Weather News

Flooding rain boosts Murray-Darling water supply

Ben Domensino, Tuesday October 18, 2016 - 15:32 AEDT

Water storages in the Murray-Darling Basin have been replenished by record-breaking rainfall this year.

As of Monday 17th October, the volume of accessible water in the Murray-Darling Basin was 20,339 Gigalitres, which is 80.2 percent of its capacity. This is an impressive increase from this time last year, when the Basin's storage was at just 49.6 percent of capacity.

It's also the first time in three years the Murray-Darling Basin has held this much water.

Persistent rainfall throughout the middle of this year was responsible for this remarkable increase in storage levels.

The entire Basin recorded above-average rainfall during the last six months, with much of the Lachlan Catchment and western parts of the Northern Basin experiencing their wettest April-to-September on record.

Australia's national water storage has increased to 68.3 percent of capacity, which is the highest level in three years and more than 10 percent higher than this time last year.

A strong negative Indian Ocean Dipole and La Nina-like conditions in the Pacific Ocean helped produce the prolific rainfall that boosted water storages across most of the country this year.

Unfortunately, some areas in need of rainfall missed out in recent months, most notably across the southwest and parts of the east coast. For example, Lake Ross near Townsville is currently sitting at 17.4 percent capacity, its lowest level in at least seven years.

While this year's rainfall has been good news for water storages in many areas, a number of flood warnings remain in place through the Murray-Darling Basin as inundated catchments struggle to cope with the recent influx of water.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2016

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

Satellites capture huge dust storm crossing Mediterranean Sea

14:32 AEST Images captured from satellites have revealed the colossal scale of a dust storm that turned the sky orange in parts of Greece earlier this week.