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Farmers delighted to be drenched
26 Aug 2003
The wild weekend weather that wreaked havoc in Sydney also brought welcome rains to rural New South Wales. Near Wagga Wagga, it started on Saturday and by Sunday 38mm had fallen - half of the usual August total. At Coonabarabran 76mm were recorded between 8am on Saturday and 6am on Sunday. The weather bureau also recorded 68mm at Orange, 51mm at Mudgee, 47mm at Trangie, 40mm at Narrabri Airport and 39mm at Young.
While it's far too early to say if the drought has finally broken, the Grains Council of Australia was confident enough to predict that NSW's crops this year may even be slightly above average. GCA president Keith Perrett's own property, 20 kilometres north of Gunnedah, received 36mm. With one more fall in September or October, he said his crop this year could be 20 to 30 per cent above average.
But Mr Perrett warned that much of NSW was still in trouble. He said he could go 40 kilometres south and farmers are still struggling. He's still worried some areas won't get a crop - around Walgett and Wee Waa.
Sydney Morning Herald, 26/8/03.
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