SHEPPARTON saw a whopping 54.8mm of rain on Thursday June 8, lending itself to many bodies of water being much fuller now compared to a year ago, prior to the flood event.
This time last year water levels vs current water levels at several locations are as follows: Lake Eildon last year 79.22% vs now 96.83%, Lake Nillahcootie last year 97.48% vs now 101.18%, Dartmouth Dam last year 94.26% vs now 97.60%, Waranga Basin last year 61.35% vs now 81.86% and Lake William Hovell last year 101.52% vs now 101.99%.
For a full list, visit g-mwater.com.au/water-operations/storage-levels.
La Niña delivered a soaking year for Shepparton in 2022, with more than 200mm more rain than average across the 12 months, which set the scene for devastating flooding in October.
This year, from July to September, maximum temperatures are likely to be warmer than the median (60 percent to greater than 80 percent chance) for all of Australia excluding the Cape York Peninsula, thanks to a very likely El Niño event.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has all but confirmed El Niño has a 70 percent chance of developing this year, officially upgrading its warning over the event from “watch” to “alert”, meaning that we are headed for a very hot and dry summer.
If that prediction comes true, there may be below-average rainfall over the remainder of winter and spring of 2023.
