Paul Rosser 
Well!! ‘Nil’ was the rainfall for February 2024. That’s right, nothing. It hasn’t rained since 25th January, that’s five weeks. The average for February is 20.5mm over the last 13 years, since we arrived, so it is well down on that.
Compared to other years, we have:
2024 Nil
2023 14.5mm
2022 8.0mm
2021 27.5mm
2020 24.0mm
2019 5.0mm
2018 3.0mm
2017 14.5mm
2016 36.5mm
2015 NIL
2014 48.0mm
2013 12.0mm
2012 72.0mm
For some reports I have been saying the dry is coming & don’t put away your hoses after wet November, December & Januarys. Well, it is here now but a return to averages is imminent as the Indian Ocean returns to mid-range readings, the Pacific Ocean is returning to neutral after a brief month or two of El Nino & the Southern Ocean is stable. However, all three oceans have higher than average temperatures. This is also the case with the Arafura Sea. (The Arafura Sea is north west of Australia up to Indonesia.) This will provide moisture into the atmosphere, so average rain is possible in March.
Temperatures have been around average in February until this last week when it rose to 39 degrees with the night time temperature on the 27th well above 30 degrees overnight. Off with the doona & on with the sheet.
Up north around Oodnadatta the temperature has hovered around 40 degrees for the last two months with little rain but lots of water from the Warburton River, Strezlecki & Cooper Creeks from deluges in Queensland. I have been watching this with interest as my Grandfather was a Head Stockman for Kidman & Company & this was his life back in the 1920’s & 1930’s. Kidman’s had up to 10 stations along the tracks back into Queensland to ensure they had good feed each year for the annual cattle drive. Up to a1,000 cattle were herded down the tracks, by a couple of Stockmen & a half a dozen ‘Ringers’ to round up the slackers. Hard work living on beef & damper.
Their destination, Lyndhurst or Birdsville. If you’ve been to our home, you would have seen his stockwhip in our entrance hall. A nice piece of R M Williams work & one of three he made of this type. One is in the USA & the other was burnt in a camp fire, according to RMW, when I took it in to get a new ‘cracker’ installed on the very tip of the whip.
How are our Kaurna friends going at this time? The Kaurna Summer is (Waritati) longer than the ‘white persons’ summer. The BOM summer finished on the 29th February but the Kaurna Calendar’s summer goes on until the end of March. Seems appropriate, as we can get quite hot weather in March. The Grey Teal ducks have well & truly gone north to the Darling now. Plenty of dry breezes (Pulturru) continuing as summers end approaches. The next season is Parnati, our autumn. More about that in our next report.
If you want a Kaurna Calendar go the BOM Website & search under ‘Indiginous Weather’. You’ll find it fascinating.
For the next month we should have average everything, rainfall, temperature, soil moisture, fire risk & stream flows.
See you all at the end of March.
Paul
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