Rainfall tallies plummet after Australia's driest September on record

Australia has notched its driest September on record, with less than a third of the usual rainfall for the month, extending the dry spell that has farmers and firefighters increasingly desperate for rain.

Last month was Australia's driest September on record.

Victoria posted its second driest September, also collecting just a third of its typical September rain.

NSW also had another dry month, with less than half the normal rain, bringing the state's year-to-date tally lower than any year but 1902 and 1965, according to Blair Trewin, senior climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.

Read the story from The Sydney Morning Herald by Peter Hannam - “Rainfall tallies plummet after Australia's driest September on record.”

Driest September on record through Murray-Darling Basin

The severity of drought in NSW has been backed up by Bureau of Meteorology data that shows that last month was the driest September in the Murray Darling Basin on record.

 Drought impacted crops are a common sight
 through the Murray-Darling Basin this year.

Many centres in the region recorded no rainfall for September at a time when falls are critical for crop development.

The data is compiled using an aggregation of rainfall data across the BOM’s network of weather stations and can be averaged out to a regional basis.

Worryingly, the record dry comes without a major climate driver pushing the weather towards drier conditions.

Read the farmonline story by Gregor Heard -  “Driest September on record through Murray-Darling Basin.”