The links should take you direct to the maps.
Jan 2022 rain Outlook disaster
Monthly rainfall percentages for Australia 01/01/2022 – 31/01/2022 actual result
Jan 2022 Max temperature Outlook disaster
Jan 2022 Max temperature anomaly actual result
Jan 2022 Min temperature Outlook disaster
Jan 2022 Min temperature anomaly actual result
Category Archives: Water
Outback SA wet not so unprecedented as BoM claims
We have all seen the news over the weekend of flash flooding on the Eyre Peninsula and other areas of South Australia – this ABC article quotes the BoM saying “We’ve seen seven all-time records up until this point through the Eyre Peninsula largely,” Mr Lainio said. “Falls of anywhere between, say, 80 to 90 millimetres to over 150mm in a 24-hour period. Those locations have never seen falls of that amount.” I did a quick search for monthly rainfalls and found that an event in Feb 1946 seems in a similar ballpark to the big falls last weekend. 
Moonaree 16029 ~150km N of Kimba had over 200mm rain in Feb 1946 and 2 days around 18th registered 197mm. So here we have another instance of where the BoM aided & abetted by the ABC fail to find rain from BoM history. Map made at BoM “Recent and historical rainfall maps” – choose your time. Larger version Feb 1946 rain map.
Last week 1,200GL NSW rivers flowed to Tasman Sea
Water NSW publish a spreadsheet of 7 days NSW river heights and flows(my extract spreadsheet).
I calc the 7 days flows to 14 Dec at ~1,200 GL or approx 2 Sydney Harbours and several rivers around Sydney were left off the Water NSW list. I am trying to get the data for November monthly outflows to the Tasman Sea.
TV Adverts to beef up Cairns water supply
What sort of asylum are we living in when the Cairns Regional Council has to waste money on TV adverts wanting a larger water supply when the region has a huge annual rainfall free from the sky then rushing to the sea. Does anybody know what exactly is blocking Cairns augmenting their water supply?
Anti-dam greens rule is total in NSW
NSW dam projects in doubt amid cost blowouts and environmental concerns 4Nov21
I have blogged twice on this. Would not have guessed the anti-damists would be revealed so quickly and comprehensively. “NSW might bring forward Dungowan Dam” Deputy PM 17May2021
and
ScoMo $Bill on NSW dams 27Sep2020
Bickley in Perth Hills wettest year since 1996
As our PM heads to Glasgow to worship at the “net zero by 2050” altar it comforts us to know that climate change and “our drying climate” is still controlling Perth region rainfall. Bickley which has one of the consistently reporting rain gauges – has just had 1,247mm rain to 21Oct and a quick eyeball at monthly numbers shows there is a fair chance the blog headline might come to pass.
SEQWater wins 2011 Brisbane floods compo appeal
On 10Jan2011 I blogged “Toowoomba flash flood shambles” which covered the issues of Brisbane floods too.
Flood affected SE Qld people mounted a class action resulting in a court win. Reported earlier this year “Brisbane 2011 flood victims win $440 million in class action partial settlement over operation of Wivenhoe Dam” 26Feb2021. Now SEQWater have appealed and won according to ABC today. Queensland water utility wins appeal against 2011 flood damages ruling – 8Sep2021
I always thought it was unreasonable under all the circumstances to expect Wivenhoe Dam operators to be so all-seeing & wise as to release sufficient water in time so the dam could then hold back water from flooding homes downstream.
NSW dams filling but water wasting to sea gold-plated iron-clad-certainty
ABC reports Dams are near capacity across New South Wales, with authorities monitoring flood risks and rain forecast – farmers are wanting water entitlements to grow summer crops. Bureaucracies have been anti-dams for yonks. The NSW Water Minister reflects this. I hope farmers get the water they need for summer crops. But my blog headline says what is the certainty.
Should ScoMo help Tassie pay for Marinus?
Marinus is the glam name given to the proposed 2nd Bass St undersea electricity cable between Tasmania & Victoria with a total capacity of 1500MW. I see they propose two stages of 750MW and note the existing Basslink now near 20 years old is rated at 500MW. The well informed Tasmanian blog Tasfintalk is critical of Marinus and asks a great question – Who’s picking up the tab for Marinus? – and refers to “Father Christmas” as a possible candidate to pay the Lions Share of the no doubt horrendous cost of Marinus. Tasfintalk mentions the existing undersea cable Basslink and I have commented previously on Basslink.
As my headline indicates Australia only has one Father Christmas for now and that is our PM Scott Morrison who did partially annoint the Marinus project in Feb2019.
The Tasfintalk article makes a good case of various points for Australian(and Tasmanian)taxpayers to be kept well clear of the risky Marinus project.
Marinus is an addon to the 2018 Battery of the Nation pumped hydro concept that Tassie Hydro cobbled together after PM Turnbull launched Snowy 2.0. I have also blogged on the over-hyped Battery of the Nation project.
To see these Tasmanian Hydro schemes in better perspective it is important to realize the annual scale of the NEM in 2019 was 205,000GWh (Covid has changed NEM usage and prices post 2019). OpenNem shows the 5 years 2015 to 2019 averaged 204,733GWh demand. Alongside that the Tasmanian imports for those 5 years were 1,173GWh or 0.57% and exports were 1,022GWh or 0.5% of NEM demand. Compared to the scale of the mainland NEM Tasmanian Hydro is a very minor player and the Federal Gov should leave Battery of the Nation and Marinus to be funded by Tasmania or non-Govt companies. 
It is interesting to look at the chart of Tassie Hydro storage levels from data published weekly. For larger chart.
Basslink failed 21Dec2015 and was not repaired until June2016 and Tasmania was greatly assisted by all time record cool season rain in 2016. This caused their dam levels to recover much more rapidly than if 2016 had only see average rain.
However as the chart shows storages have been in a below average zone around 40% to the present day. So the history is not shouting that Tasmania has for example “surplus dam storages that are spilling to waste”.
Plus 100mm rain Thomson catchment quick release enviro-flows
I notice the overnight BoM map showed Mount Baw Baw but now that has gone from the post 9am map.
The Mount Baw Baw daily rain file is showing zero so far(now showing 280.6mm for 10June) for the 10th June – you know it makes sense.
I bet there are already public servants itching to open the gates on environmental flows. Gotta get that water to the sea where it belongs.