Dry winter follows forecast

The Bureau of Meteorology’s prediction of a drier winter than average for the Albany region appears set to come true, with 375mm of rain falling until August 30.

The average rainfall across the three-month winter period for Albany is 400.1mm, according to BOM historical data.

With 2mm-4mm of rain predicted yesterday, Albany is expected to finish winter having received about 380mm of rain.

Despite heavy rain in August and July, only 60mm of rain fell in June, more than 70mm below the monthly average of 131.7mm.

Albany received more than 150mm of rainfall in July, which was slightly above the monthly average of 142.6mm.

Rainfall has increased further in August, with 163.4mm of rain up until the time of print, well above the August average of 125.8mm.

BOM Albany station duty observer Jenny Feast explained why there was less rainfall in southern areas of WA

“At the moment, what we find is we’ve got cooler-than-average temperatures in the eastern Indian Ocean and then we’ve got warmer-than-average sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean,” she said.

“As a result of that, we tend to see higher rainfall throughout the northern parts of Australia, then the cooler temperatures in the Indian Ocean tend to depict less rainfall around the southern parts of WA.”

BOM predictions also suggested Albany was due for warmer temperatures.

Albany’s mean temperature for June was 19.0C, one of the warmest on record, while July’s average of 15.9C was slightly above the July mean. August’s mean temperature stands at 16.6 C with the historical average at 16.3 C.