay, which had its wettest March (155.2mm) since 1942 and Manypeaks, which had its wettest January-May (431.4mm) on record — since 1947. Denmark had its wettest February in more than 60 years, with 57.8mm falling in the gauge, while Karridale and Frankland River had their wettest February since the 1970s, recording 102.5mm and 65.5mm respectively. Hyden farmers experienced their wettest May since 1974, with 99.1mm recorded. Several farming towns in the Wheatbelt and Mid West had some of their wettest months in more than a decade, including Mingenew, Perenjori and Eradu. And while it may have caused farmers a few boggy situations during seeding, it has been welcomed with open arms, with the State’s growers relishing the wet weather. BOM climatologist Yanhui Blockley said for the South West Land Division — which extends from Kalbarri in the north to Bremer Bay in the south — it had been the wettest autumn in 16 years, with May in particular a very wet month across the region. “Northam in the Central Wheatbelt District had its second-wettest autumn on record. “Lake Grace in the Great Southern District had its wettest autumn for 24 years since 1997.” And it has seen WA farmers’ confidence hit dizzying heights, with subsoil moisture and strong commodity prices fuelling optimism for the season ahead. According to Rabobank’s latest Rural Confidence Survey released on Tuesday, the majority of WA farmers held a “strong positive sentiment” for the coming 12 months, with almost a third looking to increase investments. Rabobank regional manager for Western Australia Steve Kelly said it had been the best start in a decade, forecasting winter crop plantings to be 2 per cent higher than last year, at 8.49 million hectares, which would be one of the highest on record. “On the back of good rainfall in March and April, the rains then continued with cyclone Seroja,” he said. “And while the cyclone caused a lot of damage to infrastructure — including houses, sheds and machinery — in some cases the benefit of the rainfall offset the disappointment of the damage. “Many areas received another top-up of more than 20 millimetres in late May, which has shored up a full soil-moisture profile in most areas. While there is still a long road ahead until harvest, Mr Kelly said the State’s grain growers were off to a “very promising” start. “If this was the first quarter, we are already five goals up,” he said. Frankland River sheep and crop grower Robert Haynes is rapt to see dams which had run dry during the past couple of summers full to the brim after getting more than half of their annual rainfall by the start of the month. It comes after the region’s wettest February in more than 50 years, with 65.5mm recorded in the last month of summer. “You could almost consider it a February break, which is just unheard of,” Mr Haynes said. He said it would lead to some “amazing” yields in the drier country, but anticipated some of the lower lying areas on the property would not do as well, averaging out to a normal year. However he said it was an incredible start for the sheep side of things. “All of your good cropping areas in the dry, hilly country will be just amazing — you’ll see some amazing crops — but those lower areas ... are just underwater,” Mr Haynes said. “It’s one of the best breaks we’ve had in the sheep program in a very long time.” Williams grain and sheep farmer Tom Piesse had 120mm fall in the gauge in April-May this year, more than four times the 25mm he got in the same time frame in 2020. “It’s been an unreal start — a perfect start, really,” he said. The rainfall has come as a bittersweet consolation to Mid West and Wheatbelt farmers in the path of ex-tropical cyclone Seroja, which left a trail of destruction after smashing into the Kalbarri coast in April. Many growers trying to get crops planted had sheds and fencing ripped from the ground and sustained damage to their homes and machinery. With seeding wrapping up in those areas, growers are now dealing with the clean-up and long road to recovery ahead. For farming regions further inland and south that escaped the direct path of the destructive cyclone, the April rain was a welcome follow-up to generous summer falls. Some growers got triple digits in the following days. By the end of May, Southern Brook grain growers Dennis and Kathy Saunders had received more than 100mm more on their property 25km north-east of Northam than they had in all of 2020. They said it was reminiscent of way back when 30-40 years ago it “used to be the norm”. “It’s been fantastic,” Mrs Saunders said. “Everyone’s upbeat and relaxed.” The drenching from cyclone Seroja led to nine of the State’s 11 water deficiency declarations being revoked, with dams that had run dry replenished. The areas which had their declarations revoked were across six shires — Esperance (Cascade), Lake Grace (Mallee Hill, Ardler Road), Kent (Hollands Rock and Hamilton), Jerramungup (Jerramungup North), Ravensthorpe (Fitzgerald, Mt Short) and Dumbleyung (Kukerin). Water carting has stopped to the two remaining — Salmon Gums and Grass Patch in the Shire of Esperance — but with on-farm water supplies remaining limited, the declarations have been maintained. State Water Minister Dave Kelly said WA had spent $2.2 million in upgrading community and government-owned water sources, and a further $1.5m with local government to upgrade existing and develop new water supplies, and it had helped provide improved water security for the future. WA RAINFALL RECORDS Albany - Wettest January-May since 1989 — 392.4mm 2021 v 444.2mm 1989 - Wettest May since 1994 — 181.6mm 2021 v 214.8mm 1994 Allanooka (Tabletop station) - Wettest May on record (since 2002) — 101.2mm - Wettest March on record (since 2002) — 53.2mm Bonnie Rock - Wettest March since 2000 — 84.5mm 2021 v 151mm 2000 - Wettest May since 2005 — 64mm 2021 v 100.8mm 2005 Boyup Brook - Wettest February since 1986 — 68mm 2021 v 77.6mm 1986 Brunswick Junction - Wettest January-May on record (since 1909) — 488.2mm - Wettest March since 1998 — 65.6mm 2021 v 101.2mm 1998 - Wettest April since 2008 Capel - Wettest February on record (since 2003) — 63.4mm - Wettest May on record (since 2003) — 90.6mm - Wettest January-May on record (since 2003) — 354.8mm Dardanup - Wettest March since 1998 — 70.8mm 2021 v 98mm 1998 Darkan - Wettest February since 1986 —64.4mm 2021 v 92.3mm 1986 Denmark - Wettest February since 1955 — 57.8mm 2021 v 139mm in 1955 Donnybrook - Wettest February since 2003 — 69.2mm 2021 v 69.7mm Dumbleyung - Wettest May since 2005 — 68.5mm 2021 v 107 2005 Esperance - Wettest May since 2013 — 105.4mm 2021 v 112.4mm 2013 Frankland River - Wettest February since 1970 — 65.5mm 2021 v 68.4mm 1970 Gairdner - Wettest May since 1993 — 135.8mm 2021, 136.2mm 1993 - Wettest April since 2005 — 76mm 2021 v 109.8mm 2005 Gnowangerup - Wettest April since 2005 — 62mm 2021 v 68mm 2005 Hyden - Wettest May since 1974 — 99.1mm 2021 v 110.8mm 1974 Jerramungup - Wettest January-May since 1997 — 248.6mm 2021 v 272.4mm 1997 - Wettest May since 2005 — 101.5mm 2021 v 103.2mm 2005 Karridale - Wettest February on record (since 1971) —102.5mm Kojonup - Wettest May since 2005 — 132mm 2021 v 141mm 2005 Koorda - Wettest March since 2000 — 69mm 2021 v 85.5mm 2000 - Wettest May since 2005 — 54.6mm 2021 v 68.6mm 2005 Lake Grace - Wettest May on record (since 1997) — 85.2mm Latham - Wettest March since 2000 — 68.8mm 2021 v 144.2mm 2000 - Wettest April since 1997 — 56mm 2021 v 83.4mm 1997 - Wettest May since 2005 — 71mm 2021 v 71.3mm 2005 Manypeaks - Wettest January-May on record (since 1947) — 431.4mm - Wettest may since 1988 — 200.8mm 2021 v 215.6mm 1988 Margaret River - Wettest February on record (since 1928) — 83mm - Wettest January-May since 1974 — 414.5mm 2021 v 451.9mm 1974 Merredin - Wettest May since 2003 — 65.4mm 2021 v 73.4mm 2003 Narrikup - Wettest May on record (since 1996) — 174.2mm - Wettest January-May since 2005 Newdegate - Wettest May since 1993 — 72.9mm 2021, 100.4mm 1993 Northam - Wettest March since 1971 — 137.3mm 2021 v 167.9mm 1971 - Wettest May since 1999 — 121.7mm 2021 v 125.6mm 1999 Pemberton - Wettest February on record (since 1941) — 121.7mm - Wettest January-May since 1988 — 415mm 2021 v 420.6mm 1988 Toodyay - Wettest March since 1942 — 155.2mm 2021 v 169.5mm 1942 - Wettest May since 2005 — 69.2mm 2021 v 74.4mm 2005 Wagin - Wettest May since 2005 — 87mm 2021 v 110.9mm 2005