Heavy rains drench QLD's tropics

Heavy rain is continuing to pound Qld's tropical coast. In just 24 hours to 9am this morning, rain gauges around Townsville were hit by rain totals around the 150mm mark. The highest recorded total was in Rollingstone with 209mm. A severe weather warning for flash flooding is in place for the Herbert and Lower Burdekin and North Tropical Coast, with the today's heaviest rain expected between Cairns and Townsville. As the deluge tracks further north over the weekend, places between Cooktown to Cairns will be the hotspots of heavy rain over Saturday and Sunday. Falls over the 100mm mark are possible each day.

But for the southeast, it's a weekend of sunny days and balmy nights which will almost guarantee packed streets across Adelaide for the Fringe festival. The warm weather is being fuelled by dry northerly winds, so fire weather is expected to lift to dangerous levels across parts of Victoria.

Rain gauges overflow as weekend dowpour soaks the east

The biggest rain in years soaked parts of NSW, the ACT and Victoria over the weekend transforming landscapes across city and country. First it was Melbourne, and then Canberra and Sydney as flash flooding turned roads into rivers. Canberra picked up almost 100mm over the weekend- its heaviest rain in 8 years. Sydneysiders were also drenched with this February the wettest month in 2 1/2 years so far. If you've driven from Sydney to Canberra before, you wouldn't recognise the notoriously dry Lake George which is glistening thanks to puddles of water. Dam levels across all three cities are also on the rise.

The weekend downpour also turned the outback town of Broken Hill into a red sea after 40-50mm of rain pounded across the desert. Other towns that got drenched include Yass which had it's wettest weekend in 21 years with 117mm, while Wilcannia had it's heaviest two-day rain in 10 years 96mm.

The rain-bearing low has now moved into the Tasman and is pounding southeast NSW and eastern Victoria with heavy rain and damaging surf. Waves over 5m are expected on the NSW south coast which may lead to beach erosion, and a severe weather warning for flash flooding has been issued. While conditions are expected to ease today, QLD is still in the thick of it with further rain this week.

Widespread falls of 50mm or more are possible over the next 4 days across all districts in QLD except for the far southwest. Rain will also start to pick up over the north tropical coast with towns including Cairns set to get heavy rain towards the end of this week.

Follow up rain heading for the Murray!

We saw the best rain in years reach parts of the Murray Basin last week and there is more on the way. Onshore winds from the Tasman Sea are continuing to pump masses of moisture over eastern Australia and it's even reaching as far as Victoria and South Australia. This explains why it has been so humid and sticky across both states, including Adelaide and Melbourne.

Because there is so much moist air hanging around, it doesn't take a big weather system to bring decent rain. From Thursday this week, a weak trough will cross the southeast and tap into the moisture source, triggering widespread rain over the Murray Basin right up until the weekend. By Sunday, widespread falls of 10mm+ and up to 50mm are possible.

Record rain pounds the east coast

It was a weekend of torrential rain for much of the east coast, especially southeast QLD, northeast NSW and the Sydney metropolitan area.

The heaviest February rain in over 100 years hammered southeast QLD with over 300mm across the Gold Coast hinterland in just a 24 hour period. Mt Tamborine saw 372mm and Clagiraba Road recorded a huge 415mm in the rain gauge! The Brisbane City rain gauge recorded 100mm while Logan picked up 128mm, its heaviest day of rain in 5 years.

Across the border torrential rain also hammered holiday towns in northeast NSW with Byron Bay getting 219mm.

Further south, weekend plans across Sydney were literally washed out with the heaviest falls on Friday affecting the western suburbs. Penrith had its heaviest rain in 8 years with 92mm. The worst- hit areas on Saturday were the northern suburbs with a whopping 209mm in Berowra, its heaviest rain in 19 years. Other areas that experienced flooding were Frenchs Forest with 195mm and Turrumurra with 198mm. The city itself received its heaviest rain in 2 years with 77mm on Saturday.

Showers are still affecting the east coast today but fortunately conditions are easing.

Perth breaks dry spell...but only in theory

After 78 days of no rain, Perth's dry spell was finally broken on Sunday when the city recorded 0.2mm in the rain gauge- just enough to officially register as a day of rain. While the dry spell is "officially" broken, this tiny amount of rain is actually negligible in terms of what it would have done for gardens and rain tanks, and the dry weather is continuing with warm and sunny conditions for at least another week.

This period is now the city's second longest dry spell with the record still standing at 83 days from 15 December 1974 to 7th March 1975.

Could Perth break its longest dry spell on record?

Perth is experiencing is 78th day in a row of no rain which is the second longest dry spell on record for the city. The record of 83 days could be broken if Perth's rain gauage doesn't register any rain from a passing cold front this weekend. The system will be cooling the southwest over Saturday and Sunday but whether the city picks up any rain remains to be seen with most models providing a 50/50 chance.

If Perth misses out on showers this weekend, it is very likely to break the longest dry spell on record set in 1974/75, since clear skies are forecast early next week.

Murray Basin soaked by best rain in years!

The best rain in up to 10 years is soaking parts of the Murray Basin. The big wet comes courtesy of moisture from the remnants of ex TC Olga and a lingering trough. In the last 24 hours to 9am this morning, Albury picked up a massive 52mm- its best rain in 3 years, while Shepparton logged 48mm in the rain gauge. Other significant 24 hour rainfall totals include:

- Yarrawonga: 40mm, best rain in 5 years
- Rutherglen: 53mm, best rain in 5 years
- Hay: 54mm, best rain in 7 years

It has also been bucketing down on the NSW south coast this morning with severe thunderstorms producing flash flooding. Bega was soaked by 108mm to 9am this morning, its heaviest rain in 3 years.

Sydneysiders didn’t miss out either with the northern end of the Warragamba catchment picking up almost 100mm in a 24 hour period.

And the big wet is not over yet. While rain is easing in Victoria, widespread falls of 25-50mm are expected across the eastern half of NSW including Sydney.

While the rain comes as good news for many farmers and communities, it’s important to remember that the Murray Basin has seen below average rain for the last 10 years and much more rain is needed to cancel the rainfall deficits over the last decade.

Olga's outback deluge spreads south

Olga's cyclone status may be gone, but she's certainly not forgotten. For the 11th day now, ex-TC Olga is continuing to bring heavy rain to the driest part of the whole country: outback towns across southwest QLD, northeast SA and northwest NSW.

In QLD, Thargomindah has picked up over 70mm in just 3 days and major flooding is now affecting Isisford, south of Longreach. With rivers rising across the southwest, major flooding is likely to affect Quilpie too. The desert deluge has also been spilling into neighbouring states. The upper north western part of NSW is on flood watch following over 70mm of rain in Tibooburra.

Meanwhile, South Australia's Moomba has picked up more than 90mm in the past 3 days- that’s more rain that the town picked up in all of 2009! A severe weather warning for flash flooding remains in place for the Northeast Pastoral district, potentially affecting stations along the Strzelecki Track and Arkaroola.

Olga’s outback rains are gradually spreading further south with moisture from Olga clipping a cold front crossing the southeast tomorrow. Widespread falls of 15-25mm are possible near the SA/VIC border and most of Victoria, NSW and Tasmania between Thursday and Friday. The Murray Basin is expected to receive its best rain in 3 months.

Sydneysiders are also getting a taste of the big wet with over 20mm for the coast and catchment overnight, and more on the way this week.