Parts of Central Australia driest on record, according to Bureau of Meteorology

Parts of Central Australia are experiencing their driest period on record, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Many parts of the southern Northern Territory
have not had any rain since February.

It was a wet Christmas and a very wet New Year for many properties throughout the district, with up to 100 millimetres falling in some areas.

But since then, it has been quite a different story.

Greg Browning, regional climate services manager for the Bureau of Metrology, said after the rainy summer, the tap basically turned off.

"Since February, pretty much all the southern third of the Territory has received single figure rainfall totals, but they did start the year quite well," he said.

Read Katrina Beavan’s ABC News story - “Parts of Central Australia driest on record, according to Bureau of Meteorology.”

Melbourne weather: steamy, stormy days ahead

A summer storm rolls across
the city on Christmas Eve.

The weather system that flooded central Australia, prompting Uluru to be evacuated, is about to bring heavy rain and damaging winds to Victoria.

A weaker version of the system will affect western Victoria early on Wednesday morning, delivering rainfall totals that could be as high as 50 millimetres in just six hours.

The rainfall is likely to start around midnight, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, with the heaviest falls expected between 3am and 9am Wednesday.

High rainfall is expected to move down from the north on Thursday and Friday, with possible flash flooding and thunderstorms.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for much of Victoria late on Tuesday afternoon, urging people to be prepared for damaging winds and heavy rainfall in the Central weather district, Mallee, South West, North Central and Wimmera, and for parts of other forecast districts

Read Darren Gray’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Melbourne weather: steamy, stormy days ahead.”

Uluru national park closed, scores shelter from flash floods in Central Australia

Waterfalls run down Uluru after unusually
 heavy rain in Central Australia.

A massive Christmas night storm and heavy rain that has sparked damaging flash floods in Central Australia is being described as a once-in-a-half-century weather event by the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).

A quarter of the community of Kintore was evacuated after it was drenched by 232mm of rain in the 24 hours since 9:00am yesterday — taking the December total to a record 373.4mm.

61.4mm fell from 8:00pm to 9:00pm on Christmas night alone, which BOM labelled a one-in-50-year rainfall event.

Northern Territory police said it had caused significant flash flooding woes for the 400 people living in Kintore, which is located about 520km west of Alice Springs near the Western Australia border.

"There's a significant number of houses that have been affected by flooding in some capacity," said Acting Superintendent Pauline Vicary.

Read the ABC story - “Uluru national park closed, scores shelter from flash floods in Central Australia.”