Queensland Just Got A Year's Worth Of Rain In Less Than A Week; Adelaide Conditions Driest In Decades, Perth At 35C

Queensland cities and towns are dealing with the effects of flooding – including extensive stock losses and widespread damage – after a year’s worth of rain fell in a matter of days. The north Queensland city of Townsville would “almost certainly” surpass its annual rainfall record this week, just three months into 2025, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s senior meteorologist, Jonathan How.

Rainfall totals at Townsville airport were sitting at 2.35 metres for the year so far, he said, just 50mm shy of the city’s wettest year on record, when 2.4 metres was recorded over a period of 12 months in 2000. The Queensland outback town of Winton, Australia’s dinosaur capital, had recorded 510mm so far in 2025, compared with an average of 387.8mm, one of many inland places already exceeding their average annual rainfall. Further rain was expected for western and southern Queensland on Tuesday and Wednesday, as the low pressure system due to ex-Tropical Cyclone Diane (now sitting over Western Australia and the Northern Territory) moved east, How said.

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Meanwhile in Perth, residents were contending with extreme and protracted heat, including a run of six days in a row above 35C, which equalled the all-time March record for the metropolitan area, How said. “The last time we saw six days in a row in March above 35 degrees was back in 1985.”

In Adelaide, the city was experiencing its driest December to March period since 1963-64, and the driest on record for Adelaide airport. Throughout 2025, the city had only recorded a total of 14mm of rain, an amount that was well below the average of 64mm. Unfortunately, there was “nothing substantial or useful” in terms of rainfall expected for Adelaide in the next 10 days, How said. With reservoirs currently sitting at 38%, Adelaide’s desalination plant continued to operate at full pelt – producing the equivalent of its usual monthly output in two days – to top up the city’s water supply.

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/31/australia-weather-forecast-queensland-nsw-adelaide-perth-bom