Wednesday, December 12, 2007

La Nina!

It comes as no surprise when the Bureau of Meteorology tells us a La Nina event is in progress, but what surprises me is how fast things can change. The rainfall totals here for September and October were about 20mm below average.

Then in November our total rainfall was 170mm -- the highest ever recorded. The November average is 80mm. The mean for December is 42mm, but so far we've had 120mm. We've also cracked the highest monthly rainfall again; the previous December maximum was only 84mm. I should point out that these numbers are not for Sydney as a whole, but for the weather station a couple of kilometres from my house.

Surely there are no problems in having so much rain? Well, there are. My clay soil is now completely saturated. It is much too wet to plant anything. It has been too wet to plant anything for a couple of weeks, and my vegetable seedlings are getting bigger and bigger in their punnets. At this rate, I might have to pot them up! And I can't plant seeds (beans, watermelon, cucumbers etc); they'll just rot. Even weeding is pretty difficult in such waterlogged soil. Very frustrating! But at least it isn't too hot to work -- that will probably be my next complaint!

No comments: