Paul Rosser 
August has come & gone. We received 83mm taking our Year to Date to 334.5mm. It rained on 21days out of 31. The 11, 12 & 13th were particularly good putting 30.5mm in the gauge over those three days. Our 50,000 litre tank is full, first time in three years.
How did it compare to previous years:
2022 83.0mm 334.5mm
2021 54.5mm 356.5mm
2020 61.0mm 354.0mm
2019 39.0mm 263.5mm
2018 82.5mm 249.0mm
2017 93.0mm 392.5mm
2016 64.0mm 430.5mm
2015 37.0mm 362.0mm
2014 19.0mm 314.0mm
2013 80.0mm 406.0mm
2012 55.0mm 435.0mm
The average for August, over the last 11 years since we’ve been in the Village, is 60.7mm, with the average YTD to the end of August standing at 354.5mm. May & August have been good but the rest of the year has been poor to say the least. September is forecast to be above average, as is October. Temperatures & fire risk are predicted to be normal/average.
Sad to see James Lovelock die in August. Who was James Lovelock you say? He was a very important environmentalist, quite often derided by his peers until his predictions became real. He believed the Earth is a living being, capable of changing to protect itself. The current Climate Change science is very much based on his understanding of the Earth’s ability to self-correct to protect itself. If you want a hard but good read, get a copy of the “Gaia Theory”, written by him. He was also author of “The Revenge of Gaia” & “Novacene”. He predicted dire consequences if we don’t restrict methane & carbon dioxide, the need for changes to forestry practices, farming practices & fishing practices, in the mid 1990’s, just to name a few.
I am aware that we have quite a few “Climate Action Now” signs in the Village. We need words & action. We must let our politicians know we are serious about change. There is no better time to act as it will not get cheaper, not to mention that entrepreneurs can make or save a lot of money out of action now. It is an economic truth that Capital will follow good ideas. This is happening now with renewables, at the expense of fossil fuels. Capital for new coal mines is drying up fast, with gas projects following.
La Niña is in the news, again. Five out of the seven predictive models are forecasting a La Niña event by November of this year, with heavy rain & flooding again in NSW & Queensland. The other two models have not called it but have gone to the alert stage. South Australia may get some of it but that hasn’t been the case in the last two events, where the extremity has been our border with the eastern states. Time will tell. A triple La Niña has occurred only three times in the last 100 years, 1973/74/75, 1998/99/2000 & 2020/21/22 (possibly). The cause is heat in the Pacific Ocean around north eastern Australia. This causes cloud & rain mostly in the eastern states.
For us, the Indian Ocean is still hot north west of Broome up into Indonesia & the tropics. This means higher than average tropical cyclones that can come through Broome WA down to us. These are usually summer time “dumps”.
Finally, the Murray Darling will spread to flood plains over the next few weeks. Shack owners have been warned to expect flooding in low lying areas. That’s great news.
That’s it for August.
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