Rainfall records have continued to tumble amid widespread flooding across eastern Australia, with Sydney already recording its wettest ever October.
On Monday Sydney reached 286.8mm of rain for October, the most in 165 years of record-keeping, with seven days of the month still remaining.
October is the third month this year that Sydney has set a rainfall record, and Weatherzone reports Sydney’s annual rainfall has reached 2387.6mm, easily its wettest year on record.
Sydney also broke rainfall records in July (404mm) and March (554mm), with the yearly total also putting Sydney’s 2022 total in the top five wettest years for any Australian capital city, beaten only by Darwin’s total of 2776.6mm in a year.
In the past 24 hours, 233mm has fallen at Alstonville, 215mm at Goonengerry and 196mm at Doon Doon, all in NSW.
Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said a low pressure system was bringing rain and storms to southern New South Wales, much of Victoria, eastern South Australia and northern Tasmania.
“We could also see severe thunderstorms through the southern inland Queensland, inland New South Wales, with large hail damaging winds and heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding,” he said.
Narramore said the bureau was expecting 25-50mm of rain across much of Victoria, Tasmania and southern and eastern parts of NSW.
“Isolated falls of 50 to 100 millimetres are also possible with thunderstorms through north-east parts of Victoria and also through parts of northern and eastern Tasmania.”
The system means Victoria is also approaching its October rain record, with heavy falls predicted at the end of the week.
“If we do see this rainfall come off, as we head into Sunday and Monday, it’s likely to be the wettest October on record, particularly for the northern plains of Victoria,” senior meteorologist Kevin Parkin told a press conference on Monday morning.
He said there had been falls of 10-30mm recorded around the state overnight, with those higher totals seen around the flood-hit towns of Echuca and Kerang.
Many towns are on track to experience their wettest Octobers, with 30mm-60mm predicted in the next day. Totals of 50-100mm are also likely along the Victorian ranges, with isolated totals in excess of 100mm possible.
Renmark, just over the South Australian border, had received even more rain, with almost 100mm falling in 24 hours, or one-third of its average annual rainfall.
It was the heaviest rainfall in the town’s history, with records dating back to 1889. With 55.4mm already recorded in the town during October, the overnight falls made it the wettest month ever.
The weather is expected to settle later in the week, with the Bureau forecasting conditions to ease in NSW and Victoria.
Heavy falls are expected across Tasmania on Wednesday and Thursday, but flood-affected regions in Queensland, inland NSW and Northern Victoria should see some respite by then.
