A strong cold front moving through south-eastern Australia is expected to bring rain to South Australia and Victoria from Friday and into the weekend, but not enough to make a serious impact on longstanding drought conditions.
Senior Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Dean Narramore said the front moved across South Australia overnight and a rain band had moved into western New South Wales and western Victoria by Friday morning.
“Some of the rainfall totals to 9am in South Australia this morning are basically in that kind of 10 to 20mm range, pretty much from northern SA all the way down to the Adelaide Hills, Eyre Peninsula,” Narramore said on Friday.
“Even in the eastern parts of SA they had around five to 10mm and since 9am all that rain continued through eastern parts of South Australia and around the Adelaide area”.
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Widespread rainfall continued in South Australia on Friday afternoon and was expected to continue into the evening before moving into eastern parts of the country at the weekend.
In Victoria the rain bands brought about five to 10mm of rain into western parts of the state as of Friday morning.
Narramore said there had been about three to five millimetres west of the range by early Friday, but it will continue “for many hours yet”, then move into the central and eastern parts of the state by Saturday morning.
“So, many of us should see 10 to 20mm, with some areas getting up to around 25mm with heavier falls around the central ranges and eastern ranges of Victoria.”
Narramore said the dry cropping areas in South Australia and Victoria had seen very little rainfall over the past 12 to 18 months and they would need another 20 t0 30 falls similar to Friday’s to make a major dent in the drought.
Some sheep, cattle and dairy producers in the region have experienced one of the driest recorded spells over the past 18 months, with prolonged dry conditions stretching back almost a decade in parts.
